Absentee landowners of agricultural land: Influences upon land management decision making and information usage

Ownership of agricultural land by absentee owners (individuals who do not reside permanently on their land) is on the rise worldwide, yet researchers and conservation practitioners know very little about these landowners, what influences their land management decisions, and their use of varying land management information sources. Our study focuses on (1) how absentee landowners vary in terms of influences upon their decision making regarding land management and (2) how, or if, this variance predicts sources of conservation information landowners use regarding their land. The findings show three distinct groups of absentee landowner classes: (1) Minimal Recreationists, (2) Moderates, and (3) Recreation and Conservationists. While recreation on the land dominates as the most powerful influence upon decision making regarding land management, conservation was not a prominent land management motivation in two of the three classes. These groups of landowners correspond with differing information usage patterns, with Recreation and Conservationists the most likely to use information from conventional sources (e.g., influential individuals, agricultural organizations, and conservation agencies) while the other two groups have negative relationships with almost all of the information sources. We discuss strategies for tailoring and delivering conservation messages to these diverse absentee landowner groups.