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Adoption Of Pasture Management Practices In Rondônia, Brazil: Social Media As An Informational Influence, Cassandra Sevigny

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The welfare of rural households depends on income from agricultural production. The adoption of new agricultural practices can improve farmer welfare by increasing yield and/or lowering production costs, but farmers do not always adopt beneficial practices. I examine whether social media use influences pasture management practices among smallholder cattle farmers in Rondônia, Brazil. This Amazonian state is heavily deforested for use as farmland, especially pasture for beef and dairy cattle. Traditional pasture management degrades soil over time, requiring pasture productivity interventions or deforestation for new land. Nontraditional practices can reduce degradation. Agricultural technology adoption literature explores the influence of risk, …