Farmer perspectives on cropping systems diversification in northwestern Minnesota

It is important to understand factors that influence management decisions that determine the level of diversification within cropping systems. Because of the wide variety of cropping systems within a region, our study focused on a single county (Marshall) in northwestern Minnesota. This county was selected because it is in an area where farmers were reevaluating their cropping practices during the 1990s in response to severe plant disease outbreaks and economic stresses. A survey (n = 153) and follow-up interviews (n = 9) of representative farmers in Marshall County showed that they were approaching their cropping systems management decisions under these conditions through a dominant conceptual framework (scientific) and two secondary conceptual frameworks (institutional and spiritual), which we termed "mental causal models." The study illustrates the ways farmers define and make decisions affecting their cropping systems diversity under conditions of agronomic and economic adversity. It also challenges agricultural professionals to expand their thinking about educational strategies that are sensitive to the varied perspectives of farmers beyond just the scientific mental causal model. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]