Doctoral Dissertation Research: Exploring the Influence of Social Networks on Small Farmers' Perceptions of Environmental Change

美国各地的农业生产都受到环境变化的影响，农民迫切需要在地方层面进行适应，以确保粮食安全、农村生计和可持续的粮食系统。小规模农场，即每年农场总现金收入低于35万美元的农场，占美国农场的90%，占所有农田的一半。它们是可持续粮食系统的重要组成部分，因为它们往往具有更大的生物多样性，支持当地粮食系统，并且比大型农场更有效地利用资源。然而，农民的决定和适应实践的能力受到许多社会、经济、政治和环境因素的影响，包括他们对环境变化的信念、对天气变化和风险的看法、信息来源和农场特征。目前对美国小农对环境变化的实地感知和反应的了解有限，需要关于影响他们适应的各种因素的数据。除了提供资金培训一名人类学研究生学习经验、科学数据收集和分析的方法外，该项目还将通过向投资于寻找更有效的方法向公众传播科学的组织广泛传播其研究结果，增进对科学的理解。调查结果将分发给各个政府实体和农业组织，以告知外联战略和政策，通过指出农民正在处理的最普遍的问题以及如何通过现有的社会网络与他们进行最好的沟通，帮助农民适应。这项研究将在俄勒冈州生产粮食的小农户中进行。俄勒冈州非常适合这项研究，因为它在生态和农业上都很多样化。作为一个地区，西北地区已经经历了环境变化的影响。最值得注意的是，积雪减少加剧了对水资源的竞争，大型野火继续给农民带来负面影响。通过访谈和调查，研究人员将记录小农户在俄勒冈州极端天气和气候变化方面的经历，并研究他们如何应对这些挑战。他们还将记录农民所依赖的社会网络，包括其他农民、农业组织、政府实体和媒体渠道，以获取有关天气、环境和农业实践的信息。通过花大量的时间与农民的子样本，并让他们拍摄他们全年经历的与天气相关的挑战的照片，研究人员还将记录他们农场的特定生态，例如存在的作物，杂草，害虫和动物。利用社会网络分析（一种评估社会网络对个人结果影响的统计方法），他们将以一种新颖的方式研究这些生态如何影响农民正在经历的挑战，以及他们的社会网络如何影响他们接收的信息以及他们如何选择适应。这些发现将表明各种因素如何共同影响小农对环境变化的反应。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Agricultural production across the United States is impacted by environmental variability and there is a critical need for farmers to adapt at the local level to ensure food security, rural livelihoods, and a sustainable food system. Small-scale farms, those that make less than $350,000 per year in gross cash farm income, comprise 90% of farms in the U.S. and half of all farmland. They are a critical part of a sustainable food system since they are often more biodiverse, support local food systems, and use resources more efficiently than large-scale farms. However, farmers' decisions and ability to adapt practices are influenced by many social, economic, political and environmental factors, including their beliefs about environmental change, perceptions of weather variability and risk, information sources, and farm characteristics. There is currently a limited understanding of small farmers' on-the-ground perceptions of and responses to environmental change in the U.S., and data on the various factors shaping their adaptation are needed. In addition to providing funding for the training of a graduate student in anthropology in the methods of empirical, scientific data collection and analysis, the project would enhance scientific understanding by broadly disseminating its findings to organizations invested in discovering more effective methods for communicating science to the public. The results will be disseminated to various governmental entities and farming organizations to inform outreach strategies and policies which help farmers adapt by indicating the most prevalent issues they are dealing with and how best to communicate with them via their existing social networks.This research will be conducted with food-producing small farmers in the state of Oregon. Oregon is well-suited for this research because it is diverse both ecologically and agriculturally. As a region, the Northwest has already been experiencing the effects of a changing environment. Most notably, decreases in snowpack have increased competition for water resources and large wildfires continue to negatively affect farmers. Using interviews and a survey, the researchers will document small farmers' experiences with weather extremes and variability across Oregon and examine how they are responding to these challenges. They will also document the social networks farmers rely on for information about the weather, environment and farming practices, including other farmers, farming organizations, governmental entities, and media outlets. By spending extensive time with a subsample of farmers and having them take photographs of the weather-related challenges they experience throughout the year, researchers will also document the specific ecologies of their farms, such as what crops, weeds, pests, and animals are present. Using social network analysis, a statistical method for assessing the influence of social networks on individual outcomes, in a novel way, they will examine how these ecologies influence the challenges farmers are experiencing as well as how their social networks influence the information they receive and how they choose to adapt. The findings will indicate how various factors work together to influence small farmers' responses to environmental change.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.