Participation in Landcare Groups: the Relative Importance of Attitudinal and Situational Factors

• Published in: Journal of environmental management Vol. 39; no. 1; pp. 51 - 71
• Main Authors: Black, Alan W., Reeve, Ian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 1993; Elsevier
• Subjects: Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Applied ecology; Biological and medical sciences; Conservation, protection and management of environment and wildlife; Environmental degradation: ecosystems survey and restoration; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General agroecology. Agricultural and farming systems. Agricultural development. Rural area planning. Landscaping; General agronomy. Plant production; Generalities. Agricultural and farming systems. Agricultural development; landcare, land degradation, land management, sustainable farming systems, adoption, diffusion, mail survey, logistic regression, attitudes, situational variables, Australia; Australia; Oceania; landcare, land degradation, land management, sustainable farming systems, adoption, diffusion, mail survey, logistic regression, attitudes, situational variables, Australia; Innovation; Attitude; Farming system; Farmer; Opinion inquiry; Sustainable development; Environmental protection
• ISSN: 0301-4797; 1095-8630
• DOI: 10.1006/jema.1993.1053

Landcare groups are largely autonomous groups of people, mainly land users in rural areas, whose objectives are to deal with problems of land degradation and to develop more sustainable farming systems and land-management practices. Given the rapid growth in the number of landcare groups in Australia in recent years, this paper examines the extent to which theories on the adoption/diffusion of innovations help to explain participation in such groups. Data from a mail survey of a nation-wide sample of Australian farmers ( N = 1755) indicate that although landcare group membership has bivariate associations with various attitudinal and situational variables, including several of those identified in adoption/diffusion theories, some of these linkages become non-significant under logistic regression. The data are consistent with the proposition that attitudinal variables are especially important in explaining or predicting landcare group membership in the movement's early stages; but that as the proportion of farmers participating increases, situational variables become increasingly important.