Mccann E, Sullivan S, Erickson D
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point University of Wisconsin Extension College of Natural Resources Stevens Point, Wisconsin 54481-3897, USA
Environ Manage. 1997 Sep;21(5):747-58. doi: 10.1007/s002679900064.
/ This study examines similarities and differences between organic and conventional farmers. We explore the factors that underlie farmers' conservation attitudes and behaviors, including demographic and farm characteristics, awareness of and concern for environmental problems associated with agriculture, economic orientation toward farming, and self-reported conservation practices. A series of intensive personal interviews was conducted with 25 farmers in Washtenaw County, Michigan, USA, using both qualitative and quantitative survey methods. The findings indicate that both groups of farmers share a concern for the economic risks associated with farming, although the organic farmers reported a significantly greater concern for long-term sustainability and a greater willingness to incur present risk to gain future benefits. Organic farmers expressed a greater awareness of and concern for environmental problems associated with agriculture. Organic farmers also scored significantly higher on a multifaceted measure of conservation practices, although both groups had a fairly high adoption rate. Implications of these findings are discussed, relative to economic risks of farming, implications for new farmers, effectiveness of conservation education and government programs, and impact of farm size and crop diversity.KEY WORDS: Environmental attitudes; Conservation behaviors; Organic farming; Agricultural sustainability
本研究考察了有机农场主和传统农场主之间的异同。我们探究了影响农场主保护态度和行为的因素，包括人口统计学特征和农场特点、对与农业相关的环境问题的认识和关注、农业经济导向以及自我报告的保护措施。我们采用定性和定量调查方法，对美国密歇根州沃什特瑙县的25位农场主进行了一系列深入的个人访谈。研究结果表明，两组农场主都关注与农业相关的经济风险，尽管有机农场主表示对长期可持续性的担忧明显更大，并且更愿意承担当前风险以获取未来收益。有机农场主对与农业相关的环境问题表现出更高的认识和关注。在多方面的保护措施衡量中，有机农场主的得分也显著更高，尽管两组的采用率都相当高。我们讨论了这些研究结果对于农业经济风险、对新农场主的影响、保护教育和政府项目的有效性以及农场规模和作物多样性的影响。关键词：环境态度；保护行为；有机农业；农业可持续性
