Search Results (63)

Agriculture plays a crucial role in discussions about environmental challenges because of its ecological footprint and high vulnerability to environmental shocks. To better understand the social and behavioral dynamics among food producers and their perceptions of climate change-related risks, this paper draws on forty-one in-depth, semi-structured interviews with farmers and ranchers in Colorado (USA). Leveraging the concept of social capital, the paper extends the concept analytically in a direction missed by previous research highlighting network structures, such as by focusing on its bonding, bridging, and linking characteristics. Instead, focus centers on the inclusiveness and diversity of values, beliefs, worldviews, and cultural orientations within those networks, arguing that these elements can be just as influential, if not more so in certain instances, than structural qualities. The concept of social capital heterogeneity is introduced to describe a network’s level of diversity and inclusivity. The findings do not question the importance of studying network structures when trying to understand how food producers respond to threats like climate change; an approach that remains useful for explaining social learning, technology adoption, and behavioral change. However, this method misses elements captured through a subjective, interpretivist perspective. With social capital heterogeneity, we can use social capital to explore why farmers and ranchers hold specific values and risk perceptions, peering deeper “within” networks, while tools like quantitative social network analysis software help map their structures from the “outside.” Additionally, social capital heterogeneity provides valuable insights into questions about “effective” agro-environmental governance. The paper concludes by discussing practical implications of the findings and reviewing the limitations of the research design. Full article

The transition to sustainable agriculture is a critical challenge for the U.S. food system. A sustainable food system must support the production of healthy and nutritious food while ensuring economic sustainability for farmers and ranchers. It should also reduce negative environmental impacts on soil, water, biodiversity, and climate, and promote equitable and inclusive access to land, farming resources, and food. This narrative review synthesizes U.S. social science literature to identify the key factors that support or impede the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices in the U.S. Our analysis reveals seven overarching factors that influence producer decision-making: awareness and knowledge, social factors, psychological factors, technologies and tools, economic factors, implementation capacity, and policies and regulations. The review highlights the critical role of social science in navigating complexity and uncertainty. Key priorities emerging from the literature include developing measurable, outcome-based programs; ensuring credible communication through trusted intermediaries; and designing tailored interventions. The findings demonstrate that initiatives will succeed when they emphasize measurable benefits, address uncertainties, and develop programs that capitalize on identified opportunities while overcoming existing barriers. Full article

In the central Mesa Verde region, rock art occurs on canyon walls and on boulders that are frequently associated with other archaeological remains. Moreover, rock art, together with architecture and pottery, is actually a primary source of archaeological information about the presence of various cultures in the area. It includes paintings and petroglyphs of Ancestral Pueblo farming communities, images and inscriptions made by post-contact Ute and possibly Diné (Navajo) people as well as historical inscriptions of the early Euro-Americans in this area. This paper presents the results of archaeological investigations at four large rock art sites from Sandstone Canyon, southwestern Colorado, within the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument (CANM). Methods of rock art recording included advanced digital photography, photogrammetry, terrestrial laser scanning (TLS), hand tracing, and consultations with members of indigenous societies and rock art scholars. Geophysics and sondage excavations were conducted at one site revealed important information about archaeology, environment, and geology of the area. Analysis of rock art and other material evidence aims to help reconstruct and understand the mechanisms and nature of cultural changes, migrations, and human–environmental interactions and later cross-cultural contacts between indigenous peoples and Anglo-American ranchers and settlers in southwestern Colorado and the US Southwest. Full article

Social conflict over rangeland-use priorities, especially near protected areas, has long pitted environmental and biodiversity conservation interests against livestock livelihoods. Social–ecological conflict limits management adaptation and creativity while reinforcing social and disciplinary divisions. It can also reduce rancher access to land and negatively affect wildlife conservation. Communities increasingly expect research organizations to address complex social dynamics to improve opportunities for multiple ecosystem service delivery on rangelands. In the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE), an area of the western US, long-standing disagreements among actors who argue for the use of the land for livestock and those who prioritize wildlife are limiting conservation and ranching livelihoods. Researchers at the USDA-ARS US Sheep Experiment Station (USSES) along with University and societal partners are responding to these challenges using a collaborative adaptive management (CAM) methodology. The USSES Rangeland Collaboratory is a living laboratory project leveraging the resources of a federal range sheep research ranch operating across sagebrush steppe ecosystems in Clark County, Idaho, and montane/subalpine landscapes in Beaverhead County, Montana. The project places stakeholders, including ranchers, conservation groups, and government land managers, in the decision-making seat for a participatory case study. This involves adaptive management planning related to grazing and livestock–wildlife management decisions for two ranch-scale rangeland management scenarios, one modeled after a traditional range sheep operation and the second, a more intensified operation with no use of summer ranges. We discuss the extent to which the CAM approach creates opportunities for multi-directional learning among participants and evaluate trade-offs among preferred management systems through participatory ranch-scale grazing research. In a complex system where the needs and goals of various actors are misaligned across spatiotemporal, disciplinary, and social–ecological scales, CAM creates a structure and methods to focus on social learning and land management knowledge creation. Full article

