Motivations of farmers to participate in collective agri-environmental schemes: the case of Dutch agricultural collectives

Rena Barghusen,Claudia Sattler,Lisa Deijl,Carleen Weebers,Bettina Matzdorf

doi:10.1080/26395916.2021.1979098

Rena Barghusen, Claudia Sattler + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.1080/26395916.2021.1979098

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Abstract

ABSTRACT Collective agri-environmental schemes are designed to improve the spatial coordination and targeting of agri-environmental measures. However, policymakers must craft these programs carefully to motivate farmers to participate. This of course requires knowing what factors actually influence farmers, since they relate to ecosystems in different ways. In the Netherlands, agricultural collectives appear to play an important role in motivating farmers, since they facilitate contracting and help farmers maintain communication with one another. The aim of this study is to explore the various motivations farmers have to participate in collective agri-environmental schemes, which can in turn provide insight on how to approach farmers and recruit them for such programs, taking Dutch agricultural collectives as a case study. To do so, we first developed a literature-based framework on motivational categories, which were reviewed and discussed in a workshop setting; these categories were then ranked and quantified in a survey among representatives of the Dutch agricultural collectives. Results showed that economic and environmentally-based motivations of farmers are perceived as equally important. The relevance of socially-based motivations is perceived less uniformly, although the agricultural collectives may profit from their farmers’ social commitment to cooperate. This implies that there is a need for greater exchange among agricultural collectives, to help disseminate previously applied strategies designed to maintain high levels of personal communication and to establish long-term relationships.

Highlights

Agri-environmental schemes (AES) are a key policy instrument to motivate farmers to implement more environmentally friendly farming practices to promote biodiversity and ecosystem services in agricultural land scapes
Through collec tives that facilitate AES participation, there is some evidence that social psychological determinants such as group norms play a larger role in motivating farmers. It is against this backdrop that we aim to explore what motivations farmers have in the context of the Dutch collective AES, and how to best approach and recruit them
The country’s revised AES from 2016 is valuable for academics and policymakers alike since it shifts some governance tasks to farmer-based organizations to undertake spatial coordination of measures. It is the only fully collective AES in Europe to exercise the option in the Common Agricultural Policy (Regulation (EU) No 1305/2013, Article 28) to allo cate AES payments to groups instead of individuals

Summary

Introduction

Agri-environmental schemes (AES) are a key policy instrument to motivate farmers to implement more environmentally friendly farming practices to promote biodiversity and ecosystem services in agricultural land scapes. Entering into such governmental contracts is voluntary for farmers, often as an additional compo nent on top of mandatory legal requirements. In the collective AES, Dutch farm ers no longer enter into contracts with the government directly Instead, if they want to participate in the scheme, a farmer must become a member of an agricultural collective, which is responsible for the indi vidual contracting, and coordinates measures on a landscape scale. This should improve the impact on biodiversity and ecosystem services (McKenzie et al 2013; Terwan et al 2016)

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