My opinion, your opinion – Do group norms and perceptions influence farmers' fertilizer practices?

Social norms and perceptions within farming networks can influence the adoption of new agricultural practices. In Indonesian rice farming communities, norms around the desired level of rice plant greenness are widespread, with some farmers valuing deep green plants. Since greenness levels depend on the content of chlorophyll in the plants, which in turn depends on nitrogen fertilizer inputs, these norms can lead to high usage of chemical fertilizer. This study uses a mixed-method approach to examine whether social norms, personal beliefs, and perceptions about peers’ opinions influence rice farmers’ fertilizer input decisions. We combine quantitative regression analyses with qualitative content analysis to explore these dynamics. Our findings show that farmers who are unaware of a saturation point for fertilizer application tend to use more chemical nitrogen and less organic fertilizer. These farmers are also less willing to experiment with new farming practices that might reduce plant greenness but improve soil health. However, second-order perceptions – beliefs about whether lower greenness levels lead to talking within the farming community – do not significantly affect fertilizer use or farmers’ willingness to try new methods. A survey experiment further confirms that increasing the salience of potential talking has little effect on farmers’ willingness to experiment with new practices. Dyadic regressions reveal that actual fertilizer adoption behaviors of neighboring farmers are more predictive of fertilizer input decisions than neighbors’ greenness norms. This suggests that while social norms around plant appearance exist, farmers’ decisions are more strongly influenced by their own knowledge and the observable actions of their peers.