Factors underlying farmers' intentions to perform unsubsidised agri-environmental measures

TY - JOUR

T1 - Factors underlying farmers' intentions to perform unsubsidised agri-environmental measures

AU - van Dijk, W. F. A.

AU - Lokhorst, A. M.

AU - Berendse, Frank

AU - de Snoo, G. R.

N1 - ISI Document Delivery No.: EB6TX Times Cited: 26 Cited Reference Count: 93 van Dijk, William F. A. Lokhorst, Anne Marike Berendse, Frank de Snoo, Geert R. Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation We would like to thank all farmers for filling out the questionnaire. Also we would like to thank Betty Blok, Anton de Wit, Leo Kramer, Rianne de Wit and Corrie van der Helm for providing the postal addresses for the farmers. Finally we are grateful to Jasper van Ruijven for commenting on an earlier draft of the manuscript. This research is part of the KBIV strategic research programme "Sustainable spatial development of ecosystems, landscapes, seas and regions" which is funded by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation, and carried out by Wageningen University & Research centre. 26 1 50 Elsevier sci ltd Oxford 1873-5754 <Go to ISI>://WOS:000387519600019

PY - 2016

Y1 - 2016

N2 - Over the last decades there is a growing body of literature on how to enhance farmers' participation in voluntary subsidised agri-environmental programmes. However, additional unsubsidised agri-environmental measures that farmers perform are often ignored. The willingness to perform these measures may give a better insight into farmers' motivation for agri-environmental measures than subsidised measures because it likely depends only on farmers' intrinsic motivation and not on extrinsic factors such as a financial compensation. In this study we used an extended version of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) to investigate which factors are associated with farmers' intention to perform unsubsidised agri-environmental measures. Our results demonstrate that attitude, perceived social norms and perceived personal ability are significantly associated with farmers' intention to perform these measures. However, self-identity is the most dominant predictor of farmers' intentions. Furthermore we found that Environmental Cooperatives (ECs) positively influence farmers' willingness to perform additional unsubsidised measures by means of facilitation and group pressure. We conclude that in order to increase farmers' willingness to perform agri-environmental measures, self-identity should be addressed by means of e.g. benchmarking instruments in combination with commitment making or labelling of environmental friendly identities. Also, ECs are more important for unsubsidised measures than previously assumed - we recommended that they change their focus to include unsubsidised as well as subsidised conservation. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

AB - Over the last decades there is a growing body of literature on how to enhance farmers' participation in voluntary subsidised agri-environmental programmes. However, additional unsubsidised agri-environmental measures that farmers perform are often ignored. The willingness to perform these measures may give a better insight into farmers' motivation for agri-environmental measures than subsidised measures because it likely depends only on farmers' intrinsic motivation and not on extrinsic factors such as a financial compensation. In this study we used an extended version of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) to investigate which factors are associated with farmers' intention to perform unsubsidised agri-environmental measures. Our results demonstrate that attitude, perceived social norms and perceived personal ability are significantly associated with farmers' intention to perform these measures. However, self-identity is the most dominant predictor of farmers' intentions. Furthermore we found that Environmental Cooperatives (ECs) positively influence farmers' willingness to perform additional unsubsidised measures by means of facilitation and group pressure. We conclude that in order to increase farmers' willingness to perform agri-environmental measures, self-identity should be addressed by means of e.g. benchmarking instruments in combination with commitment making or labelling of environmental friendly identities. Also, ECs are more important for unsubsidised measures than previously assumed - we recommended that they change their focus to include unsubsidised as well as subsidised conservation. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

KW - Agri-environment schemes Aes Theory of planned behaviour Self-identity Farmer behaviour Nature conservation perceived behavioral-control improved natural grassland planned behavior agricultural landscapes social identity self-identity schemes conservation

U2 - 10.1016/j.landusepol.2016.09.003

DO - 10.1016/j.landusepol.2016.09.003

M3 - Article

SN - 0264-8377

VL - 59

SP - 207

EP - 216

JO - Land Use Policy

JF - Land Use Policy

ER -