'Sow what?': Connecting Farmers and Policy Makers on Climate Change.

Recent research has shown that many Irish farmers are highly sceptical of governmental climate change policies and initiatives because they feel scapegoated and excluded by these reforms. The ‘Sow what?’ research project will therefore focus upon identifying cost-effective ways of cultivating pragmatic trust and cooperation between farmers and policy makers in relation to climate change reforms within Irish farming. This will require research that specifically maps out those motivating factors that are most pivotal to ongoing efforts to decouple the economic growth of farming from unsustainable resource use. To this end, the ‘Sow what?’ project will initially involve a staggered nationwide rollout of interviews, focus groups and surveys with the key stakeholders. The resulting insights will be used to systematically adapt and evaluate established motivational interviewing techniques to equip farmers, agricultural advisors, and policy makers to: (a) more effectively communicate with each other; and (b) to proactively troubleshoot climate change dilemmas together in ways that are both sustainable and also faithful to their core (farming) values. Motivational interviewing is well known to be effective in bridging the ‘say-do’ gap with respect to adopting healthier lifestyles; particularly when the required behaviour change involves ambivalent thoughts and feelings. Once adapted, these techniques will ultimately be packaged into two user-friendly, cost-effective and scalable dilemma-management protocols. One will be designed for delivery by farmers for farmers, as a means of sharing psychological tools to help troubleshoot climate change farming dilemmas. The second protocol will be designed to provide policy makers and agricultural advisors with a decision-making and communication toolbox that authentically factors in farmers’ needs in ways that are both destigmatizing and inclusive. Agricultural advisors are typically employed in Ireland from among farmers by government agencies or agricultural cooperatives/companies, and work directly with farmers to improve the efficiency, sustainability, and profitability of their farming operations. They play a critical role in providing trusted technical support and advice to farmers and rural communities in Ireland, about how to improve the environmental sustainability of their farming systems while also maintaining profitability (e.g. by using practices such as reduced tillage, crop rotation, and integrated pest management). The final phase of the ‘Sow what?’ project will measure the uptake of the dilemma management protocols and examine to what extent they are impacting behaviour change among the stakeholders with respect to key benchmarks entailed by the European Green Deal. By understanding the perspectives of farmers, multidisciplinary teams, and policymakers, the ‘Sow what?’ project will develop evidence-based psychosocial techniques that systematically support the uptake of sustainable farming practices. This project is not only likely to provide critical psychosocial tools for the Irish farming community but it may also provide valuable insights for other countries seeking to promote sustainable agricultural renewal.