Agriculture is the foundation of the Manawatu/Wanganui region’s economy, which consists of 300,000 ha of highly erodible land. Past land management practices caused a major threat to the long-term sustainability of the region. Horizons Regional Council introduced Whole Farm Plans (WFP) as part of a variety of tools to protect and conserve the land. This paper discusses the progressive findings of a study about farmers’ WFP adoption decisions. Following Gladwin’s (1989) ethnographic decision tree modeling (EDTM) approach, qualitative interviews were held with a sample of 15 WFP adopters and 14 non-adopters across the Region to develop the adoption decision tree. Key findings were that hill country farmers’ decision to develop, or not develop, a WFP was... |