Excerpt
Researchers in agronomy, animal science, soil science, and agricultural engineering have proposed a number of manure management strategies and technological innovations to reduce air and water quality problems associated with livestock manure. These include buffer strips, improved application technologies, improved information on nutrient content of manure, and feed additives, which reduce nutrient content and odor. However, adoption of the manure management strategies and innovations suggested by scientists has been disappointing. Environmental benefits depend on adoption, not just technical feasibility (Lockeretz, 1990). Increasing voluntary adoption of animal waste management strategies will require improved understanding of the economic and social barriers and constraints that currently limit adoption.
We support using a systems approach. A systems approach looks at the many, and complex interactions that farmers draw on to make a decision to adopt a nutrient management practice. Rogers (1995) and Stoneman (2002) indicate that the following affect adoption rates: different farmer values and goals, previous investments, and the complex interaction of biological and physical factors.
INDUCED INNOVATION THEORY
First, we need technologies and innovations that are adoptable. Much research has addressed manure management strategies in confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs, which are regulated), but smaller farming operations need manure management strategies as …
Footnotes
Laura M.J. McCann is an assistant professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri. Jennifer Twyman Nunez is an economist with the Missouri State Auditor's Office. Peter Nowak is a professor in the Department of Rural Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Madison, Wisconsin.
- Copyright 2006 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
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