TY - JOUR

T1 - Motivations of farmers to participate in collective agri-environmental schemes

T2 - the case of Dutch agricultural collectives

AU - Barghusen, Rena

AU - Sattler, Claudia

AU - Deijl, Lisa

AU - Weebers, Carleen

AU - Matzdorf, Bettina

N1 - Funding Information: This work was partly supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant [818190]. The publication of this article was funded by the Open Access Fund of the Leibniz Association. The authors want to thank Harm Kossen (Natuurrijk Limburg) for conducting the workshop, the team of BoerenNatuur for advice and help to access data and reports, and Margarethe Schneider (Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research) for providing feedback on an earlier draft of the manuscript. We are also grateful to the anonymous reviewers whose comments led to the considerable improvement of the paper.

PY - 2021

Y1 - 2021

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

KW - agri-environmental programs

KW - Collaborative governance

KW - collective action

KW - cooperative agri-environmental management

KW - Eszter Kelemen

KW - payments for ecosystem services

KW - personal and social norms

KW - social capital

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85116159262&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1080/26395916.2021.1979098

DO - 10.1080/26395916.2021.1979098

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85116159262

VL - 17

SP - 539

EP - 555

JO - Ecosystems and People

JF - Ecosystems and People

SN - 2639-5908

IS - 1

ER -