Proposed conceptual framework for studying the organic farmer behaviors

Abstract

The purpose of this article was to explore influential factors for conserving and encouraging organic farming management. Organic farming can lead to better health for both farmers and consumers because it reduces dangerous chemical contamination in the environment. Currently, the number of organic farms is gradually increasing. An organic farmer behavior (OFB) framework will provide the passion to accelerate wilderness organic farming within the smallholder farmer community, which is a fundamental area in global farmland agriculture. In addition, the OFB concept investigates the following main aspects: (1) attitude of farmers (AoF), (2) subjective norm influence (SNI), (3) perceived behavior control (PBC), (4) comparative behavior usefulness (CBU), (5) farmers' perception of risk (FPR), and (6) support of government policies (SGP). These have been applied to test all the variables manipulating the intentions towards the behavior of organic farmers and could be applied to test most conventional farmers and organic farmers. The conceptual framework has been merged with the Theory of Planned Behavior and with Innovative Diffusion Theory which serves as a basis to conserve and cumulate OFB. As a result, the conceptual framework could be applied to explore and develop land use policies that encourage farmers to diminish conventional farming and to adopt organic farming.