ABSTRACT:
Absentee landowners influence the adoption of soil erosion control practices in three possible ways. These include overt rejection of efforts to carry out erosion control, abandonment of erosion control on the land being leased, and the “convenient excuse” influence. Data from three surveys on the relationship between farm operators and absentee landlords provide little support for either of the first two types of influence. Neither did the data prove or disprove the third type of influence. However, by casting doubt on the first two types of influence, the “convenient excuse” remains the most viable influence if such an influence exists at all.
Footnotes
Don A. Dillman is a professor in the Departments of Sociology and Rural Sociology, Washington State University, Pullman, 99164, and John E. Carlson is a professor of rural sociology in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Applied Statistics, University of Idaho, Moscow, 83843. This paper was originally presented on August 3, 1981, at SCSA's 36th annual meeting in Spokane, Washington. The research was conducted jointly by the University of Idaho Agricultural Experiment Station (Projects H687 and K251), the Idaho Water Resources Research Institute, and the Washington State University College of Agriculture Research Center (Project 9236). Financial support was provided by the Solution to Environmental and Economic Problems (STEEP) research program, U.S. Department of Agriculture. Scientific Paper No. 6107, Washington State University College of Agriculture Research Center, and Research Paper No. 8111, University of Idaho Agricultural Experiment Station.
- Copyright 1982 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
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