34 pages, Agricultural nitrogen (N) use is a major contributor to environmental problems arising from nitrous oxide emissions and N loading to groundwater. Advances in the adoption of conservation practices requires a better understanding of the agronomic context for cropping systems. This paper tests hypotheses about how agronomic and knowledge barriers influence the adoption of conservation practices for N management in orchard agroecosystems. Agronomic barriers are characterized by farm size, irrigation systems and access to water resources, and knowledge barriers are influenced by the availability of information and use of information sources. Our study focuses on the California’s San Joaquin Valley where we collected 879 in-person surveys from fruit and nut growers focused on ten different conservation practices related to fertilizer use, irrigation and soil health. We used logistic regression models to identify parameters influencing adoption and differences in adoption between fruit and nut growers. Our results indicate that overall growers report higher adoption for practices for fertilizer use compared to irrigation and soil health. Growers with larger parcels, microirrigation and more water security had a higher probability of practice adoption. Nut crops are more agronomically intense than fruit crops requiring higher rates of N fertilizer and water use. Nut growers adopted significantly more practices than fruit growers, and also utilized significantly more information sources and experienced significantly fewer practice challenges. Our results collectively support our hypotheses that agronomic and knowledge barriers differ between fruit and nut growers, and help to explain the variance in adoption of conversation practices in orchard agroecosystems. Furthermore, the significance of our work offers a case study for other regions and agroecosystems to address the need for linking agronomic and knowledge barriers to adoption in an effort to promote global climate-smart and regenerative agriculture initiatives.
10 pages., This study examined the edu-communication strategies that agriculture extension service agencies use in the dissemination and promotion of innovation adoption among cashew farmers in the Kpandai district agricultural zones in Northern Ghana. A total of 140 cashew farmers were sampled using simple random sampling technique. Three District Agricultural Officers (DAO) and twenty-one satellite Agriculture Extension Officers (AEO) were also drawn into the sample. The results of the study show that, face to face interaction, field demonstration, entertainment- education through community radio broadcasting and Farmer Group Discussions (FGDs) were extensively and efficiently used by the AEOs to promote adoption of improved production technologies among cashew farmers. The study discovered that EduCom strategies contribute to higher rates of adoption and partly accounts for increased cashew yields in the study area. The indigenisation of agriculture extension services approaches using local language in the design and dissemination of adoption process is, highly recommended as a core tenet of technology dissemination if higher adoption rates are expected.
9 pages., Online via publisher., An adapted health-branding framework guided the 3-step mixed-methods approach to identify evidence for campaigns using a scoping review, comprehensive literature review (1990-2016), and key-informant interviews. Results showed that industry, government, and non-governmental organizations supported 13 campaigns that used various health-branding strategies.
