“That is my birth child. I cannot walk away”: Motivations, self‐determination, and farmer entry and retention in Newfoundland's dwindling agricultural sector(s)

• Published in: Canadian Geographies / Géographies canadiennes
• Main Authors: Abdulai, Abdul‐Rahim, Oklikah, Desmond Ofori, Tchoukaleyska, Roza
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2022
• Subjects: Newfoundland
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/cag.12766; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/cag.12766; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/cag.12766

Abstract In this paper, we report on the dynamics of motivations to farm among farmers in Newfoundland, and the potential to leverage these motives in policy interventions. The paper is the outcome of interviews with 24 farmers and two focus group discussions in the period 2017–2018. This paper aims to describe why participants engaged in farming and continue to farm in a region fraught with extensive challenges that undermine entry and retention. Using motivation and self‐determination theories, we show that individual need for autonomy (thus, the farmer's zest to be independent and to make free‐will choices); competence (farming because one can do so and believes in the work); and relatedness (farming to serve the community, to repay society and connect with family) aid the entry and retention of farmers by creating interests in farming and sustaining motivations. Therefore, we argue that, in light of diverse motivating factors and the need to satisfy basic psychological needs, interventions to attract and retain people in agriculture need to move beyond structural and economic concerns to consider how to satisfy the individual basic social, psychological needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness.