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Bridging the Divide: Challenges and Opportunities for Public Sector Agricultural Professionals Working with Amish and Mennonite Producers on Conservation

Environmental Management volume 61, pages 756–771 (2018)Cite this article

Abstract

As Amish and Old Order and Conservative Mennonite (i.e., Plain) farmers increase their presence in the agricultural sector, it is crucial for public sector agricultural professionals to effectively work with them to mediate nonpoint source pollution and address issues like the hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico. However, there is a dearth of research on how public sector agricultural professionals can better work with Plain producers on environmental management. There are also few training resources for those working with this key, yet hard to reach, population. Additionally, due to their religious doctrines, Plain communities strive to live apart from the “world” and may be discouraged from working with government entities and attending non-Plain people events. This study analyzes interview data from 23 Amish farmers in one region of Indiana and 18 public sector agricultural professionals from a variety of backgrounds and geographies in areas of the U.S. with heavy Plain populations. Public sector agricultural professionals identified some key agronomic challenges on Plain farms related to issues like poor pasture and manure management as well as socio-cultural challenges such as restrictions on electronic and phone communication. Educators should design outreach strategies that take into consideration that faith convictions and conservation concerns may vary greatly based on the specificities of the particular Plain church group. By better understanding this population and how to work with them, public sector agricultural professionals can more effectively work towards addressing environmental problems with this under-served group.

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Notes

  1. Anabaptists are Christians who broke off from other key Protestant reformers based on their dedication to adult baptism and ideas of separation of church and state (viewed as an extension of “worldly” power).

  2. Much of the existing literature just focuses on the Amish but conservation and Extension public sector agricultural professionals also work with conservative Mennonites and experience overlapping challenges in working with them. Thus, we are including both in our discussions here despite the even greater lack of research on Mennonites.

  3. Grounded theory denotes a kind of research where theory is generated through the systematic research (Glaser and Strauss 1967; Strauss and Corbin 1998).

  4. The researchers obtained permission from the Institutional Review Board at Purdue University to conduct this research.

  5. After some preliminary joint coding had been conducted, the number of codes were consolidated as there is a tendency of researchers to create more codes than is necessary for rigorous assessment given the ease of creating codes in NVivo (Welsh 2002).

  6. For description of kappa coefficient see (Cohen 1960; Viera and Garretr 2005). The two main authors jointly analyzed three out of the eighteen interviews (i.e., 16% of the sample), which is higher than recommended as (Miles and Huberman 1994) recommends <10% of the sample.

  7. For more details about the interview and survey data collection methods, please see (Ulrich-Schad et al. 2017).

  8. The scope was limited to one specific area partly because it can be an involved process to research an underserved group who are harder to reach through contemporary communication channels (i.e., phone and email) (e.g., Bergefurd 2011; Brock and Barham 2009; Hoorman and Spencer 2001). Because this is a case study and the Amish are very diverse between different churches, this Berne study was not meant to be entirely replicable (an indicator of reliability) to other Amish communities.

  9. Swiss Amish are sometimes considered more conservative than Old Order Amish because of their use of open buggies and their strict application of church discipline (Nolt and Meyers 2007).

  10. Definitions vary as to how many rotations are necessary for it to be considered managed grazing.

  11. A professional who was interviewed for this study discussed the efficiency of this cheese factory compensating farmers to implement conservation practices. This case study is discussed more extensively in (Parker et al. 2009)’s publication.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the participating farmers and the many conservation agents, Extension agents who participated in interviews. We would also like to thank, Rebecca Oliver, for editorial assistance. Some of this research was funded by Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) Great Lakes Restoration Initiative funds.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. 230 Gentry Hall, Division of Applied Social Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, 65211, USA

    Caroline Brock

  2. Sociology and Rural Studies, South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD, 57007, USA

    Jessica D. Ulrich-Schad

  3. Forestry & Natural Resources, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA

    Linda Prokopy

Authors
  1. Caroline Brock
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  2. Jessica D. Ulrich-Schad
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  3. Linda Prokopy
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Correspondence to Caroline Brock.

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Brock, C., Ulrich-Schad, J.D. & Prokopy, L. Bridging the Divide: Challenges and Opportunities for Public Sector Agricultural Professionals Working with Amish and Mennonite Producers on Conservation. Environmental Management 61, 756–771 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-018-0998-5

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Keywords

  • Conservation practices
  • Plain
  • Amish
  • Best management practices
  • Agriculture