A Fine Balance: Weighing the Roles that Environmental and Economic Factors Play in the Formation of Climate Change Perception Among Farmers in Alberta, Canada

Abstract

Climate change poses a unique set of challenges to farmers. Agriculture is a leading source of greenhouse gas emissions while farmers are also particularly vulnerable to the risks of climate change due to their dependence on particular weather patterns. This means that both mitigation and adaptation are likely necessary for farmers to successfully navigate climate change. The province of Alberta in Canada provides an interesting case-study of farmers’ relationship with climate change due to widespread political conservatism and regional dependence on oil and gas royalties, two factors which have been shown to influence climate change belief. Studies have shown strong relationships between climate change perception, mitigative behaviour, and adaptive behaviour, but previous research on these topics in Alberta has relied on survey and polling data. This has left a gap in the literature on anything beyond a quantitative analysis of farmers’ perceptions. This study aims to fill this gap by exploring perceptions of climate change among farmers in Alberta from a qualitative perspective. This study looks at how Albertan farmers perceive climate change and why they perceive it in the way that they do. To answer these questions, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 participants across three regions of Alberta. Interview transcripts were then coded using NVivo and a thematic and discourse analysis of the material ensued. The results show that belief in anthropogenic climate change is mixed while concern for climate change is low. This suggests that climate change belief is a poor predictor of climate change concern among Albertan farmers. Instead, farmers appear to see climate change as it relates to their own economic concerns. More specifically, their focus remains on immediate and concrete economic risks rather than the distant, abstract risks of climate change. Despite low levels of climate change concern, this study does argue that support for mitigation may be higher than support for adaptation, though economic constraints are likely acting as a strong barrier to both.