Water conservation behaviors among beginning farmers in the western United States

Abstract

Beginning farmers are a critical demographic in the context of a dwindling farm population in the United States. Research has shown that beginning farmers differ from established farmers in demographic parameters, farm size, education, and access to land. It is important to understand whether these differences play out in natural resource management. In this paper, we examine how beginning farmers in the western United States defined, prioritized, and practiced water conservation during a period of water scarcity. We used a survey to assess farmer engagement with water conservation practices and binary logistic regression to test the role of various predictor variables for explaining farmer engagement with these conservation practices. The majority of respondents were organic growers with an average of 4.6 years of experience in agriculture. Respondents reported using irrigation improvements, soil health practices, and experimentation with drought-tolerant crops in response to drought conditions. Approaches for improving soil were the most frequently cited means of water conservation. Binary logistic regression revealed that a sense of stewardship and education level played significant and positive roles in predicting respondents' use of both building soil organic matter and using pressure irrigation as water conservation strategies. Understanding how beginning farmers engage in water conservation is key to supporting increased conservation engagement for this population.