Agricultural sustainability requires multidimensional solutions that address environmental and financial benefits in the Oregon hazelnut industry

Abstract Improvements to agricultural sustainability are required to maintain productivity in the face of ongoing global challenges, and growers need multiple kinds of support to adopt new sustainability practices and transform cropping systems. Farms are socio-ecological systems, and developing such systems requires tandem changes to human and nonhuman systems. This study evaluates agricultural sustainability practices and perception in the Oregon hazelnut industry, a small, intensified, and rapidly growing orchard production system in the United States. Using a mixed methods approach based on participant observation and an online survey of hazelnut growers in the spring of 2023, we found that growers were widely receptive to the sustainability messaging of industry groups and had widespread adoption of certain sustainability practices including disease-resistant tree varieties and changes in pesticide use, among other practices promoted by researchers. Larger hazelnut growers were more likely to adopt the sustainability practices in our survey, especially certain pest management practices. Growers with older hazelnut orchards turned to more sources of information but also perceived more barriers to implementing new sustainability practices than growers with younger orchards. Growers voiced different opinions about sustainability costs, with some growers expressing economic concerns about sustainability practices and others recognizing the financial benefits of sustainability practices. Differences in the perceived importance of short- and long-term benefits framed some of these concerns about the costs and benefits of sustainability practices. We argue that successful sustainability outreach will address both the short-term economic benefits of certain practices and the long-term sustainability benefits. Growers widely recognize the importance of sustainability, but more messaging about the multiple benefits of sustainability practices can better address both environmental and economic concerns.