Farmers’ Perception of Soil: Implications for Soil Conservation and Sustainable Agriculture in the UK (Published)
We identify UK farmers’ perception of soil, awareness of soil in terms of how they describe it, their awareness of its benefits other for than crop production, their familiarity with soil conservation, and their opinions on soil protection and the value of organic fertilizers. Data were collected with the aid of social media using both Twitter and electronic mail to distribute a survey link to farmers. UK yellow pages, Natural England directory and Twitter were used to search for farms. Data were analysed using SPSS version 22.0 statistical software and Wordle. Chi square was used to test for relationships between variables at 95% confidence level (p<0.05), while Phi and Cramer’s V were used to measure strength of association for significant relationships. Results showed that farmers’ describe soils in abstract, scientific, physical attribute and functional terms. Awareness of soil benefits other than crop production was significantly related to age, and farm ownership. Educational level was significantly related to familiarity with soil conservation, and opinion on whether soil should be protected like other natural resources. The implications of these results for soil conservation and sustainable agriculture are discussed and used as, the basis for policy recommendations.
Keywords: Anaerobic digestion (AD), Ethnopedology, Perception, Soil Conservation, Sustainable agriculture