AN AFFECTIVE EXPLANATION OF CLIMATE BELIEFS: EVIDENCE FROM DAIRY FARMERS IN NEW ZEALAND

How do farmers form and sustain their beliefs about climate as it affects their farms and communities? We draw from two areas of scholarship to provide an explanation of how farmers in a particular industry context form their beliefs about climate change. First, we build on research in psychology that shows how values, political orientations and motivated reasoning are important factors in group identity. Second, we draw from scholarship on group identity and belief formation to suggest that farmers prefer to learn from trusted insiders when forming beliefs about the climate. Based on qualitative interviews with New Zealand dairy farmers, we used thematic analysis of the social and emotive process of group identification associated with farmer beliefs about weather patterns and climate. We discuss the implications for communication among policymakers, regulators and researchers in the agricultural sector with an agenda that addresses farmer responses to climate change by enlisting those with insider status.