From Practice to Reduced Agrochemical Dependence: Psychosocial Pathways Linking Pro-Environmental Livestock Integration and Coffee Farming

^1,3 Student of the Department of Socio-Economics, Faculty of Animal Science, Universitas Brawijaya, Malang 65145, Indonesia
² Lecturer of the Department of Socio-Economics, Faculty of Animal Science, Universitas Brawijaya, Malang 65145, Indonesia

^* Corresponding author: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Abstract

This study explores the psychosocial mechanisms through which Green Livestock Action (GLA) influences farmers' self-tolerance toward synthetic agrochemical use in integrated goat-coffee farming systems. Data were collected from 100 farmers in Kare Subdistrict, Madiun Regency, East Java, Indonesia, and analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling-Partial Least Squares (SEM-PLS). The findings show that GLA has a positive and significant effect on key psychosocial drivers, including Environmental Self-Identity, Eco-Guilt, Injunctive Norms, Descriptive Norms, and Perceived Risks and Constraints. However, GLA does not have a significant direct effect on farmers' self-tolerance toward synthetic inputs, indicating that behavioral change does not occur automatically through technical adoption alone. Instead, the influence of GLA is fully mediated by psychosocial pathways: Environmental Self-Identity, Eco-Guilt, Injunctive Norms, Descriptive Norms, and Perceived Risks and Constraints all significantly shape farmers' tolerance toward synthetic agrochemicals and transmit the indirect impact of GLA. These results highlight that farmers' decisions regarding chemical input use are primarily driven by identity-based motivation, moral emotions, and social normative pressure, while perceived risks and constraints remain an important behavioral determinant within the transition process. This study contributes to the sustainable agriculture literature by confirming that scaling integrated goat-coffee farming requires strengthening psychological and social foundations alongside technical interventions, particularly by enhancing environmental self-identity, fostering ecological awareness, leveraging supportive social norms, and addressing farmers' perceived barriers to green practice implementation.