Worldwide, karst terrain is highly sensitive to human activity due to extensive areas of thin soil and rapid water flow to groundwater. In the southwest China karst region, poor farming decisions can promote land degradation and reduce water quality with negative consequences for livelihoods in a region where farmers already suffer from the highest national poverty rates. Targeting management advice to farmers through knowledge exchange and decision support can help alleviate land use impacts on the karst environment but first requires baseline knowledge of how local farming communities understand and approach soil and water management. We used a catchment-wide survey (n = 312 individuals in seven villages) to investigate differences in environmental awareness, catchment understanding, and farming practices amongst farmers and community leaders in a typical karst catchment in southwest China. Age, gender, and village of residence of farmers showed an association with the type of challenges perceived to be most serious. Access to labor, issues of water quantity and/or quality affecting irrigation, and fertilizer costs were recognized as being particularly problematic for the viability of farming. Sources of information used to learn about farming practices, the environment, and fertilizer use were more diverse for younger (< 40 yrs. old) farmers and levels of training and acquired knowledge regarding land management practices varied significantly between villages in the catchment. The identification of significant associations between villages or sample demographics, and a variety of questions designed to understand farmer attitudes and their environmental awareness, provide clearer insight upon which knowledge exchange and training programs can be co-designed with catchment stakeholders. This has the potential to lead to improved farming practices with co-benefits for farmers and the environment; helping sustain ecosystem services for impoverished communities in fragile karst ecosystems