Communicating with farmers about conservation practices: Lessons learned from a systematic review of survey studies

Abstract

To identify gaps in research related to communicating with farmers about conservation, we conducted a systematic review of 49 articles based in the United States about conservation that included a survey of farmers and featured information or communication items in the survey. We found that studies most often included active information seeking survey items, and next most commonly included items about information sharing and barriers. As phrasing of communication and information survey items varied widely, we offer recommendations to clarify wording and reduce respondent burden. We also identified themes, including that farmers tend to seek or receive information about conservation from multiple sources and that they show preferences for specific information channels and sources. Media may play an important role, but few studies examined media usage.