Agroforestry adoption: influential factors, land manager perceptions, and willingness-to-accept payments
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The various environmental, economic, and social benefits of agroforestry have long been touted, but adoption remains minimal on the world's agricultural landscape. A metaanalysis of 69 global agroforestry adoption studies identified and explored key trends and influential factors in contemporary literature. Variables such as ‘agroforestry knowledge' and ‘farm size' were frequently significant and positively correlated with agroforestry adoption outcomes, while variables such as ‘age,' ‘biological sex,' ‘income,' and ‘fertile soil' displayed complex, inconsistent, or context-specific relationships with agroforestry. These results informed the design of a survey for Missouri land managers. The survey uncovered low levels of agroforestry knowledge among participants and notably positive perceptions of agroforestry's ability to provide environmental services. A mixed logit regression model determined that, assuming $2,500 per acre establishment costs, the average land manager in our sample would accept a payment of $7,697 per acre to implement agroforestry. Furthermore, technical assistance was valued at $1,670 per acre and environmental benefits were valued at $2,992 per acre. A second model assessed interaction variables and discovered respondents with higher incomes, greater knowledge of agroforestry practices, and positive perceptions of agroforestry's ability to improve soil health were significantly more willing to adopt agroforestry practices, while those with larger farm sizes were less willing. The results from this project enhance understanding of existing agroforestry adoption literature and provide insights into the populations that engage with agroforestry practices. Additionally, these findings may stimulate creation of effective research, outreach, or supportive efforts.
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M.S.