Farmers’ social networks and regional spillover effects in agricultural climate change mitigation

Autor: Cordelia Kreft, Mario Angst, Robert Huber, Robert Finger
Přispěvatelé: University of Zurich
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2023
Předmět:
Zdroj: Climatic Change, 176 (2)
ISSN: 0165-0009
1573-1480
Popis: Climate change poses a severe threat to global agricultural production and rural livelihoods, and since agriculture itself is a significant source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, it can also play an important role in climate change mitigation. This article investigates how farmers’ social networks influence the adoption of on-farm mitigation strategies. More precisely, we use a network autocorrelation model to explore the relationship between a farmer’s own mitigation behavior and the mitigation behavior and knowledge of his fellow farmers. The analysis is based on a regional case study in Switzerland and uses data obtained from personal network interviews combined with survey and census data of 50 farmers. Half of them are members of a local collective action initiative for agricultural climate change mitigation, while the others do not participate in the initiative. We find that, on average, farmers with a larger network adopt more mitigation measures, and furthermore, mitigation adoption is linked with the level of knowledge within farmers’ networks. Indeed, the likelihood that non-members will adopt mitigation measures increases if they are closely associated with members of the collective action, suggesting a local spillover effect. It follows that strengthening knowledge exchange among farmers and supporting local farmers’ initiatives can potentially contribute to the diffusion of agricultural climate change mitigation practices.
Climatic Change, 176 (2)
ISSN:0165-0009
ISSN:1573-1480
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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