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- Author or Editor: Maria I. Marshall x
Little is known about the drivers of organic decertification and it is unclear what production practices farmers adopt after decertification. This article investigated how farm demographics and characteristics, sources of information, and perceptions influence a farmer’s decision to decertify. The data for this article were from a 2012 web-based survey of fruit and vegetable farmers that were part of the Food Industry MarketMaker database. We used a robust probit regression to identify the drivers of organic decertification of fruit and vegetable farmers in the U.S. Demographics; farm’s characteristics, sources of information, and farmer’s perceptions were key factors influencing the decision to decertify. Finding useful information from price reporting services and certifiers decreased the probability to decertify. On the other hand, farmers located in the Midwest, those selling vegetables, and those perceiving the organic certification process as a barrier were more likely to decertify.
In recent years, the commercial greenhouse industry has begun to implement sustainable production practices. However, floriculture certification programs for sustainable production practices are a relatively new phenomenon in the United States. Between July and Oct. 2008, a commercial floriculture grower survey was conducted to determine potential barriers to sustainable floriculture certification. Using a logistic regression model, seven potential areas were evaluated: risk, profitability, economic viability, prior experience, education, operation size, and customer types. Although respondents had positive attitudes toward sustainability and had adopted sustainable practices, respondents had little knowledge and interest in U.S. certification.
Value-added (VA) technologies can help farmers in the specialty crops industry generate new products, increase off-season income sources, expand market access, and improve overall profitability. The United States Department of Agriculture defines VA agricultural products as those that have been changed physically or produced in a manner that enhances their value. Drawing from this definition, we investigated the adoption of VA technologies, such as drying, physical cutting into customer-ready portions, and washing, by specialty crops farmers. The objectives of this study were two-fold. First, we analyzed how market access drives specialty crop farmers to adopt VA technologies. Second, we addressed key identification issues by investigating the potential endogeneity between the adoption of VA technologies (vertical diversification) and the number of crops (horizontal diversification), which have not been addressed in the VA technology adoption literature. Data for this study were from a 2019 Web-based survey of specialty crops farmers in the United States. The results suggest that market access, growers’ networks, and crop diversification are major drivers of VA technology adoption in the specialty crops industry. The results indicate that farmers who adopted VA technologies experienced economic growth relative to their counterparts.
In June to Oct. 2008, a U.S. floriculture survey was conducted to examine the factors affecting growers' willingness to adopt sustainable practices. The factors affecting adoption of sustainable practices were evaluated in five areas: environmental regulations, customer value, growers' attitudes toward sustainability, age, and operation size. A logistic regression model was used to examine factors affecting growers' adoption of sustainable practices. Nearly two-thirds (65.2%) of respondents thought sustainability was very important to the environment. Similarly, more than half (63%) of the respondents had sustainable practices in their operations. Although respondents had positive attitudes toward sustainability and the environment, these positive attitudes alone were unable to predict adoption behaviors. The two most important factors that affected adoption of sustainable practices were the concerns about implementation and the risk perceived by growers. Neither perceived customer value nor the stringency of state regulations affected the adoption of sustainable practices. The results from this study provide original insight into growers' views of sustainability and identify the educational assistance needed by growers to overcome the factors affecting their adoption of sustainable practices.