Graduate Exit Seminar - Azmiri Jalil

Plan to join Azmiri Jalil's graduate exit seminar on April 10, 2024, at 2:00 pm in Kottman Hall 245 or via Zoom. Azmiri will present, "Peer-to-Peer Networks and Conservation Practices."

Abstract: The United States primarily relies on incentive and outreach programs to encourage farmers to voluntarily adopt Best Management Practices (BMPs). However, despite decades of efforts to increase farmers’ use of conservation practices, adoption rates remain low and relatively static. Several researchers have recommended farmer-led peer learning as an alternative to traditional outreach programs. In such approaches, farmers deliver outreach to engage other farmers in adopting various conservation practices. This thesis examines the effectiveness of a three-year informal peer-led learning network where early adopters provide support to potential middle adopters in the WLEB to help them transition to doing conservation. Using data from the western Lake Erie basin, this research explores the unique advantages of this type of learning program in promoting and sustaining a change in behavior, how these informal peer-to-peer learning programs can be tailored to effectively engage less involved and diverse farm populations in conservation, the features that contribute to the success of conservation advocates in peer-to-peer learning networks, and how the effects of this peer-to-peer learning outreach vary across different types of farms and farmers.

Advisor: Dr. Robyn Wilson