Deforestation in the municipality of Puerto Guzmán, located in the Colombian Amazon, has increased significantly in recent years with negative consequences for the region’s ecosystems. This paper article aims to explore local perceptions of the causes and actors of deforestation in Puerto Guzmán through a qualitative approach. Semi-structured interviews and documentary review were used as data collection techniques. A total of 25 interviews were conducted with different stakeholders between June and October 2022. ATLAS.ti 9 software was used for data processing. The study found that the main perceived causes of deforestation in Puerto Guzmán are extensive cattle ranchers, illegal mining and illicit crops. The main actors of deforestation include businesspeople and raising cattle in Caquetá, as well as local armed groups involved in illicit crop cultivation and illegal mining, which generate violence and intimidation in the community. Almost all of the actors belong to the local community, with the exception of some members of the armed groups who come from other regions. The various actors interviewed identified education as possible alternative solution and suggested improvements to the illicit crops substitution programmes. It was concluded that there is a loss of trust among the actors living in Puerto Guzmán, particularly in relation to the management of international cooperation funds intended to support efforts to reduce deforestation. The communities are aware of these resources and claim that they belong to them and therefore expect them to be given directly to them. Full article

Many barriers prevent ranchers from supporting prescribed fire on grazing leases or their own land. Barriers include negative perceptions of fire resources limitations, and fear of liability. We surveyed ranching landowners around four National Grasslands in North and South Dakota—public grazinglands managed by the USDA Forest Service—to assess landowner attitudes towards prescribed fire and provide insight into the barriers to using prescribed burning on the National Grasslands. Respondents reported being motivated by an interest in stewardship and want managers to prioritize sound science in decision-making on the National Grasslands. But respondents generally had negative perceptions of fire and reported little awareness of potential benefits. With respect to prescribed fire, specifically, respondents reported their greatest degree of trust in prescribed fire activity and/or information of Pheasants Forever and county Extension, and their lowest trust in the USDA Forest Service. Despite their proximity to public grazingland, where the risk and resource barriers for prescribed burning would be borne by the USDA Forest Service, respondents disagreed that prescribed fire use on the Grasslands should be increased and stated a lack of readiness to conduct prescribed burns on their own ranches. As the primary barriers to prescribed fire use in these communities appear to be negative perceptions, educational materials from trusted sources and opportunities to engage with burning might help explain where and when prescribed fire use would be appropriate on the landscape and aid understanding between entities that would like to use prescribed fire and those who are concerned about prescribed fire use. Full article

Aridification in the U.S. Southwest has led to tension about conservation and land management strategy. Strain on multi-generational agricultural livelihoods and nearly 150-year-old Colorado River water adjudication necessitates solutions from transdisciplinary partnerships. In this study, farmers and ranchers in a small San Juan River headwater community of southwestern Colorado engaged in a participatory, convergent research study prioritizing local objectives and policy. Acknowledging the historic and sometimes perceived role of academic institutions as representing urban interests, our goal was to highlight how research can support rural governance. This process involved creating community partnerships, analyzing data, and supporting results distribution to the surveyed population through social media. The survey was designed to support a local waterway management plan. Survey results showed lack of water availability and climate changes were selected by producers as most negatively affecting their operations, and many were extremely interested in agroforestry methods and drought-resistant crop species. Statistical analysis identified that satisfaction with community resources was positively correlated with scale of production, satisfaction with irrigation equipment, and familiarity with water rights. We hope to contribute our framework of a convergent, place-based research design for wider applications in other regions to uncover solutions to resource challenges. Full article

Supraglacial melt-lakes form and evolve along the western edge of the Greenland Ice Sheet and have proven to play a significant role in ice sheet surface hydrology and mass balance. Prior methods to quantify melt-lake volume have relied upon Landsat-8 optical imagery, available at 30 m spatial resolution but with temporal resolution limited by satellite overpass times and cloud cover. We propose two novel methods to quantify the volume of meltwater stored in these lakes, including a high-resolution surface DEM (ArcticDEM) and an ablation model using daily averaged automated weather station data. We compare our methods to the depth-reflectance method for five supraglacial melt-lakes during the 2021 summer melt season. We find agreement between the depth-reflectance and DEM lake infilling methods, within +/−15% for most cases, but our ablation model underproduces by 0.5–2 orders of magnitude the volumetric melt needed to match our other methods, and with a significant lag in meltwater onset for routing into the lake basin. Further information regarding energy balance parameters, including insolation and liquid precipitation amounts, is needed for adequate ablation modelling. Despite the differences in melt-lake volume estimates, our approach in combining remote sensing and meteorological methods provides a framework for analysis of seasonal melt-lake evolution at significantly higher spatial and temporal scales, to understand the drivers of meltwater production and its influence on the spatial distribution and extent of meltwater volume stored on the ice sheet surface. Full article

