Farmer Typology in South Kona, Hawai‘i: Whoʻs Farming, How, and Why?

Abstract

Agricultural systems are increasingly being recognized as producing a wide range of benefits and impacts on society, and the potential of small-scale farmers in particular has been highlighted. Recognition of farmers’ varying drivers and priorities is important for developing appropriate policies and engagement strategies to foster multifunctional agricultural practices that generate multiple social benefits from agricultural lands. The use of typologies to classify the diversity of farmers and their respective farming priorities is a practical way to understand important decision-making drivers and capture impacts. This article classifies 128 farmers in the South Kona region of Hawai‘i by assessing their reasons for farming. The types of farmers are discussed regarding their environmental and sense of place values, and an MFA scorecard measuring farming practices in five categories: Environment, Economics, Education, Community, and Culture. Farmer types explained a significant amount of variation seen in each category, suggesting that reason for engaging in farming is an important driver in farming practices; however, significant nuanced variation on value expression in farming practices was apparent.

Keywords:

• agriculture
• farmers
• typology
• values
• Hawai‘i
• environment
• sense of place
• community

Acknowledgments

We would primarily like to acknowledge the many farmers who gave freely of their time to openly share their experiences.

Notes

1. Further details of the study methods are reported in Lincoln and Ardoin (2015), including development of the farming sustainability scale, along with a more extensive description of the research motivation and purpose.

2. Respondents were allowed to indicate multiple ethnicities if they identified as such.

3. Each of these terms was derived from an interviewee quote. We chose the terms we felt most adequately described each group of farmers.