Constraints on farmer adaptability in the Iowa-Cedar River Basin. Issue 92 (February 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bitterman, Patrick; Bennett, David A.; Secchi, Silvia
• Is Part Of: Environmental science & policy. Issue 92(2019)
• Page Start: 9
• Page End: 16
• Publication Date: 2019-02
• Subjects: Adaptation -- Climate change -- Agricultural practices -- Cluster analysis -- Risk perception; Environmental policy -- Periodicals; Environmental sciences -- Periodicals; Environnement -- Politique gouvernementale -- Périodiques; Sciences de l'environnement -- Périodiques; Environmental policy; Environmental sciences; Periodicals; Electronic journals; 363.70561
• DOI: 10.1016/j.envsci.2018.11.004
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1462-9011

Abstract

Highlights: 70% of respondents believe that climate change is occurring. Only 17% agree climate change is mostly due to human causes. Financial issues are the greatest constraints on farmer adaptation. Crop insurance is by far the most utilized coping mechanism. Large losses are required to stimulate adaptation. Abstract: Agricultural production and farmer wellbeing are frequently and adversely affected by interacting climatic, economic, and policy-related disturbances. The ability of individuals to adapt and manage their resilience in the face of these threats is key to understanding how social-ecological systems might respond to future disturbances. We report the results of a survey of farmer adaptability in the Iowa-Cedar River Basin in eastern Iowa that asked questions of farm characteristics, experiences with extreme events, risk perceptions, climate change beliefs, and the frequency of perturbations that might stimulate a response. We find that in general farmers' adoption of conservation practices and land use decisions are insensitive to climate-related perturbations. These individual adaptation decisions are affected by a wide array of constraints. Financial constraints and the stabilizing effect of crop insurance, in particular, reduce the self-reported likelihood that farmers will adapt to changes in system-level drivers. An analysis of constraints and farmer perturbation sensitivity suggests that alternative economic and policy levers may be necessary to incentivize change on the agricultural landscape.