Table 3.

Summary of findings on factors influencing BMP adoption by farmers. For details (e.g., locations and caveats), see text. Effect symbols are defined at end of table.

Factor Category	Factor	Effect	Reference
Information and awareness	Timely access to tailored and credible technical information on BMPs	+	D’Emden et al. [65]; Lubell and Fulton [69]; Rezvanfar et al. [101]; Lemke et al. [102]
	In-person information dissemination	+	Lubell and Fulton [69]; Murage et al. [74]; Luloff et al. [103]
	Networking (conservation agencies, extension services, and farm organizations)	+	Atwell et al. [47]; Lubell and Fulton [69]; Rezvanfar et al. [101]; Murage et al. [74]; Tamini [76]; Luloff et al. [103]; Newburn and Woodward [45]; Kalcic et al. [104]; Ward et al. [88]; Kondylis et al. [86]
	Inadequate access to information	−	Prokopy et al. [98]; Rolfe and Gregg [99]
	Positive opinions of family, farm chemical dealers, seed dealers, and crop consultants	+	Luloff et al. [103]; Prokopy et al. [98]; Ulrich-Schad et al. [90]
	Conservation education programs	+	Haghjou et al. [79]
	Facilitating infrastructures (internet access)	+	Arbuckle and Roesch-McNally [97]; Varble et al. [96]
	Information shared via social media	N
Financial incentives	Financial incentives (not further differentiated)	+	Welch and Marc-Aurele [63]; Januchowski-Hartley et al. [105];Läpple and Hennessy [81]; Prokopy et al. [98]; Rolfe and Gregg [99]; Ulrich-Schad et al. [90]
	Government subsidies	+	Nowak [92]; Ward et al. [88]
	Credits or loans	+	Tiwari et al. [70]
	Lack of cash or credit for cost sharing and limited cash flow	−	USDA NRCS [14]
	Capital cost associated with BMP adoption	−	Shaffer and Thompson [94]
	Maintenance cost	−	Tosakana et al. [72]
	Time and other expenses (e.g., price of herbicide, commodities markets, land values and rental rates)	−	D’Emden et al. [65]
Social norms	Social conformity and neighbor’s acceptance	+	Welch and Marc-Aurele [63]; Nowak [92]; Januchowski-Hartley et al. [105]; Läpple and Kelley [91]; Prokopy et al. [98]
	Adoption by neighbor(s)	+	Wollni and Andersson [82]; Turinawe et al. [87]
	Encouragement of family, friends and neighbors, as well as support from active conservation districts, sales people, and local USDA offices	+	USDA NRCS [14]
Macro factors	Geographic regions	+/−	D’Emden et al. [67]; Raymond and Brown [75]
	Share of agricultural production in total GDP of a state	+	Kara et al. [68]
	Climate change and extreme weather conditions	N
	Uncertainties regarding market price and conservation regulations	−	Cox [106]; Arbuckle [93]; Shaffer and Thompson [94]; Pannell et al. [27]
	Roles of policies, markets, business or agencies	U	D’Emden et al. [67]; Raymond and Brown [75]
Farmers’ demographics, knowledge, and attitudes	Age	+/U	Tiwari et al. [70]; Chouinard et al. [9]
	Gender (being female)	+/U	Tiwari et al. [70]; Druschke and Secchi [107]; Ward et al. [88]
	Income and capital, and level of gross farm sales	+	Kara et al. [68]; Tiwari et al. [70]; Lamba et al. [71]; Gedikoglu and McCann [77]
	Lifestyle (or hobby)	_	Greiner et al. [108]
	The household life stage, history of family ownership of a landholding, family size and structure	U	Salamon et al. [109]
	Family member planning to take over the farm	+	Ahnström et al. [33]
	Higher caste	+	Tiwari et al. [70]
	Farmers’ experience and education	+/U/−	Lamba et al. [71]; Gedikoglu and McCann [77]; Haghjou et al. [79]; Ward et al. [88]; Chouinard et al. [9]
	Political views and sociopolitical beliefs	U	Januchowski-Hartley et al. [105]; Ulrich-Schad et al. [90]
Farmers’ risk and time preferences and uncertainty	Risk averse	−	Sheriff ([110]; Brandt and Baird [111];Nyaupane and Gillespie [112]; Teklewold and Kohlin [113]; Liu [78]; Pannell et al. [27]; Prokopy et al. [98]; Arbuckle and Roesch-McNally [97]; Rolfe and Gregg [99]; Vignola et al. [100]
	Conservation risks tolerance	+	Chouinard et al. [9]
	Positive time preference	+	Liebenehm and Waibel; Pannell et al. [27]
	Uncertainties with the installation and adaptation and management skills	−	USDA NRCS [14]
Farmer’s environmental consciousness	Awareness of water quality, soil erosion, and impact of BMPs on the environment	+	Lubell and Fulton [69]; Gedikoglu and McCann [77]; Haghjou et al. [79]; Ulrich-Schad et al. [90]
	Environmental stewardship or steward intentions	+	Tiwari et al. [70]; Chouinard et al. [9]
Characteristics of farms	Land tenure	+/−	Parker et al. [66]; Nickerson and Borchers [114]; Haghjou et al. [79]; Turinawe et al. [87]; Varble et al. [96]; Chouinard et al. [9]
	Communication between renters and landowners	+	Cox [106]; USDA NRCS [14]
	Crops types, livestock type and diversity and livestock holding	+/U/−	Gedikoglu and McCann [77]; Arbuckle and Roesch-McNally [97]; Turinawe et al. [87]
	Enrollment of conservation programs (e.g., EQIP)	+/U	Gedikoglu and McCann [77]
	Geophysical characteristics (soil fertility, slope, altitude, etc.)	+/U/−	Tiwari et al. [70]; Odgaard et al. [115]; Haghjou et al. [79]; Turinawe et al. [87]
	Proximity to urban area	U	Kara et al. [68]
	Resource endowment	+	Tiwari et al. [70]
	Access to labor (family or hired)	+	Ward et al. [88]
	Diverse operation	+/−	Ward et al. [88]
	Farm size	+/−	Ryan et al. [116] ; Gedikoglu and McCann [77]; Haghjou et al. [79]; Pannell et al. [27]; Prokopy et al. [98]; Perry-Hill and Prokopy [117]; Turinawe et al. [87]; Chouinard et al. [9]
Characteristics of BMPs	Observability, location, ease of use, smaller time requirement, cost-effectiveness, and flexibility of conservation standards	+	Luloff et al. [103]; USDA NRCS [14]; McCann et al. [95]; Kalcic et al. [17]; Varble et al. [96]
	Profitability of the practices	+	Gedikoglu and McCann [77]; Chouinard et al. [9]
	Increase of land aesthetic value	+	Ryan et al. [116]; Januchowski-Hartley et al. [105]; Odgaard et al. [115]
	Regulatory requirement associated with nutrient management	−	USDA NRCS [14]
	Location of the practice (e.g., remove valuable land from production)	−	USDA NRCS [14]
	Crowding-in effects	+	Cooper [64]
Interactions among BMPs	Crowding-out effects	−	Andrews et al. [118]; Fleming et al. [83]; Ward et al. [88]
	Spatial spillover effect	+	Wollni and Andersson [82]; Turinawe et al. [87]
	Temporal spillover effect	−	Jacobson [80]

+/U/− indicate positive and significant, not significant, negative and significant, respectively. N indicates no studies.