Determinants of agricultural best management practice adoption: Evidence from the literature

Abstract

This article reviews 25 years of literature focused on the adoption of agricultural best management practices (BMPs) in the United States to examine general trends in the categories of capacity, awareness, attitudes and farm characteristics. The study uses a vote count methodology and counts every instance of positive, negative and insignificant relationships in 55 studies. Education levels, capital, income, farm size, access to information, positive environmental attitudes, environmental awareness, and utilization of social networks emerge as some of the variables that are more often positively, rather than negatively, associated with adoption rates. The type of statistical analysis used in the studies has a negligible effect on the results. When different types of BMPs are examined in similar groupings, the aggregated findings generally hold true. The study concludes that farmer adoption rates can be improved by focusing on the generally consistent determinants of agricultural BMP adoption. This paper also highlights future areas of research that are needed including a focus on the determinants of adoption of water and livestock management BMPs and more study of the role of tenure and farm proximity to a river or stream.