Climate change in the context of whole-farming systems: opportunities for improved outreach

Climate change poses a challenge to farming systems worldwide. However, existing research suggests that farmers and those providing outreach may have different climate change perspectives, and there is little understanding of how farmers prioritize climate change compared with other aspects of their farming system. To compare how farmers and outreach professionals in northern New England consider climate change within the context of whole-farming systems, we conducted mental modeling interviews with 33 farmers and 16 outreach professionals. Despite being primed to consider climate during the interviews, only 24% of farmers and 25% of outreach professionals included climate in their mental models. Key differences arose in both group's perceptions of weather: outreach professionals focused on connections between good weather and biophysical factors, while farmers drew additional connections to factors like quality of life and overall farm success. Social factors including community well-being, public education, and farm success were significantly more likely to be included (P<0.05), and in some cases were more influential, in farmer models compared to outreach professional models. We conclude that farmer participants did not perceive climate to be a central factor of their farming systems, and valued human and social dimensions more highly than outreach professionals perceived. These factors may warrant special consideration in efforts to make outreach meaningful to local contexts, along with framing climate change within its broader relationship to other farming system aspects. Interdisciplinary teams may be helpful in developing outreach approaches that fully contextualize climate change within farmers' complex whole-farm management perspectives.