Environmental Concern in a Capitalist Economy: Climate Change Perception Among U.S. Specialty-Crop Producers

Yetkin Borlu, Leland Glenna

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Scopus citations

Abstract

The agricultural sector offers a unique opportunity to examine the topic of climate change because agriculture is more susceptible to climate disruptions than many other industrial sectors. Based on the analysis of the survey data and in-depth interviews with specialty-crop producers in California, New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington, we test the capacity of ecological modernization and treadmill of production perspectives to explain how resource-intensive producers recognize water availability and climate change as threats to their operation’s economic viability. We find that producers in capitalist markets recognize natural resource problems; however, they fail to respond to climate change beyond natural resource problems. We also find that local markets play a positive role in raising environmental awareness of producers. Finally, our finding on the association between the perceptions of water availability and climate change goes beyond the treadmill of production dualism that only theorizes the impacts of economic factors on the environment.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)198-218
Number of pages21
JournalOrganization and Environment
Volume34
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2021

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Environmental Science
  • Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management

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