Barriers/Drivers of Diverse Perennial Systems: Policy Recommendations

Despite growing documentation of perennial- and grass-based systems’ importance in addressing many ecological, infrastructural, farmer profitability, and climate concerns, these systems do not predominate on most United States farm and ranch lands. To better understand what impedes their wider adoption, we undertook four focus groups of diverse current and potential farmers using perennial systems. We were especially interested in how these farmers access, or don’t, insurance, credit, and federal programs, identifying patterns among farmers embracing more sustainable practices. Our virtual focus groups comprised 16 farmers in ten states, transecting climate zones and representing both rural and urban production systems and diversity in ethnicity, gender, and farm size. We committed to maintaining participants’ anonymity and paid them a modest stipend. Some clear trends emerged as motivations for adopting perennial farming systems, including their ecosystem benefits to farms and to society, relative simplicity and ease of implementation, and lesser capital requirements for entry. Participants described numerous barriers to adoption, including woody perennials’ longer establishment period before becoming productive and cash-flow challenges during that period. Some farmers experienced a lack of understanding of perennials by federal agency staff and challenges accessing federal programs. Some desired easy-to-access support in navigating agency options and an easier process to appeal agency decisions. Many participants perceived perennials to be inherently risk-reducing, but few considered federal crop insurance useful. Similarly, challenges in accessing credit required many participants to self-finance or grow their operations slowly. Federal conservation programs had served some participants, but farmers of color reported difficulty in accessing them, partly due to agency staff’s restricted hours. Direct markets were easier for some perennial farmers, although time-consuming, but processing delays and impediments could be problematic, including for meat animals grown on managed pasture. Many farmers would profit from technical assistance and nationally-available reliable information on perennial production systems

Transforming Cars into Computers: Interdisciplinary Opportunities for HCI

Road and highway infrastructures are being transformed in anticipation of self-driving vehicles. During the transition to fully autonomous road networks people and driverless cars will interact with each other in mixed traffic situations. Vehicles are currently equipped with two types of communication devices one auditory (a horn) and the other visual (signalling lights). In many instances, human drivers use these devices in combination with embodied interaction such as eye contact and gesture when communicating with other road users. Hence, horn and signalling devices currently in use may not be enough to communicate with others in traffic settings; especially when driverless vehicles become responsible for the main driving activity. Driverless vehicles require new interaction types that support Human-AV interaction in an easy to understand and intuitive way. With the transformation of cars into computers new opportunities for research present themselves to the HCI community