Collective agri-environment schemes: How can regional environmental cooperatives enhance farmers' intentions for agri-environment schemes?

William FA Van Dijk; Anne Marike Lokhorst; Frank Berendse; Geert R. de Snoo

doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2014.10.005

Collective agri-environment schemes: How can regional environmental cooperatives enhance farmers' intentions for agri-environment schemes?

William FA Van Dijk, Anne Marike Lokhorst, Frank Berendse, Geert R. de Snoo

Aberdeen Centre For Environmental Sustainability

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

60 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The effectiveness of agri-environment schemes (AES) in enhancing biodiversity on farmland and creating a long-lasting change in farmers' motivation towards a more environmental-friendly practice is still strongly debated. Applying a regional approach has been advocated widely to make AES more ecologically and socially sustainable. In the Netherlands, some AES are performed collectively by large regional groups of farmers called Environmental Cooperatives (EC). We hypothesise that these cooperatives enhance farmers' intention to participate by facilitating the application of AES, but also by generating group pressure. In the study at hand, we used an extended version of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) to investigate which factors are associated with farmers' intention to participate in two kinds of collective AES (ditch bank management and the protection of meadow birds). Our results demonstrate that attitude and perceived personal ability to participate in these AES are associated with the intention of farmers to participate in ditch bank management. However, for the protection of meadow birds, social pressure, self-identity and facilitation by the EC also relate to the intention of farmers. We conclude that the facilitation undertaken by ECs positively relates to farmers' intention to participate in collective AES. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	759-766
Number of pages	8
Journal	Land Use Policy
Volume	42
Early online date	10 Nov 2014
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2014.10.005
Publication status	Published - Jan 2015

Bibliographical note

Acknowledgements
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.

Keywords

theory of planned behaviour
ditch bank management
meadow bird management
farmer behaviour
nature conservation
payment by results
perceived behavioral-control
planned behavior
agricultural landscapes
social identity
self-efficacy
group norms
biodiversity
conservation
management

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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Cite this

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title = "Collective agri-environment schemes: How can regional environmental cooperatives enhance farmers' intentions for agri-environment schemes?",

abstract = "The effectiveness of agri-environment schemes (AES) in enhancing biodiversity on farmland and creating a long-lasting change in farmers' motivation towards a more environmental-friendly practice is still strongly debated. Applying a regional approach has been advocated widely to make AES more ecologically and socially sustainable. In the Netherlands, some AES are performed collectively by large regional groups of farmers called Environmental Cooperatives (EC). We hypothesise that these cooperatives enhance farmers' intention to participate by facilitating the application of AES, but also by generating group pressure. In the study at hand, we used an extended version of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) to investigate which factors are associated with farmers' intention to participate in two kinds of collective AES (ditch bank management and the protection of meadow birds). Our results demonstrate that attitude and perceived personal ability to participate in these AES are associated with the intention of farmers to participate in ditch bank management. However, for the protection of meadow birds, social pressure, self-identity and facilitation by the EC also relate to the intention of farmers. We conclude that the facilitation undertaken by ECs positively relates to farmers' intention to participate in collective AES. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.",

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author = "{Van Dijk}, {William FA} and Lokhorst, {Anne Marike} and Frank Berendse and {de Snoo}, {Geert R.}",

note = "Acknowledgements 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.",

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T2 - How can regional environmental cooperatives enhance farmers' intentions for agri-environment schemes?

AU - Van Dijk, William FA

AU - Lokhorst, Anne Marike

AU - Berendse, Frank

AU - de Snoo, Geert R.

N1 - Acknowledgements 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.

PY - 2015/1

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N2 - The effectiveness of agri-environment schemes (AES) in enhancing biodiversity on farmland and creating a long-lasting change in farmers' motivation towards a more environmental-friendly practice is still strongly debated. Applying a regional approach has been advocated widely to make AES more ecologically and socially sustainable. In the Netherlands, some AES are performed collectively by large regional groups of farmers called Environmental Cooperatives (EC). We hypothesise that these cooperatives enhance farmers' intention to participate by facilitating the application of AES, but also by generating group pressure. In the study at hand, we used an extended version of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) to investigate which factors are associated with farmers' intention to participate in two kinds of collective AES (ditch bank management and the protection of meadow birds). Our results demonstrate that attitude and perceived personal ability to participate in these AES are associated with the intention of farmers to participate in ditch bank management. However, for the protection of meadow birds, social pressure, self-identity and facilitation by the EC also relate to the intention of farmers. We conclude that the facilitation undertaken by ECs positively relates to farmers' intention to participate in collective AES. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

AB - The effectiveness of agri-environment schemes (AES) in enhancing biodiversity on farmland and creating a long-lasting change in farmers' motivation towards a more environmental-friendly practice is still strongly debated. Applying a regional approach has been advocated widely to make AES more ecologically and socially sustainable. In the Netherlands, some AES are performed collectively by large regional groups of farmers called Environmental Cooperatives (EC). We hypothesise that these cooperatives enhance farmers' intention to participate by facilitating the application of AES, but also by generating group pressure. In the study at hand, we used an extended version of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) to investigate which factors are associated with farmers' intention to participate in two kinds of collective AES (ditch bank management and the protection of meadow birds). Our results demonstrate that attitude and perceived personal ability to participate in these AES are associated with the intention of farmers to participate in ditch bank management. However, for the protection of meadow birds, social pressure, self-identity and facilitation by the EC also relate to the intention of farmers. We conclude that the facilitation undertaken by ECs positively relates to farmers' intention to participate in collective AES. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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KW - meadow bird management

KW - farmer behaviour

KW - nature conservation

KW - payment by results

KW - perceived behavioral-control

KW - planned behavior

KW - agricultural landscapes

KW - social identity

KW - self-efficacy

KW - group norms

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KW - conservation

KW - management

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JO - Land Use Policy

JF - Land Use Policy

ER -

Collective agri-environment schemes: How can regional environmental cooperatives enhance farmers' intentions for agri-environment schemes?

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

UN SDGs

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