Abstracts Category : Other

Call to thepost: An analysis of Montgomery County equine operators motivation for adoption of conservation practices

by Shelly Ingram

The equine industry is an established part of MarylandAgriculture; the most recent equine census placed 79,100 equinesvalued at approximately $714 million in the state, withapproximately ten percent of those animals housed in MontgomeryCounty. But, equine operators are a unique demographic in theagricultural realm. They are not managing their lands to producefood or fiber and often are employed in other professions unrelatedto agriculture. Unlike other agricultural operators, they are oftenunaware of conservation terms or practices and programs availableto help implement these practices on their land. The basicobjective of this study was to explore the level of understandingequine operators in Montgomery County, Maryland have ofconservation best management practices (BMPs), associatedcost-share programs, industry regulations and the aspects andmethods of communication that influence them in gaining awarenessof and the adoption of these practices on their properties. Thestudy applied the tenets of the decomposed theory of plannedbehavior (DTPB), which combines the theory of planned behavior(TPB), diffusion of innovation theory (DOI) and economic constrainttheory gathered through semi-structured qualitative interviews withparticipants, selected using purposive and snowball sampling.Utilizing the grounded theory method to discover emerging patternsin the data resulting from these interviews aided in identifyingthe most effective means of educating equine operators regardingBMPs and increasing the adoption of these practices on equineproperties within the County. Equine operators in the study werefound to use a variety of informational sources, had a high levelof adaptation of the BMPs they used and overall saw their role asland stewards as an important aspect of their environmentalactions.Advisors/Committee Members: Lauri M. Baker.