To produce or not to produce: an analysis of bioenergy and crop production decisions based on farmer typologies in Brandenburg, Germany

Abstract

The future course of the political regulation of bioenergy will have a significant sustainability impact on many levels. Understanding the specific effects of different political governance strategies on the agricultural system is essential for developing a stable and economically, ecologically as well as socially sustainable market for bioenergy. This paper contributes to this objective by providing an analysis of different decision patterns of farmers in the production of energy crops. For this purpose, an empirical analysis was conducted among farmers in the federal state of Brandenburg in northern Germany. A cluster analysis of structural factors resulted in a typology of farmers that differ in their energy crop production decisions. Six cluster typologies are identified for each of which a cluster-specific conjoint analysis helped to identify decision preferences in order to understand how and to what degree structural farm characteristics as well as respective production “traditions” influence the willingness to produce crops for energy use.