Wisconsin farmer attitudes regarding native grass use in grazing systems

More tallgrass prairie has been lost than any other ecosystem in North America, and relict tallgrass prairie remains a threatened plant community. There are potential environmental and agronomic benefits to the reintroduction of native prairie warm-season grass species into grazing systems, but these benefits can only be realized if farmers are willing to use native grasses. Because of the important relationship between farmer attitudes and conservation behaviors, we assessed grass-based farmer attitudes towards and perceptions of native grasses. We held focus groups with farmers to clarify grazing terminology and concepts and then developed a written questionnaire that was reviewed by experts in the fields of applied social research, survey methodology, and farming systems before being pilot-tested on a small group of farmers. In February 2006, we mailed the questionnaire to 800 Wisconsin grass-based farmers. We created indices and used descriptive statistics to interpret the results. We show how a tool (classification tree) commonly used to analyze complex ecological data can be used to interpret survey data. Thirty-five percent of respondents said they are interested in native grasses for pasture use. However, the large majority of farmers reported that they are unfamiliar with the identification and establishment of native grasses. The most important predictor of farmer interest in native grasses was his/her perception of how native grasses affect the environment. Both environmental and financial factors were ranked as highly important to farmers when considering the implementation of conservation projects. Our results show that environmental concerns are important to farmers and highlight the need to both improve our understanding of how native grasses affect ecosystem services and to educate farmers about native grass use and establishment. Using an interdisciplinary approach, we broadened the scope of grassland research while providing results that can be used by multiple groups, e.g., agronomists, conservationists, ecologists, and policymakers. Understanding farmer attitudes at the local level should help to build successful, incentive-based conservation programs and inform research projects and policy initiatives aimed at blending natural resource and agronomic goals.