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Sociology of Agriculture and Food (SAFRIG)

Good Farmers, Good Practices?: Growers’ Perspectives on Conservation Madison Harris*, Madison Harris, Kelli Russell, Brenda Ortiz, David Russell, Eros Francisco, Adam Rabinowitz, Steve Brown,

Purpose 

Efficiency and land stewardship are central tenets of row crop production. While much is known about the production factors related to conservation and sustainability, less is known about Southeastern U.S. farmers’ perspectives and decision-making related to conservation farm management practices. In this research, we explore farmers’ motivations regarding farm management practices and their conceptualizations of conservation, efficiency, and how these factors intersect with being a good farmer.   

Theoretical Framing and Methods 

Grounded theory guides all facets of data generation and analysis for this research. Data collection is ongoing, and at the time of writing, I have conducted 17 of a planned 30+ interviews, 3 informant interviews, and the data for this paper comes from 8 hours of participant observation.  

Findings 

My preliminary findings indicate that farmers are significantly more concerned with the profitability of their operation than with adopting new conservation practices. Conservation is viewed as a tool to improve their yields, not a moral obligation. While farmers indicate they believe they should be “good stewards of the land,” they simultaneously state that “good farmers” are the farmers who are profitable, not farmers who are focused solely on conservation efforts.