IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i20p11384-d656848.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Psychological and Physical Health of Organic and Conventional Farmers: A Review

Author

Listed:
  • Lucas David

    (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Laboratoire de Psychologie Sociale et Cognitive, Université Clermont Auvergne, 63000 Clermont-Ferrand, France)

  • Michaël Dambrun

    (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Laboratoire de Psychologie Sociale et Cognitive, Université Clermont Auvergne, 63000 Clermont-Ferrand, France)

  • Rosie Harrington

    (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Laboratoire de Psychologie Sociale et Cognitive, Université Clermont Auvergne, 63000 Clermont-Ferrand, France)

  • Michel Streith

    (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Laboratoire de Psychologie Sociale et Cognitive, Université Clermont Auvergne, 63000 Clermont-Ferrand, France)

  • Audrey Michaud

    (UCA, INRAE UMR Herbivores, 63 122 Saint Genès Champanelle, France)

Abstract

Farmers’ health compared to the general population has been the object of some studies and reviews. Among all factors implied in psychological and physical health, the farming system (i.e., organic or conventional farming) was identified as one of the relevant factors to investigate. This article aims to review the literature established on the comparison between organic and conventional farmers’ health and its correlates. Twenty-nine quantitative or qualitative articles were identified for inclusion ( n = 29). Results showed that organic farmers had globally better psychological and physical health than conventional farmers. Effect sizes were small to large; they differed according to the target outcome. In addition, factors correlated with farmers’ health were usually psychological, social, financial, and agricultural. This review of literature encourages further research in this area, particularly on developing agricultural models.

Suggested Citation

  • Lucas David & Michaël Dambrun & Rosie Harrington & Michel Streith & Audrey Michaud, 2021. "Psychological and Physical Health of Organic and Conventional Farmers: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-18, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:20:p:11384-:d:656848
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/20/11384/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/20/11384/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ika Darnhofer & Walter Schneeberger & Bernhard Freyer, 2005. "Converting or not converting to organic farming in Austria:Farmer types and their rationale," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 22(1), pages 39-52, March.
    2. Loake, C., 2001. "Energy accounting and well-being -- examining UK organic and conventional farming systems through a human energy perspective," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 70(1), pages 275-294, October.
    3. Perrin, Augustine & Cristobal, Magali San & Milestad, Rebecka & Martin, Guillaume, 2020. "Identification of resilience factors of organic dairy cattle farms," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    4. Padilla Bravo, Carlos Antonio & Spiller, Achim & Villalobos, Pablo, 2012. "Are Organic Growers Satisfied with the Certification System? A Causal Analysis of Farmers’ Perceptions in Chile," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 15(4), pages 1-22, November.
    5. Mzoughi, Naoufel, 2014. "Do organic farmers feel happier than conventional ones? An exploratory analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 38-43.
    6. Cornelis Gardebroek, 2006. "Comparing risk attitudes of organic and non-organic farmers with a Bayesian random coefficient model," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 33(4), pages 485-510, December.
    7. Sunantar Setboonsarng, 2009. "Does Organic Agriculture Lead to Better Health among Organic and Conventional Farmers in Thailand? An Investigation of Health Expenditure among Organic and Conventional Farmers in Thailand," Working Papers id:1844, eSocialSciences.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Caroline C. Brock & Bradford L. Barham, 2013. "‘Milk is Milk’: Organic Dairy Adoption Decisions and Bounded Rationality," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(12), pages 1-26, December.
    2. François J Dessart & Jesús Barreiro-Hurlé & René van Bavel, 2019. "Behavioural factors affecting the adoption of sustainable farming practices: a policy-oriented review," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 46(3), pages 417-471.
    3. Philippos Karipidis & Sotiria Karypidou, 2021. "Factors that Impact Farmers’ Organic Conversion Decisions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-24, April.
    4. Zein Kallas & Teresa Serra & José Maria Gil, 2010. "Farmers’ objectives as determinants of organic farming adoption: the case of Catalonian vineyard production," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 41(5), pages 409-423, September.
    5. Basnet, Shyam Kumar & Manevska-Tasevska, Gordana & Surry, Yves, 2018. "Explaining the Process for Conversion to Organic Dairy Farming in Sweden: An Alternative Modelling Approach," German Journal of Agricultural Economics, Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin, Department for Agricultural Economics, vol. 67(1), March.
    6. Władysława Łuczka & Sławomir Kalinowski, 2020. "Barriers to the Development of Organic Farming: A Polish Case Study," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-19, November.
    7. Lucas David & Michel Streith & Audrey Michaud & Michaël Dambrun, 2024. "Organic and Conventional Farmers’ Mental Health: A Preliminary Study on the Role of Social Psychological Mediators," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-18, February.
    8. Michael Carolan, 2020. "Filtering perceptions of climate change and biotechnology: values and views among Colorado farmers and ranchers," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 159(1), pages 121-139, March.
    9. Martina Bozzola & Robert Finger, 2021. "Stability of risk attitude, agricultural policies and production shocks: evidence from Italy," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 48(3), pages 477-501.
    10. Charalampos Konstantinidis, 2018. "Capitalism in Green Disguise: The Political Economy of Organic Farming in the European Union," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 50(4), pages 830-852, December.
    11. CARPENTIER, Alain & GOHIN, Alexandre & SCKOKAI, Paolo & THOMAS, Alban, 2015. "Economic modelling of agricultural production: past advances and new challenges," Review of Agricultural and Environmental Studies - Revue d'Etudes en Agriculture et Environnement (RAEStud), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), vol. 96(1), March.
    12. Läpple, Doris & Renwick, Alan & Thorne, Fiona, 2015. "Measuring and understanding the drivers of agricultural innovation: Evidence from Ireland," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 1-8.
    13. Revoyron, Eva & Le Bail, Marianne & Meynard, Jean-Marc & Gunnarsson, Anita & Seghetti, Marco & Colombo, Luca, 2022. "Diversity and drivers of crop diversification pathways of European farms," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 201(C).
    14. Peter Howley & Emma Dillon & Thia Hennessy, 2014. "It’s not all about the money: understanding farmers’ labor allocation choices," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 31(2), pages 261-271, June.
    15. Dru Montri & Kimberly Chung & Bridget Behe, 2021. "Farmer perspectives on farmers markets in low-income urban areas: a case study in three Michigan cities," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 38(1), pages 1-14, February.
    16. Daniele, Bertolozzi-Caredio & Barbara, Soriano & Isabel, Bardaji & Alberto, Garrido, 2022. "Analysis of perceived robustness, adaptability and transformability of Spanish extensive livestock farms under alternative challenging scenarios," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 202(C).
    17. Mei-Yin Kuan & Szu-Yung Wang & Jiun-Hao Wang, 2021. "Investigating the Association between Farmers’ Organizational Participation and Types of Agricultural Product Certifications: Empirical Evidence from a National Farm Households Survey in Taiwan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-18, August.
    18. Hermann, Daniel & Musshoff, Oliver & Agethen, Katrin, 2014. "I will never switch sides: an experimental approach to determine drivers for investment decisions of conventional and organic hog farmers," 2014 International Congress, August 26-29, 2014, Ljubljana, Slovenia 183084, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    19. Davies, Ben B. & Hodge, Ian D., 2012. "Shifting environmental perspectives in agriculture: Repeated Q analysis and the stability of preference structures," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 51-57.
    20. Barut, Zeliha Bereket & Ertekin, Can & Karaagac, Hasan Ali, 2011. "Tillage effects on energy use for corn silage in Mediterranean Coastal of Turkey," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(9), pages 5466-5475.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:20:p:11384-:d:656848. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.