Sheep breeding is one of the most important economic activities in Ahar City, Iran. However, due to traditional production techniques, livestock farmers face the problem of low productivity. To address this issue, traditional breeds can be replaced with improved and high-yielding ones; in the first stage, this requires the acceptance of these new sheep breeds by the region’s ranchers. This research aimed to evaluate the attitudes of the livestock breeders of Ahar City towards the improved breeds of sheep and the influential factors. We collected data through in-person interviews using a simple random sampling method, surveying 100 sheep breeders in Ahar. The breeders were categorized into three groups based on their attitudes towards improved breeds: negative, indifferent, and positive. Next, we employed data mining-based methods, including multilayer perceptron neural networks, random forest, and random tree algorithms. These helped identify essential variables affecting ranchers’ attitudes. The results showed that several factors contribute to the ranchers’ philosophy, with the number of sheep sold in the past year and the total sheep ownership being the most significant ones. Comparing statistical evaluation criteria, we found that the random tree algorithm outperformed other methods in predicting and classifying livestock farmers, achieving a prediction accuracy rate of 86% for a sample of 100 farmers. Based on our findings, promoting training courses and raising awareness about the benefits of breeding new sheep breeds, along with providing facilities and credits based on economic conditions, can foster a positive attitude among herders. Increasing the number of sheep owned and improving marketing strategies can further enhance this positive outlook. Full article

Unstable farm income and the desire to diversify revenue sources have increased the significance of agritourism as an alternative economic opportunity for farmers and ranchers. Agritourism integrates the top economic drivers—agriculture and tourism—and has been identified as a highly effective complementary business for farmers to generate additional income and mitigate the financial uncertainties associated with traditional farming enterprises. Visitors’ satisfaction is critical for operating a successful agritourism business, as it influences destination choice, consumption of products and services, and the decision to return. This study examined the relationship between agritourism visitors’ intrinsic motivation, environmental behavior, satisfaction, and intentions to revisit and recommend. With a total of 615 survey responses, the study reveals a significant relationship between agritourism visitors’ intrinsic motivation, environmental behavior, and satisfaction related to destination, risk, and food attributes. Furthermore, visitors’ overall satisfaction with these three attributes significantly influences their intentions to revisit and recommend the destination. The findings of this study will enable agritourism operators and policymakers to formulate appropriate policies for the sustainable development of this sector. Future promotional and educational tools could be developed based on these findings. Full article

The United States is predicted to experience an annual decline in milk production due to heat stress of 1.4 and 1.9 kg/day by the 2050s and 2080s, with economic losses of USD 1.7 billion and USD 2.2 billion, respectively, despite current cooling efforts implemented by the dairy industry. The ability of cattle to withstand heat (i.e., thermotolerance) can be influenced by physiological and behavioral factors, even though the factors contributing to thermoregulation are heritable, and cows vary in their behavioral repertoire. The current methods to gauge cow behaviors are lacking in precision and scalability. This paper presents an approach leveraging various machine learning (ML) (e.g., CNN and YOLOv8) and computer vision (e.g., Video Processing and Annotation) techniques aimed at quantifying key behavioral indicators, specifically drinking frequency and brush use- behaviors. These behaviors, while challenging to quantify using traditional methods, offer profound insights into the autonomic nervous system function and an individual cow’s coping mechanisms under heat stress. The developed approach provides an opportunity to quantify these difficult-to-measure drinking and brush use behaviors of dairy cows milked in a robotic milking system. This approach will open up a better opportunity for ranchers to make informed decisions that could mitigate the adverse effects of heat stress. It will also expedite data collection regarding dairy cow behavioral phenotypes. Finally, the developed system is evaluated using different performance metrics, including classification accuracy. It is found that the YoloV8 and CNN models achieved a classification accuracy of 93% and 96% for object detection and classification, respectively. Full article

Profitability remains elusive for many small-scale cattle farmers, as the high operational costs involved often require a larger herd to achieve a reasonable profit. This study uses key financial metrics and the Monte Carlo probabilistic simulation to evaluate the economic feasibility and viability of integrating cattle and mushroom production to enhance year-round profitability for small-scale ranchers. The study results illustrate a promising outlook for investing in the integration of cattle and mushroom production. This integrated system shows potential for generating significant returns with minimal risk over the long term. The Monte Carlo simulation indicates that combining mushroom farming with cattle farming could substantially decrease feed expenses, fertilizer costs for hay production, and overall operational expenditures, while also increasing revenue from mushroom sales. Full article

