Applying a cultural multilevel selection framework to the adoption of sustainable management practices in California viticulture.

ABSTRACT: In light of the ongoing environmental impacts of agriculture, understanding farmer adoption of sustainable management practices (SMPs) is an important priority. Relatively little work in agricultural adoption has explicitly examined the multilevel dynamics of adoption decision-making. Yet because many SMPs involve cooperative dilemmas-they are individually costly but provide group benefits-understanding the dynamics of both individual and group level behavioral change is critical. In this paper, we argue that cultural evolutionary theory is well suited to examining the emergence and spread of cooperative SMPs, and we illustrate this claim by applying a cultural multilevel selection (CMLS) framework to the adoption of SMPs on the part of winegrape growers in California, USA. Using survey da

SUBMITTER: Hillis V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6086253 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature