Adoption of Sustainable Agricultural Practices among Kentucky Farmers and Their Perception about Farm Sustainability

The purpose of this research was to identify commonly adopted SAPs and their adoption among Kentucky farmers. The specific objectives were to explore farmers' Perceptions about farm and farming practice sustainability, to identify predictors of SAPs adoption using farm attributes, farmers' attitudes and behaviors, socioeconomic and demographic factors, and knowledge, and to evaluate adoption barriers of SAPs among Kentucky Farmers. Farmers generally perceive that their farm and farming activities attain the objectives of sustainable agriculture. Inadequate knowledge, perceived difficulty of implementation, lack of market, negative attitude about technologies, and lack of technologies were major adoption barriers of SAPs in Kentucky.Comment: 125 Pages, MS thesi

Economics and human dimension of active management of forest-grassland ecotone in South-central USA under changing climate

The south-central ecotone of the USA, characterized by a mix of forest, savanna, and grasslands, previously maintained by fire, is changing towards closed-canopy forest due to exclusion of fire. The management is complicated by the encroachment of species such as eastern redcedar (Juniperus virginiana) and changing climate such as drought and more sporadic rainfall. Active management using prescribed fire and thinning can restore the ecosystem services, generate revenue, and motivate landowners to manage their land, but the cost is a major barrier. However, economic benefit from actively managed ecosystem under changing climate is not well known in this region. I estimated benefits of various ecosystems maintained using prescribed fire and thinning under changing climate scenarios. I further studied the willingness to pay (WTP), and intentions of landowners to actively manage their land for deer habitat management. I found that sawlog generally increased with the increase in rainfall, but pulpwood growth varied by management regime. The change in net future value (NFV) from timber was relatively stable in non-burned stands compared to frequently burned stands with increasing rainfall. The change in timber volume was greater in harvested and thinned stands. Stands burned in two- and three-year intervals the supported the greatest number of cattle and deer. The willingness to pay for deer hunting was higher in hunting sites with opportunities to observe more deer per visit. The WTP to observe 10 and 6 deers per visit instead of 1 deer per visit are about $11 and$9, respectively. The WTP for deer hunting was higher for deer habitats with food plots and deer sanctuaries. Forest canopy cover had non-significant impact on WTP for deer hunting, providing flexibility for landowners to change canopy and manage land for multiple objectives such as hunting, wildlife management, cattle grazing, and timber production. Landowners had positive intentions, social pressure, but the negative attitude toward actively managing their land. Financial burden, potential reasons for negative attitude, can be offset by revenue generated by managing land for multiple objectives

Economic contribution of forest sector in Oklahoma in 2020

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Adoption of Sustainable Agricultural Practices among Kentucky Farmers and Their Perception about Farm Sustainability

The purpose of this research was to identify commonly adopted SAPs and their adoption among Kentucky farmers. The specific objectives were to explore farmers' Perceptions about farm and farming practice sustainability, to identify predictors of SAPs adoption using farm attributes, farmers' attitudes and behaviors, socioeconomic and demographic factors, and knowledge, and to evaluate adoption barriers of SAPs among Kentucky Farmers. Farmers generally perceive that their farm and farming activities attain the objectives of sustainable agriculture. Inadequate knowledge, perceived difficulty of implementation, lack of market, negative attitude about technologies, and lack of technologies were major adoption barriers of SAPs in Kentucky

Adoption of Sustainable Agriculture Practices among Farmers in Kentucky, USA

© 2018, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature. Promoting the sustainable agricultural practices at an individual farm level is essential to ensure agricultural sustainability. This study analyzed whether and how various factors related to farm or farmers’ characteristics influence the adoption intensity of sustainable agriculture practices. We used a negative binomial regression model to fit the data collected from a mail survey of farmers in Kentucky, USA. Our results showed that the adoption intensity of sustainable agriculture practices varied significantly among agricultural districts in Kentucky. Farmers who grew row crops, had irrigation facilities, and were in favor of crop diversification were significantly more likely than their respective counterparts to adopt more sustainable agriculture practices. Similarly, having a college education and participating in the Tobacco Buyout Program also positively and significantly affected the intensity of adopting sustainable agriculture practices among Kentucky farmers. In contrast, a lack of adequate knowledge about sustainable farming and an unfamiliarity with technology significantly and negatively related to less adoption of sustainable agriculture practices