Beyond the preservation of agricultural land – Identifying Austrian farmers’ farming-related interests in local spatial planning

Abstract

With the EU aiming to secure agricultural land for food production, the relationship between spatial planning and agriculture has gained attention. However, little is known about farmers' interests regarding spatial planning. This study addresses this research gap by adopting an exploratory mixed-methods approach to examine farming-related interests regarding local spatial planning among Austrian farmers. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 18 farmers, followed by 12 semi-quantitative interviews and an online questionnaire survey completed by 430 farmers. Four main interests were identified: preservation of agricultural land, spatial separation of farms and residential areas, sufficiently wide roads and expansion opportunities for farm buildings. All identified interests could be shown to be rooted in the farmers' “self-interest” as derived from actor-centred institutionalism. Binomial logistic regression models identified predictors of the identified interests among farmer, farm and municipality characteristics. The results present farmers as individual actors with diverse interests reaching beyond the preservation of agricultural land. A knowledge base could be created, to support further research on farmers as stakeholders in spatial planning and to inform the integration of farmers’ interests in planning processes.