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Farmers’ perceptions of climate change affect their adoption of sustainable agricultural technologies in the Brazilian Amazon and Atlantic Forest biomes

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Abstract

Farmers’ perceptions about climate change may help to explain the farming systems that they adopt and the effectiveness of their production practices in mitigating the negative impacts of the agricultural sector on the environment. This study analyzed the perceptions of 273 farmers participating in the Sustainable Rural Project—a large-scale climate change mitigation project in Brazil—that promoted the adoption of sustainable agricultural technologies in the Brazilian Amazon and Atlantic Forest biomes. Using a principal component analysis, we developed a Climate Change Perception Indicator (CCPI): an index to categorize farmers according to their perceptions about the impacts of climate change on agriculture. Our results indicate that farmers’ motivations to adopt sustainable agricultural practices were strongly driven by economic factors. We also found evidence to suggest that political agendas can influence farmers’ environmental perceptions. Moreover, older farmers with a higher level of education and more experience tended to demonstrate a stronger concern about climate change. However, the level of adoption of sustainable agricultural technologies was generally low, and a lack of technical knowledge and financial support may hinder widespread adoption of these practices. Thus, an approach that includes consideration of farmers’ perceptions about the impacts of climate change on their business may improve outcomes from the Sustainable Rural Project and other projects that aim to enhance the adoption of sustainable agriculture technologies.

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The dataset generated during the current study is available in the supplementary material.

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Funding

This research was developed within the framework of the Sustainable Rural Project – Amazon and Atlantic Forest, funded by Technical Cooperation approved by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), with resources from the UK Government’s International Climate Finance, with the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (MAPA) as institutional beneficiary. The Brazilian Institute for Development and Sustainability (IABS) is responsible for the execution and administration of the project and the ILPF Network Association, through the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) is responsible for the scientific coordination and technical support.

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TMdPT: Conceptualization, methodology, investigation, writing—original draft. RFdAC: Conceptualization, methodology, investigation, writing—original draft. JCdR: Conceptualization, investigation, writing—original draft. RB: Methodology, writing (original draft), formal analysis. PN: Writing, original draft; writing, review and editing; formal analysis. RdARR: Writing—review and editing. AMHCdO: Conceptualization, methodology, writing—review and editing.

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Correspondence to Tarik Tanure.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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The original online version of this article was revised: In this article the afliation details for Rayna Benzeev and Peter Newton were incorrectly given as ‘Environment and Society Program, Institute of Behavioral Science, University of Colorado Boulder, 4001 Discovery Drive, Boulder, CO 80303–0397, USA’ but should have been ‘Department of Environmental Studies, University of Colorado Boulder, 4001 Discovery Drive, Boulder, Colorado 80303, USA’.

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Tanure, T., Faria de Abreu Campos, R., dos Reis, J.C. et al. Farmers’ perceptions of climate change affect their adoption of sustainable agricultural technologies in the Brazilian Amazon and Atlantic Forest biomes. Climatic Change 177, 8 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-023-03657-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-023-03657-3

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