Resilience and Adaptation to Climate Change Among Organic Farmers in the United States: A Mixed Methods Investigation

Abstract

Farmers around the world are adapting to less predictable seasons and more frequent extreme weather events. This challenge is no less for organic farmers, who contribute to social well-being and ecological regeneration through their food production practices. This thesis employs a mixed-methods approach to explore resilience and perceived adaptive capacity to climate change among organic farmers in western Washington and the United States, more broadly. Chapter 2 uses qualitative methods to explore the relationship between climate resilience and crop diversity among organic vegetable farmers in western Washington. Findings contribute to academic debates around diversity and climate resilience by offering (i) a grounded perspective of how diversity confers socio-ecological resilience by those who enact it; (ii) an explanation for how climate interacts with social contexts to shape diversity; and (iii) an analysis of the limits of diversification and benefits of specialization to confer resilience. Chapter 3 uses Bayesian structural equation modeling to assess the relationship between land access and perceived adaptive capacity to climate change among certified organic farmers in the United States. Beyond the specific associations reported, the Chapter signals how Bayesian approaches can integrate qualitative and quantitative analyses, while accounting for uncertainty inherent in complex socio-ecological systems.