Soil Conservation Practice Adoption in the Northern Great Plains: Economic versus Stewardship Motivations

By making adoption decisions on soil conservation practices, agricultural producers play a key role in reversing unintended consequences caused by soil degradation. This paper studies two soil conservation practices—diversified crop rotation (DCR) and integrated cropping and livestock system (ICLS)—using survey data collected from Nebraska, South Dakota, and North Dakota producers. We estimate a bivariate probit model to identify factors affecting adoption decisions. Farmers’ requirements for monetary incentives and values on soil health were found to be important determinants of adoption behavior. Geographic location matters, as North Dakota had the highest DCR adoption rate yet the lowest ICLS adoption rate