Are Farmers Better Messengers for Conservation Practices than Extension Professionals?

ABSTRACT

Edge‐of‐field (EOF) practices installed at field borders to filter agricultural runoff are critical for improving water quality. Despite their effectiveness, adoption by farmers remains critically low. This study explores the influence of messengers on farmers' decisions to adopt EOF practices. We conducted an information treatment experiment using two information sources—an Extension professional and a farmer early adopter—versus a control group. Using an online survey of 373 Iowa farmer respondents in 2022, we built an empirical model to detect the treatment effect on farmer intention to adopt EOF practices. Our results reveal that farmers with less experience in conservation practices responded more positively to the treatments, and that a farmer messenger was more effective than an Extension professional in encouraging practice adoption. The farmer messenger increased adoption probability by 20.4 percentage points among respondents who are not currently enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program, while the professional messenger yielded a statistically insignificant 7.7‐percentage‐point increase. Among respondents who decline adoption, both messengers reduced self‐reported difficulty understanding how the practice works. These findings suggest that professional and peer messengers can each build technical understanding of EOF practices, while peer messengers are distinctively better at converting that understanding into stated intention to adopt. Outreach programs may therefore benefit from leveraging peer experiences and narratives, as farmer‐to‐farmer communication appears to resonate more effectively in these communities.