Implementing Soil and Water Conservation Production Systems at the Farm Level

Factors influencing adoption of soil and water conservation production systems at the farm level arediscussed in the context of their influence for motivating land owner-operators to adopt and to use conservationtechnologies and practices. Research focused on United States (US) farmers are examined to assess how social,economic, farm structure, and conservation program-participation factors affect adoption behaviors at the farmlevel. Research findings suggest that contemporary conservation programs that place emphasis on the provision ofinformation, education, technical assistance, and economic subsidies probably will not be successful in achievingsocietal conservation goals. Study findings basically demonstrated that factors commonly argued to influenceadoption of conservation production systems at the farm level were not useful for that purpose. Alternativeapproaches to achieving conservation goals within the US are examined.