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Increasing complexity of river management is driving the need for more participatory approaches in which a wide range of stakeholders inform management actions. The foundational conditions of successful stakeholder engagement in participatory river management include the stakeholders' familiarity with, the trustworthiness of, shared vision with, and perceived competence of agencies involved in river management. We employ a convergent mixed‐methods approach to gain insight into two key stakeholder groups' (agricultural producers and non‐farm households) perceptions of foundational conditions of successful stakeholder engagement in participatory river management in watersheds of two regulatorily disparate states. Overall, ratings for familiarity were often contrary to ratings of the other three conditions. Contrary to previous research our findings suggest that familiarity does not necessarily lead to stakeholder perceived trustworthiness, shared vision, and competence of those involved in river management. These findings are important for participatory processes; for example, trust and shared vision without familiarity may inhibit the active involvement of diverse stakeholders in participatory processes that are needed for improving the management of complex riverine systems. Our findings suggest agencies and groups involved in river management prioritize developing stronger relationships with agricultural producers to improve on these foundational conditions. Agencies and groups involved in river management rated low on familiarity should consider campaigns to increase stakeholders' familiarity with them to leverage the generally high ratings on the other three foundational conditions. Future research should explore these contrary findings and their relationships to active involvement in participatory river management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study compares the efficiency of two analytic approaches—qualitative and quantitative—to social network analysis for identifying stakeholder groups. Social network data were collected from 23 water and agriculture stakeholders in Arizona, USA, and analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. Analysis of the sample in the original order of data collection found qualitative analysis was more efficient, in that it yielded a stable result—the identification of four stakeholder groups—within 16 interviews. In contrast, the quantitative analysis did not produce a stable result after 23 interviews. Repeated analyses with randomized order and reverse order samples found qualitative approaches yielded more stable results, took about the same number of interviews to yield results, and produced slightly fewer stakeholder groups compared to quantitative approaches. Our findings suggest that, in resource-constrained projects, qualitative social network analysis for identifying stakeholder groups can provide an efficient alternative to conventional quantitative social network analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The identities of women on farms are shifting as more women enter farming and identify as farmers, as reflected by the 30 percent growth in women farmers in the U. S. census of agriculture (USDA 2009). This article draws from identity theory to develop a quantitative measure of the identities of farm women. The measure incorporates multiple roles farming women may perform and weights these roles by their salience to two farm identities, farm operator and farm partner. We use a sample of women on farms ( n = 810) in the northeastern United States to assess the measures of role identity in relation to reported decision-making authority, farm tasks, and farm and individual characteristics. The findings provide a multidimensional view of farming women in the northeastern United States, a far more complex view than traditional survey research has previously captured. This research provides a measure that other researchers can use to assess the multiple and shifting identities of farming women in other sections of the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chapter 5 of Part I of the book "Beyond the Rural-Urban Divide: Cross-Continental Perspectives on the Differentiated Countryside and Its Regulation," Volume 14, is presented. It explores a research regarding the perceptions of the agricultural impact on local communities, which represents both production and consumption interests, in Pennsylvania. It also examines the policy choices needed to support the multifunctionality of agriculture and the potential hindrance in implementing such policies.

This analysis reexamines factors affecting farm change during the Farm Crisis using spatial analysis techniques to identify important spatial factors and correct for spatial autocorrelation. Results indicate the importance of indicators of farm structure, percent of prime farmland, and state-level processes in predicting changes in the number of farms. The findings also suggest a spatially-dependent process: counties near each other in space experienced similar types and rates of change in the number of farms. Reasons for the effects of geographic proximity are explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents an evaluation of the pilot program called, The Future of Agriculture in Our Community, developed by Penn State Cooperative Extenstion in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, for communities to assess and improve the local agricultural business climate. Condition of the agricultural sector in the county; Evaluation of program goals; Lessons for program development.