Oluwafunmilayo Ajiferuke and Dennis Baffour-Awuah presented a study at the Association for Communication Excellence (ACE) Conference titled Exploring Factors Influencing Adoption of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Strategies by Eastern U.S. Tree Fruit Growers: Insights from the Theory of Planned Behavior. The study examined how attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control influence growers’ decision-making regarding the adoption and continued use of IPM strategies.
Guided by the Theory of Planned Behavior, the study used seven focus groups involving 82 apple and peach growers from across the eastern United States to explore the social, economic, environmental, regulatory, and climate-related factors shaping IPM adoption decisions. Data were analyzed deductively using the Theory of Planned Behavior framework to better understand how growers evaluate and implement IPM practices. The results confirmed that the Theory of Planned Behavior effectively explains growers’ intentions to adopt improved IPM strategies. Overall, growers held positive views of IPM and supported practices such as reducing pesticide use and promoting environmental sustainability. Social influences, including opinions from fellow growers, customers, and neighbors, significantly affected their decisions to adopt these practices. However, growers also noted external barriers, such as regulations and climate change, that they cannot control and that hindered the full implementation of IPM practices.
The study recommends extending the Theory of Planned Behavior to include actual control. It also highlights the importance of collaboration among science communicators, Extension professionals, researchers, and policymakers to advance climate-resilient IPM strategies, facilitate grower-to-grower learning, and address regulatory barriers that may hinder adoption. The research was conducted as part of the USDA-NIFA Specialty Crop Research Initiative project, funded through USDA-NIFA SCRI Award #2024-51181-43213.
