Editorial

NU study proves farmers really do care about neighbors

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Farmers are special people. There's nothing profound about that statement, which isn't news to anyone in our area.

But University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension researchers have reinforced that view with scientific facts.

Taking a look at four counties in the Blue River/Tuttle Creek Lake Watershed in Nebraska and Kansas, they found that a number of factors determined whether farmers practiced conservation tillage. That method of farming leaves crop residue on the soil to prevent erosion and runoff into the watershed, as well increasing profitability.

Mailing out surveys to farmers in the area, the researchers studied nearly 500 responses to determine why conservation tillage practices were likely to be used.

Some did it out of habit, they found, some did it because they benefitted from it and some worried about losing control over their farming operations.

The most important reason, however, turned out to be the Golden Rule.

Empathy plays a central part in using the practices, they found, with "farmers who recognize the water quality problem in the watershed caused by erosion and subsequently empathize with downstream water users are more likely to practice conservation tillage," said Gary Lynne, a professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics, and Robert Sheeder, a program specialist with the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality.

"In fact, we show that farmers with even a small interest in identifying with downstream water users are anywhere from 4 to 9 percent more likely to use conservation tillage technologies," the researchers wrote.

There is some profit to be made using conservation tillage, Lynn said, but "if profit was the only reason, everyone should be doing it." In practice, however, "some are doing it and some are not."

And, the researchers showed that a $1,000 increase in income only increased the odds of conservation tillage by less than 1 percent.

The practice varied in the study area, Reeder said, with 85 to 90 percent using conservation tillage in Gage County, and 50 percent or less in the Kansas counties.

All in all, it's reassuring in this day and age that we live in a region where people really do care about their neighbors.

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