Healthy people, soils, and ecosystems: uncovering primary drivers in the adoption of regenerative agriculture by US farmers and ranchers
As regenerative agriculture grows in popularity, policy and decision-makers have become interested in its practices. Yet, little is known about those factors driving its adoption among farmers and ranchers. To better understand these drivers, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 31 farmers a...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2024-01-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2023.1070518/full |
| _version_ | 1797362226527469568 |
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| author | Lee Frankel-Goldwater Niko Wojtynia Sebastián Dueñas-Ocampo |
| author_facet | Lee Frankel-Goldwater Niko Wojtynia Sebastián Dueñas-Ocampo |
| author_sort | Lee Frankel-Goldwater |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | As regenerative agriculture grows in popularity, policy and decision-makers have become interested in its practices. Yet, little is known about those factors driving its adoption among farmers and ranchers. To better understand these drivers, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 31 farmers and ranchers across the United States (US) who self-identified as practitioners of regenerative agriculture. In doing so, we asked about relational values, which reflect one’s perspectives around the links between humans and nature. We also asked about economic and environmental drivers for adoption. In the analysis, we used qualitative coding to identify the range of values and factors driving adoption across our sample. We found that 1) improving the health of people, soils, and ecosystems - through farming practices and related social configurations - was a primary driver for adoption, 2) that relative economic privilege, particularly across two extremes - privileged idealism and less privileged necessity - correlated with most drivers for adoption, 3) that a shift away from industrial agriculture was at once a moral, economic, and environmental imperative for many practitioners, and 4) a systems view of social-ecological relationships was seen as a key to adoption and societal transitions. While our sample represents only a narrow segment of the regenerative agriculture movement in the US, our findings can serve as a useful starting point for understanding the drivers for its adoption. Our findings may also inform conversations on regenerative agriculture’s potential to support food-related sustainability transitions. The discussion situates our work amidst sustainable agriculture and social movement studies, questions of equity in food systems transitions, and the benefits of studying values in developing policy-relevant solutions. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T16:05:19Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-39c916f47f2d4edd8137ef3f03ee3e0e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2571-581X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T16:05:19Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems |
| spelling | doaj.art-39c916f47f2d4edd8137ef3f03ee3e0e2024-01-08T06:28:16ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems2571-581X2024-01-01710.3389/fsufs.2023.10705181070518Healthy people, soils, and ecosystems: uncovering primary drivers in the adoption of regenerative agriculture by US farmers and ranchersLee Frankel-Goldwater0Niko Wojtynia1Sebastián Dueñas-Ocampo2Department of Environmental Studies, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, United StatesCopernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University, Utrecht, NetherlandsDepartment of Business Administration, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogota, ColombiaAs regenerative agriculture grows in popularity, policy and decision-makers have become interested in its practices. Yet, little is known about those factors driving its adoption among farmers and ranchers. To better understand these drivers, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 31 farmers and ranchers across the United States (US) who self-identified as practitioners of regenerative agriculture. In doing so, we asked about relational values, which reflect one’s perspectives around the links between humans and nature. We also asked about economic and environmental drivers for adoption. In the analysis, we used qualitative coding to identify the range of values and factors driving adoption across our sample. We found that 1) improving the health of people, soils, and ecosystems - through farming practices and related social configurations - was a primary driver for adoption, 2) that relative economic privilege, particularly across two extremes - privileged idealism and less privileged necessity - correlated with most drivers for adoption, 3) that a shift away from industrial agriculture was at once a moral, economic, and environmental imperative for many practitioners, and 4) a systems view of social-ecological relationships was seen as a key to adoption and societal transitions. While our sample represents only a narrow segment of the regenerative agriculture movement in the US, our findings can serve as a useful starting point for understanding the drivers for its adoption. Our findings may also inform conversations on regenerative agriculture’s potential to support food-related sustainability transitions. The discussion situates our work amidst sustainable agriculture and social movement studies, questions of equity in food systems transitions, and the benefits of studying values in developing policy-relevant solutions.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2023.1070518/fullregenerative agriculturesocial movementsrelational valuesfood systemssustainability transitionshealth |
| spellingShingle | Lee Frankel-Goldwater Niko Wojtynia Sebastián Dueñas-Ocampo Healthy people, soils, and ecosystems: uncovering primary drivers in the adoption of regenerative agriculture by US farmers and ranchers Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems regenerative agriculture social movements relational values food systems sustainability transitions health |
| title | Healthy people, soils, and ecosystems: uncovering primary drivers in the adoption of regenerative agriculture by US farmers and ranchers |
| title_full | Healthy people, soils, and ecosystems: uncovering primary drivers in the adoption of regenerative agriculture by US farmers and ranchers |
| title_fullStr | Healthy people, soils, and ecosystems: uncovering primary drivers in the adoption of regenerative agriculture by US farmers and ranchers |
| title_full_unstemmed | Healthy people, soils, and ecosystems: uncovering primary drivers in the adoption of regenerative agriculture by US farmers and ranchers |
| title_short | Healthy people, soils, and ecosystems: uncovering primary drivers in the adoption of regenerative agriculture by US farmers and ranchers |
| title_sort | healthy people soils and ecosystems uncovering primary drivers in the adoption of regenerative agriculture by us farmers and ranchers |
| topic | regenerative agriculture social movements relational values food systems sustainability transitions health |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2023.1070518/full |
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