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Do advisors perceive climate change as an agricultural risk? An in-depth examination of Midwestern U.S. Ag advisors’ views on drought, climate change, and risk management

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Abstract

Through the lens of the Health Belief Model and Protection Motivation Theory, we analyzed interviews of 36 agricultural advisors in Indiana and Nebraska to understand their appraisals of climate change risk, related decision making processes and subsequent risk management advice to producers. Most advisors interviewed accept that weather events are a risk for US Midwestern agriculture; however, they are more concerned about tangible threats such as crop prices. There is not much concern about climate change among agricultural advisors. Management practices that could help producers adapt to climate change were more likely to be recommended by conservation and Extension advisors, while financial and crop advisors focused more upon season-to-season decision making (e.g., hybrid seeds and crop insurance). We contend that the agricultural community should integrate long-term thinking as part of farm decision making processes and that agricultural advisors are in a prime position to influence producers. In the face of increasing extreme weather events, climatologists and advisors should work more closely to reach a shared understanding of the risks posed to agriculture by climate change.

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Abbreviations

GDP:

Gross domestic product

HBM:

Health belief model

PMT:

Protection motivation theory

US:

United States

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Acknowledgements

Funding for this research was provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Sectoral Applications Research Program (SARP) Grant Number NA13OAR431012 and USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Competitive Grant Number 2011-68002-30220. We thank the many agricultural advisors who agreed to be interviewed for this research. We also thank three anonymous reviewers, who provided valuable and useful feedback incorporated into this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, Purdue University, 195 Marsteller St., West Lafayette, IN, 47906, USA

    Sarah P. Church & Linda S. Prokopy

  2. Centre for Ecosystems, Society and Biosecurity, Forest Research, Northern Research Station, Roslin, Midlothian, EH25 9SY, UK

    Michael Dunn

  3. Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Sierra Nevada College, 999 Tahoe Blvd., Incline Village, NV, 89451, USA

    Nicholas Babin

  4. Environmental Resources Center, University of Wisconsin Extension, 445 Henry Mall, Madison, WI, 53706, USA

    Amber Saylor Mase

  5. National Drought Mitigation Center, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 3310 Holdrege St., Lincoln, NE, 68583-0988, USA

    Tonya Haigh

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  1. Sarah P. Church
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Correspondence to Linda S. Prokopy.

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Church, S.P., Dunn, M., Babin, N. et al. Do advisors perceive climate change as an agricultural risk? An in-depth examination of Midwestern U.S. Ag advisors’ views on drought, climate change, and risk management. Agric Hum Values 35, 349–365 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-017-9827-3

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