Mediterranean farmers’ understandings of ‘good soil management’ and ‘good farmer’ identity in the context of conservation agriculture

Figures & data

Figure 1. Countries and case study regions of this study.

Figure 2. Analytical steps performed for the mental model analyses.

Table 1. Top ten concepts in overall concept network of good soil management.

Concepts	Occurrence probability	Eigenvector centrality	Prominence	Examples of good soil management
1. Crop rotation	0.188	1.0000	0.594	‘rotate well’ (S94), ‘crop rotation’ (M41), ‘rotation is compulsory’ (T31)
2. Mineral fertilizers	0.237	0.941	0.590	‘add fertilisers frequently’ (S41), ‘application of fertilisers’ (M53), ‘give fertiliser to the soil’ (T48)
3. Tillage	0.223	0.954	0.589	‘till the soil’ (S70), ‘clean it of herbs with the plough’ (M23), ‘ploughing’ (T14)
4. Soil conservation and improvement	0.117	0.868	0.493	‘not destroying living soil’ (S38), ‘soil conservation’ (M108), ‘improve soil quality’ (T83)
5. Organic and natural fertilizers	0.107	0.877	0.492	‘apply green manure’ (S123), ‘organic fertilisers’ (M9), ‘organic fertilisers instead of chemical’ (T2)
6. Productivity	0.108	0.854	0.481	‘obtain good productions’ (S22), ‘provide high yields’ (T94)
7. Soil fertility and organic matter	0.090	0.829	0.459	‘improving fertility’ (S37), ‘increase percentage of organic matter’ (M135), ‘conservation of soil fertility’ (T61)
8. Reduced and no- tillage	0.095	0.800	0.447	‘touch the ground as little as possible’ (S15), ‘practice zero tilling’ (M62), ‘for soil conservation we must minimise tillage’ (T31)
9. Soil structure	0.037	0.788	0.413	do not compact’ (S102), ‘soil that retains water’ (T29)
10. Best management practices	0.063	0.741	0.402	‘do the right and necessary practices’ (S140), ‘use instructed dosages’ (M8), ‘application of the technical package’ (T129)

Note: Codes in brackets refer to the country (S, Spain; M, Morocco; T, Tunisia) and respondent ID.

Table 2. Top ten concepts in the ‘good soil management’ concept networks for both tillage groups. Frequency refers to the number of farmers that mentioned the concept. For simplicity, only the prominence value is reported here.

Conservation Agriculture (CA) (319)				Conventional tillage (271)
Concept	Frequency	%	Prominence	Concept	Frequency	%	Prominence
1. Crop rotation	66	20.7	0.603	1. Tillage	99	36.5	0.728
2. Soil fertility and organic matter	35	11.0	0.549	2. Mineral fertilizers	75	27.7	0.630
3. Soil conservation and improvement	41	12.9	0.534	3. Crop rotation	45	16.6	0.559
4. Soil structure	19	6.0	0.529	4. Organic and natural fertilizers	43	15.9	0.498
5. Reduced and no-till	51	16.0	0.507	5. Productivity	29	10.7	0.399
6. Productivity	35	11.0	0.481	6. Soil conservation and improvement	28	10.3	0.388
7. Mineral fertilizers	65	20.4	0.476	7. Agrochemicals	23	8.5	0.376
8. Soil cover	17	5.3	0.439	8. Right timing	15	5.5	0.335
9. Organic and natural fertilizers	20	6.3	0.421	9. Reduced and no agrochemicals	10	3.7	0.323
10. Reduced and no agrochemicals	15	4.7	0.417	10. Clean fields	19	7.0	0.316

Figure 3. Overall mental model of ‘good soil management’ for all farmers. Size of node indicates prominence value of concept.

Table 3. Top ten concepts in overall concept network of ‘good farmer’ identity.

Concept	Occurrence probability	Eigenvector centrality	Prominence	Examples of good farmer identity
1. Productivity	0.169	1.000	0.584	‘obtains great production’ (S13), ‘realizing yields’ (M72), ‘high yields’ (T161)
2. Experience and knowledge	0.129	0.895	0.512	‘the experience and expertise of the farmer’ (S1), ‘has experience and competence’ (T71)
3. Observant	0.044	0.888	0.466	‘good observer’ (S81), ‘keeps a watchful eye on his farm’ (M173), ‘well supervised farm’ (T106)
4. New practices, technologies and innovations	0.058	0.829	0.443	‘apply new technologies and techniques’ (S15), ‘follows new trends and innovations’ (M160), ‘accepts change’ (T123)
5. Profitability	0.072	0.800	0.436	‘live from what you produce’ (S64), ‘achieves high return’ (M56), ‘chooses the most profitable crops’ (T7)
6. Right timing	0.072	0.766	0.419	‘knows when is the best time to plant’ (S138), ‘tilling in right time’ (M30), ‘applies the right techniques at the right time’ (T22)
7. Stewardship of land	0.049	0.767	0.408	‘takes care of the soil and land’ (S4), ‘keeps a watchful eye on the land’ (M153), ‘preserves his land’ (T139)
8. Learning and advice	0.061	0.746	0.404	‘must have concerns to learn’ (S43), ‘asks for help and advice’ (M167), ‘seeks information’ (T96)
9. Tillage	0.123	0.681	0.402	‘works the soil well’ (S21), ‘tilling in time and many times’ (M22), ‘works the land’ (T60)
10. Mineral fertilizers	0.116	0.677	0.396	‘intensifies fertilisers’ (M68), ‘treatments’ (T73)

Figure 4. Mental models of good soil management for CA (left) and conventional tillage (right) farmers, indicating the most prominent concepts. Size of node indicates prominence value of concept.

Figure 5. Overall mental model of ‘good farmer’ identity for all farmers. Size of node indicates prominence value of concept.

Table 4. Top ten concepts in ‘good farmer’ concept network for both tillage groups. Frequency refers to the number of farmers that mentioned the concept. For simplicity only the prominence value is reported here.

Conservation Agriculture (CA) (319)				Conventional tillage (271)
Concept	Frequency	%	Prominence	Concept	Frequency	%	Prominence
1. Productivity	57	17.9	0.590	1. Tillage	65	24.0	0.620
2. New practices, technologies, and innovations	24	7.5	0.507	2. Experience and knowledge	35	12.9	0.540
3. Experience and knowledge	41	12.9	0.437	3. Productivity	42	15.5	0.521
4. Learning and advice	23	7.2	0.427	4. Mineral fertilizers	44	16.2	0.507
5. Environmental responsibility, respect and awareness	30	9.4	0.424	5. Right timing	24	8.9	0.481
6. Observant	16	5.0	0.397	6. Observant	10	3.7	0.453
7. Rational	11	3.4	0.394	7. Best management practices	23	8.5	0.417
8. Devoted	24	7.5	0.366	8. Clean fields	15	5.5	0.406
9. Profitability	26	8.2	0.323	9. Production means	30	11.1	0.389
10. Crop rotation	26	8.2	0.318	10. Profitability	16	5.9	0.387

Figure 6. Mental models of ‘good farmer ‘identity for CA (left) and conventional tillage (right) farmers indicating most prominent concepts. Size of node indicates prominence value of concept.

Data availability statement

The data is available upon request to the authors.