Farmer Decision Making/ American Kestrel Nest Box Project

This study inquired into farmer decision-making about pest management, and was part of the larger NSF project "Linkages among farmer decision-making, beneficial bird species, and pest management in fruit-growing systems", which studied the cost-effectiveness of the practice of using nest boxes in fruit production areas to help manage bird damage.<br>Our decision-making study was done in two parts. During Part 1, we connected with over 30 Michigan cherry and blueberry farmers and engaged them in a mental mapping process to learn more about how they make pest management decisions, and how they view natural predators and other ecosystem-service factors to function within their farm production system. A questionnaire was used to obtain farm, demographic, and practice use information from farmers.<br>The main focus of Part II was to determine farmer interest in utilizing the nest box practice, so we conducted a national (United States) survey of blueberry and cherry farmers. The survey provided information from the natural science and economic studies about the effectiveness and cost of the nest box practice and subsequently inquired about farmers interest in adopting the practice. We also used the survey to understand farmers’ perceptions on how certain farm and ecological factors interact in their systems.