Participation in the agricultural land district enrollment and development rights acquisition program of the Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation (MALPF) is examined as the adoption and diffusion of an innovative agricultural land preservation policy by Maryland farmland owners. In personal interviews, each of 104 study participants answered a series of 128 questions relating to nine hypotheses on MALPF program participation. Point biserial correlations were calculated to differentiate non-participants (N = 26) from participants (N = 78), district members who have not offered easements (N = 26) from those who have (N = 52), and participants who have sold easements from those who have not (N = 26, respectively). Factor analysis and logit regression were used to develop predictive models of: (a) joining a district; (b) offering and easement; and (c) successfully selling and easement. Contact with other landowners already engaged in successively higher levels of participatory behavior and contact with formal agricultural land policy communication channels are important to both differentiating among the four levels of MALPF program participation and predicting landowner participatory behavior. Higher levels of participation are evident among landowners located in more remote portions of rapidly growing counties. Landowner attitudes toward government institutions, environmentalism, and farming as a way of life influence MALPF program participation as do landowner practices in financial management of the farm enterprise. These findings suggest MALPF program modifications may be needed in the form of: offering a period of trial district enrollment and trial easement sales; intensifying efforts in marketing and information dissemination; and targeting recruitment efforts at specific segments of Maryland farmland owners.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/183829 |
| Date | January 1986 |
| Creators | PITT, DAVID GEORGE. |
| Contributors | Zube, Ervin H., Zqolinski, Malcolm J., King, David A., Daniel, Terry C., Wheeler, D. Lawrence |
| Publisher | The University of Arizona. |
| Source Sets | University of Arizona |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text, Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic) |
| Rights | Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. |
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