Protected areas (PAs) in the Brazilian Amazon have proven to be critical in preserving the rainforest but face increasing threats. Since 2019, illegal activities and land conflicts involving PAs have escalated due to the weakening of environmental institutions. Therefore, up-to-date research is needed to evaluate agricultural pressures on PAs—including Sustainable Use Areas, Indigenous Territories, and Strictly Protected Areas—given its importance in driving deforestation in the Amazon, and to identify hotspots of concern. We analyzed property registration, deforestation, pasture expansion, and cattle transaction records within 158 PAs in the Brazilian state of Pará, which holds most of the remaining forest and the highest rates of deforestation. Our findings show that nearly a quarter of Pará’s 2019–2022 deforestation occurred within PAs, undermining their effectiveness as conservation tools. Despite prohibitions, we found illegally registered private properties in most PA categories including indigenous territories and over a 100% increase in deforestation within PAs from 2015–2018. Over 90% of PAs contained pasturelands in 2022, but only half of them had registered cattle transactions within their borders, which suggests the presence of clandestine cattle activities in these areas as well. Indirect sales to slaughterhouses coming from PAs increased during the study period, potentially due to efforts by ranchers to obscure such cattle origins from companies that are increasingly monitoring their direct suppliers. Finally, we identified 17 high-risk PAs concentrating most threats. Focusing monitoring efforts on property registries and cattle transactions in these areas could significantly reduce illegal deforestation and illegal cattle ranching. While PAs are considered to be cornerstones of forest conservation efforts, our findings show that current policies fail to prevent cycles of land grabbing, illegal ranching, and deforestation that can eventually lead to the downgrading, downsizing, and degazetting of PAs. Given this context, validating property claims, tracing cattle sales, and penalizing deforestation are urgently needed to halt these cycles that threaten PAs. Full article

This study explores the uptake and potential application of nature-based solutions (NbS) that are particularly promising for small-scale farmers, ranchers, and food entrepreneurs operating in arid and semi-arid regions. Studying the adoption of NbS by local food entrepreneurs (LFEs), including related strengths and limitations, remains an area of exploration due to their potential to optimize interventions that foster environmental sustainability at the intersection of people, animals, and natural ecosystems (i.e., One Health). A multi-method design was used, including literature review, questionnaires, and semi-structured key informant interviews to assess adaptation needs and NbS among a sample of LFEs located in Southern AZ, USA. The findings revealed that existing NbS have been introduced mostly through learning-by-doing practices that are bounded by economic and technological resource constraints. The paper describes a range of accessible approaches and practices that can be piloted and/or scaled up to enhance local food system resilience and contribute to the overlapping health of people, animals, and natural ecosystems. The priority adaptation pathways for NbS were identified to be funding and financing and the co-creation and sharing of knowledge through peer-to-peer and expert-to-peer approaches. The results suggested that AZ LFEs are likely to adopt NbS based on their capacity to address priority climate-driven issues, revenue generation potential, and seamless augmentation with existing food production and operational activities.  Full article

Grasslands cover a substantial portion of the earth’s surface and agricultural land and is crucial for human well-being and livestock farming. Ranchers and grassland management authorities face challenges in effectively controlling herders’ grazing behavior and grassland utilization due to underdeveloped infrastructure and poor communication in pastoral areas. Cloud-based grazing management and decision support systems (DSS) are needed to address this issue, promote sustainable grassland use, and preserve their ecosystem services. These systems should enable rapid and large-scale grassland growth and utilization monitoring, providing a basis for decision-making in managing grazing and grassland areas. In this context, this study contributes to the objectives of the EU LIFE IMAGINE project, aiming to develop a Web-GIS app for conserving and monitoring Umbria’s grasslands and promoting more informed decisions for more sustainable livestock management. The app, called “Praterie” and developed in Google Earth Engine, utilizes historical Sentinel-2 satellite data and harmonic modeling of the EVI (Enhanced Vegetation Index) to estimate vegetation growth curves and maturity periods for the forthcoming vegetation cycle. The app is updated in quasi-real time and enables users to visualize estimates for the upcoming vegetation cycle, including the maximum greenness, the days remaining to the subsequent maturity period, the accuracy of the harmonic models, and the grassland greenness status in the previous 10 days. Even though future additional developments can improve the informative value of the Praterie app, this platform can contribute to optimizing livestock management and biodiversity conservation by providing timely and accurate data about grassland status and growth curves. Full article