Willingness to switch to green irrigation energy: A case study of farmers in the lower great plains of the United States

• Primary data on farmers’ demographic, psychographic, production characteristics, their irrigation energy sources, and their willingness to switch to green irrigation energy are collected. • Statisical analyses are used to estimate irrigation water applied, quantity and cost of energy consumed, and CO2 produced per acre using alternative energy sources on farms. • Logistic regression is used to evaluate the effect of demographic, psychographic, and production characteristics on farmers’ willingness to switch to green irrigation energy. • Hypotheses are tested using traditional p-value and second-generation p-value approaches. • Second-generation p-value results provide higher confidence on policy direction: focus motivation to switch to green irrigation energy on younger farmers with smaller irrigation acreages and relatively lower farming experience. • Adopting green energy leads to about 75% reduction in total CO2 emissions. This study evaluated the characteristics of farmers that influenced their willingness to switch to green irrigation energy to reduce CO 2 emissions using primary data on 105 irrigators operating in the lower U.S. Great Plains. It also sought to determine the effect of their switch on their CO 2 emissions. The farmers used electricity, natural gas, diesel, and propane as their irrigation energy, and the proposed green energy was defined to produce zero CO 2 and included on-farm generated wind and solar energy or grid electricity not generated with fossil feedstock. The study found that younger farmers with fewer irrigated acreage, a positive perspective about green energy, about 20-30 years’ experience, and lower irrigation energy costs were the most likely to switch. Using the Second-Generation p-Value approach, we were able to show that the data did support the alternative hypotheses and produced very low false discovery rates. The study showed CO 2 emission savings of about three-quarters of current total emissions if all 75% irrigators who indicated a willingness to switch actually do switch to green energy. The inferential power of a case study is limited. Therefore, it is suggested that given the importance of these findings, a future study based on a representative sample be conducted to test these results and providing more confident direction to policymakers as they continue to find ways to help agriculture reduce its carbon footprint.