Transforming the food system: are farmers ready to take phosphorus stewardship action?
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Martin-Ortega, Julia
Wolf, Lukas J
Tyllianakis, Emmanouil
Anderson, Aine
Camargo-Valero, Miller Alonso
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Ensuring global food security while halting ecosystem degradation is arguably one of the most fundamental current challenges. As a key component of fertilisers for which there is no substitute, phosphorus plays a central role in this challenge. Food production systems are critically vulnerable to phosphorus supply disruptions and price spikes, while high phosphorus-inefficiencies drive the greatest global threat to waters through diffuse pollution. Transformation to a more phosphorus sustainable and efficient system inevitably necessitates transition at the farm level, leading to the critical question of whether farmers are ready for such transition. This paper examines the relationship between the farmers’ perceived adaptive capacity and farm-level actions that can enable a positive phosphorus transition. We innovatively apply a second-generation psycho-social mobilisation approach to adaptive capacity (based on personal experience, place attachment, competing concerns, household dynamics, and risk attitudes) and establish its relation to an extended framework of phosphorus stewardship action, using Structural Equation Modelling in a UK-wide survey. Our results confirm that the second-generation approach provides a more nuanced approximation to the understanding of farmers’ adaptive capacity than traditional (first-generation) approaches (five capitals: human, natural, physical, financial, and social), allowing a more dynamic understanding and a more robust assessment of adaptive capacity. Beyond our specific results for the UK (which demonstrate relatively high levels of farmers’ readiness to adapt and promising predisposition to do so, if supported), our research illustrates how this framework can be used to identify priority actions to enhance farmers’ uptake of phosphorus stewardship actions more generally.
Date Issued
2024-12
Date Acceptance
2024-10-14
Citation
Environmental Science, 2024, 162
ISSN
1462-9011
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Journal / Book Title
Environmental Science
Volume
162
Copyright Statement
© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
License URL
Identifier
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2024.103930
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
103930
Date Publish Online
2024-10-28