FARMERS' ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE ADOPTION OF SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES (LITERATURE ANALYSIS)

Abstract

Increasing farmer acceptance and adoption of environmentally friendly agricultural practices is essential to mitigate the negative impacts of agriculture. However, farmers are not a homogeneous group, and their behavior is subject to a complex set of structural, socio-economic, and socio-psychological influences. Human behavior is one of the driving forces for successful agribusiness management. However, it can be the basis of many resource management problems at the same time and is often the component that is not given enough attention when developing management plans. Moreover, the implementation of agricultural strategies relies on the individual behavior. Individual behavior is based on a variety of social, psychological, institutional, and economic factors that must be understood for successful implementation of farm management strategies. This paper reviews a highly specialized literature in the area of farmers' attitudes and intentions to adopt pro-environmental behavior. The aim of this paper is to analyze the application of some of the social psychology theories in the area of adoption of sustainable agricultural practices and to summarize the factors that influence farmers' attitudes towards adoption. This in turn would help to better understand the agricultural unit and the agricultural sector as a whole. The report examines qualitative and quantitative summaries of highly specialized literature studies published in scientific databases such as Ebsco, Science Direct and others. The literature summarizes analyses over the last few decades of farmers' attitudes and intentions towards adopting pro-environmental behaviors, and the factors by which they are influenced. In order to fulfill its objective, the report is based on two main points, which are discussed in detail separately, namely „Theoretical approaches and models for adopting sustainable agricultural practices“, and „Factors influencing attitudes towards the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices“. Key words: attitudes, sustainable agricultural practices, conservation practices, pro-environmental behavior, farming JEL code: Q12, Q15, Q19