Sowing seeds for the future: Future time perspective and climate adaptation among farmers

Abstract

A future time perspective is critical to domains where outcomes of choices are delayed and potentially catastrophic: such as with agriculture where management decisions today are critical to the viability of multiple outcomes in the future. Farmers are on the front lines of climate change where shifts in rainfall and temperature threaten the viability of crop production. This reality is compounded for some farmers who lack the resources needed to adapt. Prior work has shown that farmers with strong injunctive norms towards conservation, and sufficient resources, are more likely to implement adaptation practices, but little research has explored the role of future time perspectives relative to these factors. We test whether future time perspective may lead US Midwestern farmers to develop injunctive norms towards conservation, and in turn, implement adaptation practices. We find support for this mechanism through both a correlational analysis (Study 1), and a manipulation of the salience of future impacts through a vignette experiment (Study 2). In addition, we see that some socioeconomic resources constrain adaptation. These results are relevant to regions where greater adaptation practices are needed to protect against climate impacts on operations that produce row crops like corn, soy and wheat.