Aesthetics, independence motivate farmers

During the past 150 years, the farming community has changed the physical environment of the Midwest significantly by creating a network of streams that drains agricultural cropland. The creation of these streams has fragmented and simplified ecosystems. A new study by a University of Missouri-Columbia researcher found that while these farmers contend they are environmentalists, their purpose for creating these streams is actually more for aesthetics than for improving the environment.

"Farmers spend a great deal of money on developing these agricultural drainage streams on their land," said Michael Urban, assistant professor of Geography at MU. "However, these streams are not being created to help the environment as much as they are for aesthetic reasons. They’re pleasing to the eye."

Through 55 interviews with Midwestern farmers, Urban found that the desire to make these streams pleasing to the eye were important ways for farmers to communicate their personal and professional identities. It was common for farmers to make management decisions based on a desire to make the farm look more attractive. Farmers perceived neatness as a measure of productivity, Urban said.

Urban said a predominant theme that emerged from the interviews was that farmers considered themselves to be "environmentalists" or "environmentally responsible." Though this might appear inconsistent with actual farming practices, such as stream channelization and the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and insecticides, Urban said the environmental aspects farmers valued most was not a stable ecosystem, but rather the productivity and sustainability of the soil.

"Without exception, farmers pointed to the tension created by the media and public between economic viability and their desire to act as good stewards of the land, which is misunderstood by the non-farm population and leads to farmers being vilified as environmentally insensitive," Urban said.

Most of the farmers, Urban found, did acknowledge that environmental concerns were becoming more important in contemporary farming. A number of them fear that if the agricultural community does not self-regulate chemical usage and its contributing impacts on water and environmental quality, they would receive further government and industry regulations.

"Adoption of conservation practices in this sense is not due to a high value placed on water quality and the integrity of the ecosystem, but rather on a farmer’s independence," Urban said.

Urban’s study recently was published in Society and Natural Resources.

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Michael Urban
Department of Geography

Article abstract

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