Applying behavioral science to agriculture, food, and agri-environmental policymaking

Abstract

This special issue aims to extend the active discourse on applying behavioral science-based tools to policymaking in the fields of food, agriculture, and agri-environmental issues. For this introductory article, we collected and analyzed data from the 91 submissions we received for this special issue to identify knowledge gaps and priorities for future policy research. In the submitted papers, the impacts of the behavioral interventions were small when implemented in isolation, but they were larger when coupled with other policy tools. Yet, we also found that most of the interventions that were evaluated in the submitted papers focused either on consumers or producers and thus offered little insight into other actors in the supply chain. Moreover, many of the submitted papers had shortcomings that are common in the behavioral science literature, including the use of hypothetical or low-stake incentives, a focus on short-term behavior change, and a lack of discussion about cost-effectiveness and mechanisms. We argue that better research designs and practices are needed to improve the credibility of behavioral science-based research in food policy. We conclude by presenting insights and recommendations for researchers and practitioners that arise from this special issue.