Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 106706 |
| Journal | LAND USE POLICY |
| Volume | 131 |
| Early online date | 12 May 2023 |
| Publication status | Published - Aug 2023 |
Abstract
Innovative agri-environmental contracts are increasingly studied in the literature, but their adoption has been relatively slow and geographically scattered. Action-based agri-environmental measures remain the predominant policy mechanism across Europe. A three-round Policy Delphi study was conducted with policy makers, scientific experts, farmers’ representatives, and NGOs from across 15 different European countries, to investigate how and under which circumstances novel contractual solutions could be implemented more widely. The expert panel perceived result-based and collective contractual elements as the most promising. Although considered beneficial from several aspects, value chain contracts were perceived less relevant to the policy environment. The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Pillar 2 measures were highlighted by the experts as the key policy area to implement novel contracts by national or regional authorities, but Pillar 1 eco-schemes, being launched in the CAP 2023–2027, were also considered as a potentially suitable framework for testing and implementation. The Delphi panel envisaged innovative contracts should be adopted by governments in iterative steps and not as a complete substitute for current payment schemes, but rather as an additional incentive to them. Such an incremental approach allows contractual innovations to capitalise on existing best practices. But it also implies the risk that innovative contracts could remain marginal and fail to substantially change farmers’ behaviour, resulting in a failure to improve environmental conditions.
Keywords
- Agri-environmental schemes, Collective contracts, Contract design, Policy Delphi, Result-based payments, Value chain contracts
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Agricultural and Biological Sciences(all)
- Forestry
- Social Sciences(all)
- Geography, Planning and Development
- Environmental Science(all)
- Nature and Landscape Conservation
- Environmental Science(all)
- Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law
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In: LAND USE POLICY, Vol. 131, 106706, 08.2023.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - The prospects of innovative agri-environmental contracts in the European policy context
T2 - Results from a Delphi study
AU - Kelemen, Eszter
AU - Megyesi, Boldizsár
AU - Matzdorf, Bettina
AU - Andersen, Erling
AU - van Bussel, Lenny G.J.
AU - Dumortier, Myriam
AU - Dutilly, Céline
AU - García-Llorente, Marina
AU - Hamon, Christine
AU - LePage, Annabelle
AU - Moruzzo, Roberta
AU - Prager, Katrin
AU - Riccioli, Francesco
AU - Yacamán-Ochoa, Carolina
N1 - Funding Information: This research has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement No 818190. Boldizsár Megyesi was supported by the Bolyai János Postdoctoral Scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. We would like to thank all participating experts for their valuable contributions. We are grateful to György Pataki and Mikołaj Czajkowski for providing comments and suggestions to earlier drafts of this paper, and to Edward Ott for administrative and editing support. We thank Didier Buffière and Lisa Deijl for their help in reaching out to potential Delphi experts, and Balázs Sipos for his support with the graphic design. Finally, we express our gratitude to three anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments which helped us strengthen the paper.
PY - 2023/8
Y1 - 2023/8
N2 - Innovative agri-environmental contracts are increasingly studied in the literature, but their adoption has been relatively slow and geographically scattered. Action-based agri-environmental measures remain the predominant policy mechanism across Europe. A three-round Policy Delphi study was conducted with policy makers, scientific experts, farmers’ representatives, and NGOs from across 15 different European countries, to investigate how and under which circumstances novel contractual solutions could be implemented more widely. The expert panel perceived result-based and collective contractual elements as the most promising. Although considered beneficial from several aspects, value chain contracts were perceived less relevant to the policy environment. The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Pillar 2 measures were highlighted by the experts as the key policy area to implement novel contracts by national or regional authorities, but Pillar 1 eco-schemes, being launched in the CAP 2023–2027, were also considered as a potentially suitable framework for testing and implementation. The Delphi panel envisaged innovative contracts should be adopted by governments in iterative steps and not as a complete substitute for current payment schemes, but rather as an additional incentive to them. Such an incremental approach allows contractual innovations to capitalise on existing best practices. But it also implies the risk that innovative contracts could remain marginal and fail to substantially change farmers’ behaviour, resulting in a failure to improve environmental conditions.
AB - Innovative agri-environmental contracts are increasingly studied in the literature, but their adoption has been relatively slow and geographically scattered. Action-based agri-environmental measures remain the predominant policy mechanism across Europe. A three-round Policy Delphi study was conducted with policy makers, scientific experts, farmers’ representatives, and NGOs from across 15 different European countries, to investigate how and under which circumstances novel contractual solutions could be implemented more widely. The expert panel perceived result-based and collective contractual elements as the most promising. Although considered beneficial from several aspects, value chain contracts were perceived less relevant to the policy environment. The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Pillar 2 measures were highlighted by the experts as the key policy area to implement novel contracts by national or regional authorities, but Pillar 1 eco-schemes, being launched in the CAP 2023–2027, were also considered as a potentially suitable framework for testing and implementation. The Delphi panel envisaged innovative contracts should be adopted by governments in iterative steps and not as a complete substitute for current payment schemes, but rather as an additional incentive to them. Such an incremental approach allows contractual innovations to capitalise on existing best practices. But it also implies the risk that innovative contracts could remain marginal and fail to substantially change farmers’ behaviour, resulting in a failure to improve environmental conditions.
KW - Agri-environmental schemes
KW - Collective contracts
KW - Contract design
KW - Policy Delphi
KW - Result-based payments
KW - Value chain contracts
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85159114548&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.landusepol.2023.106706
DO - 10.1016/j.landusepol.2023.106706
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85159114548
VL - 131
JO - LAND USE POLICY
JF - LAND USE POLICY
SN - 0264-8377
M1 - 106706
ER -