As specialty crop production has become increasingly important to U.S. agriculture, public and private stakeholders have called for research and outreach efforts centered on risks posed by climate change. Drawing on a survey of specialty crop farmers, this study explores farmers’ perceptions of climate change risks. Underlying cognitive, experiential, and socio-cultural factors hypothesized to influence farmers’ climate change risk perceptions are tested using structural equation modeling techniques. Results show that specialty crop farmers exhibit an overall moderate concern about climatic risks. The more capable and prepared farmers feel themselves to be, the less concerned they are about climate change. Farmers who have recently experienced more extreme weather events perceive climate change to present greater risks. In addition, farmers’ risk perceptions are also shaped by attitudes toward human exemptionalism and productivism values. Based on these findings, we provide recommendations for outreach and future research.

随着特种作物生产对美国农业变得越来越重要，公共和私人利益相关者呼吁以气候变化带来的风险为中心进行研究和推广工作。本研究利用对特种作物农民的调查，探讨了农民对气候变化风险的看法。使用结构方程建模技术测试了假设影响农民气候变化风险感知的潜在认知、经验和社会文化因素。结果表明，特种作物农民对气候风险总体上表现出中等程度的担忧。农民觉得自己越有能力和准备好，他们就越不关心气候变化。最近经历过更多极端天气事件的农民认为气候变化会带来更大的风险。此外，农民的风险认知也受到对人类豁免主义和生产主义价值观的态度的影响。基于这些发现，我们为外展和未来研究提供建议。