Doctoral Dissertation Research: Social Capital and Policy Networks: Exploring the Factors that Influence Adoption of Pollinator Conservation

在北美，大部分农作物授粉是由商业管理的蜜蜂完成的，但在过去的十年里，科学家们报告说，由于农药暴露、栖息地丧失以及寄生虫和疾病的爆发，蜜蜂的数量出现了前所未有的下降。这导致租用商业蜂箱的成本大幅增加，并引发了人们对当前作物授粉做法可持续性的担忧。蜜蜂丰度的下降对全球粮食安全、农业经济和农民的生计构成严重威胁，因为全世界三分之一的作物物种完全由昆虫授粉。科学家们目前正在探索通过综合利用商业蜜蜂和野生蜜蜂(即未驯化的蜜蜂)来确保作物授粉的方法，但对影响农民决定采用新的传粉者保护做法的因素知之甚少。作为文化人类学项目对关键人类过程的社会文化驱动因素和后果研究的持续支持的一部分，这个博士论文研究项目将调查影响个人保护行为和集体行动的因素。这项研究将由缅因州大学的研究生Kourtney Colum进行，他将由Samuel Hanes博士指导。科勒姆将通过对缅因州和加拿大爱德华王子岛(PEI)低灌木蓝莓(Vaccdium Angustifolium)种植者的比较研究，研究影响农民采用传粉者保护措施的因素。尽管缅因州和PEI的气候、推广工作和蓝莓生产实践相似，但在商业蜜蜂进口方面，缅因州和PEI的政策不同。虽然缅因州的种植者可以从美国任何地方进口蜜蜂，但直到最近，PEI的蜜蜂健康法规禁止来自新斯科舍省以外省份的商业蜜蜂进入，导致该岛省份的蜜蜂短缺。该规定于2013年被废除，2014年春季将首次进口蜜蜂用于蓝莓授粉。这项研究是及时的，因为它与新政策不谋而合，使调查人员能够记录下未来两年政策如何影响种植者的授粉做法。对缅因州和PEI进行比较研究，可以对不同政策对种植者管理做法的影响进行有意义的分析。研究人员将调查农业政策、政府和非政府农业组织以及社会资本对蓝莓种植者授粉管理的影响。调查人员将访问农场，采访农民和农业组织的代表，并进行调查，以确定目前正在使用的传粉者保护做法，以及为加强作物安全和环境管理而使授粉管理多样化所面临的障碍。这项研究旨在确定农业政策如何影响保护创新，并为未来的政策提供信息，以便最大限度地利用现有的社会和政治资源。此外，研究人员的目标是确定保护性农业的普遍模式是否可能，或者不同作物、保护需求以及政治和社会环境之间的复杂相互作用是否需要高度本地化的解决方案。

In North America, the majority of crop pollination is done by commercially managed honeybees, but in the last decade scientists have reported unprecedented declines in bee abundance due to pesticide exposure, habitat loss, and parasite and disease outbreak. This has led to a significant increase in the cost of renting commercial beehives and raised concern about the sustainability of current crop pollination practices. Declining bee abundance poses serious threats to global food security, the agricultural economy, and the livelihoods of farmers, as one-third of crop species worldwide are completely insect-pollinated. Scientists are now exploring ways to secure crop pollination through integrated use of commercial and wild bees (i.e. undomesticated bees), but little is known about the factors that influence farmers' decisions to adopt emerging pollinator conservation practices. As part of the Cultural Anthropology Program's on-going support for research into the socio-cultural drivers and consequences of critical anthropogenic processes, this doctoral dissertation research project will investigate the factors that influence individual conservation behavior and collective action.The research will be carried out by graduate student Kourtney Collum of the University of Maine, who will be supervised by Dr. Samuel Hanes. Collum will examine the factors that influence farmers' adoption of pollinator conservation practices through a comparative study of lowbush blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium) growers in Maine and Prince Edward Island (PEI), Canada. Despite similar climates, outreach efforts, and blueberry production practices, Maine and PEI have dissimilar policies regarding commercial bee importation. Whereas Maine growers can import honeybees from anywhere in the United States, until recently PEI's Bee Health Regulations prohibited the entry of commercial bees from provinces other than Nova Scotia, creating a shortage of bees on the island province. The regulation was revoked in 2013 and honeybees will be imported for blueberry pollination for the first time in the spring of 2014. The research is timely as it coincides with the new policy, allowing investigators to document how policy does or does not influence grower pollination practices over the next two years. A comparative study of Maine and PEI allows for a meaningful analysis of the impact of divergent policies on growers' management practices. The researchers will investigate the influence of agricultural policy, governmental and non-governmental agricultural organizations, and social capital on blueberry growers' pollination management. Investigators will visit farms, interview farmers and representatives from agricultural organizations, and conduct surveys to determine what pollinator conservation practices are currently being used and what the barriers are to diversifying pollination management for increased crop security and environmental stewardship. The research aims to identify how agricultural policies influence conservation innovations and inform future policy so that it can maximize existing social and political resources. Furthermore, the investigators aim to determine if a generalized model of conservation agriculture is possible, or if the complicated interplay between different crops, conservation needs, and political and social environments requires highly localized solutions.