| Conventional agricultural production methods result in unintended but serious ecological damage in the United States and other countries in the world. Incentivized conservation programs represent the government's effort to limit water, air and soil pollution caused by agriculture. However, the participation in these voluntary government conservation programs by small farm operators has been limited. Past literature has been unable to explain farmers' reluctance effectively to adopt conservation practices despite the availability of federal and state financial incentives. A quantitative, non-experimental study design was used to examine whether differences exist in individual entrepreneurial orientation among groups of small farm operators farmers who do not adopt conservation practices, those who adopt at their own expense and those who adopt using government (Federal, State, and Local) financial assistance. The study utilized the Individual Entrepreneurial Orientation survey instrument and a demographic survey, which were administered electronically and completed by 222 small farm operators in California. Data were analyzed using multiple analysis of variance (MANOVA) statistical tests. The MANOVA revealed a difference across the three groups of farmers (non-adopters, adopters at own expense, and adopters using government assistance) in terms of individual entrepreneurial orientation (Wilks' lambda = .943, p <.05; Wilks' lambda = .934, p < .005; Wilks' lambda = .790, p < .005). Tukey's post hoc test revealed significant differences (p < .05) in risk taking, innovativeness, and proactiveness between the three groups with non-adopters having the lowest mean scores and those who adopted using government assistance having the highest mean scores. The findings of this study are useful in identifying the entrepreneurial challenges that are facing small farm operators in adopting conservation practices that are beneficial to the farmers, as well as the environment. In addition, the results contribute to the body of knowledge regarding entrepreneurship of farmers. It is recommended that the study be replicated using other research designs and locations. It is recommended that future research examine individual entrepreneurial orientation among groups of farmers with other conservation preferences. |
