Factors affecting adoption of water conservation practices in Iowa

Abstract

Adoption of conservation methods has been one of the foci of sociological studies. This thesis employs sociological theories to construct path models to facilitate a better understanding of the adoption/diffusion process of conservation methods. Data from Iowa Rural Life and Farm Poll are utilized to study the adoption of water and soil conservation methods in Iowa. Path models are constructed to illustrate the adoption process of management practices and structural and vegetation practices and reduced tillage in Iowa. Most general hypotheses are supported. Model fit indices suggest both the structural and vegetation practices model and the management intensive practices model represent good fit of data, while the model for adoption of reduced till method depends on a different set of factors and awaits further identification. Results also show that adoption of structural and vegetation practices is affected by physical condition of the farmland, perceived need of farm conservation, farm ownership, farm size, and environmentalist level. In contrast, adoption of management practices is affected to a large extent by farm size, perceived need of farm conservation, and producer's age. Total effect of farm size is decomposed into positive direct effect and negative indirect effect mediating by environmentalist level. Physical condition of farmland has a highly significant effect on adoption of structural and vegetation practices as well as adoption of reduced till method, but does not affect the use of management practices significantly. Implications for future diffusion of conservation practices are discussed, and direction of future research is proposed.