Engaging farmers in environmental management through a better understanding of behaviour

The United Kingdom’s approach to encouraging environmentally positive behaviour has been three-pronged, through voluntarism, incentives and regulation, and the balance between the approaches has fluctuated over time. Whilst financial incentives and regulatory approaches have been effective in achieving some environmental management behavioural change amongst farmers, ultimately these can be viewed as transient drivers without long-term sustainability. Increasingly, there is interest in ‘nudging’ managers towards voluntary environmentally friendly actions. This approach requires a good understanding of farmers’ willingness and ability to take up environmental activities and the influences on farmer behavioural change. The paper aims to provide insights from 60 qualitative farmer interviews undertaken for a research project into farmers’ willingness and ability to undertake environmental management, particularly focusing on social psychological insights. Furthermore, it explores farmers’ level of engagement with advice and support networks that foster a genuine interest, responsibility and a sense of personal and social norm to sustain high quality environmental outcomes. Two conceptual frameworks are presented for usefully exploring the complex set of inter-relationships that can influence farmers’ willingness to undertake environmental management practices. The research findings show how an in-depth understanding of farmer’s willingness and ability to adopt environmental management practices and their existing level of engagement with advice and support are necessary to develop appropriate engagement approaches to achieve sustained and durable environmental management.

[1]  H. Sacks.  Children of the Land: Adversity and Success in Rural America (review) , 2002 .

[2]  M. Hogg,et al.  The theory of planned behaviour: self-identity, social identity and group norms. , 1999, The British journal of social psychology.

[3]  Peter Gaskell,et al.  Farmer attitudes and evaluation of outcomes to on-farm environmental management , 2013 .

[4]  M. Zanna,et al.  Attitudes and Attitude Change , 1993 .

[5]  S. Thoyer,et al.  Nudges, Social Norms, and Permanence in Agri-environmental Schemes , 2015, Land Economics.

[6]  G. Filson.  Comparative differences in Ontario farmers' environmental attitudes , 1993 .

[7]  R. Gasson,et al.  Farmer participation in voluntary land diversion schemes: Some predictions from a survey , 1988 .

[8]  Thomas Dietz,et al.  Structure, agency and environment: Toward an integrated perspective on vulnerability , 2008 .

[9]  S. Schwartz,et al.  A Normative Decision Making Model of Altruism , 1981 .

[10]  J. Potts,et al.  Modelling Farmer Entry into the Environmentally Sensitive Area Schemes in Scotland , 2008 .

[11]  Gavin M. Siriwardena,et al.  Farmer engagement: an essential policy tool for delivering environmental management on farmland. , 2013 .

[12]  Frank Sligo,et al.  Risk, Trust and Knowledge Networks in Farmers' Learning. , 2007 .

[13]  N. Boatman,et al.  Ecological impacts of arable intensification in Europe. , 2001, Journal of environmental management.

[14]  Geoff A. Wilson,et al.  Injecting social psychology theory into conceptualisations of agricultural agency: Towards a post-productivist farmer self-identity? , 2006 .

[15]  Kristi Jackson,et al.  Qualitative Data Analysis with NVivo , 2007 .

[16]  G. Wilson,et al.  Financial Imperative or Conservation Concern? EU Farmers' Motivations for Participation in Voluntary Agri-Environmental Schemes , 2000 .

[17]  Troy D. Abel,et al.  A Value-Belief-Norm Theory of Support for Social Movements: The Case of Environmentalism , 1999 .

[18]  Wim Verbeke,et al.  Determinants of the Willingness of Belgian Farmers to Participate in Agri-environmental Measures , 2002 .

[19]  P. Lowe,et al.  COUNTRYSIDE POLITICS: GOODBYE TO GOODWILL? , 1983 .

[20]  I. Ajzen.  The theory of planned behavior , 1991 .

[21]  G. Kalyanaram,et al.  Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness , 2011 .

[22]  Rob J.F. Burton,et al.  Reconceptualising the ‘behavioural approach’ in agricultural studies: a socio-psychological perspective , 2004 .

[23]  A. Bryman.  Social Research Methods , 2001 .

[24]  G. Wilson.  Factors Influencing Farmer Participation in the Environmentally Sensitive Areas Scheme , 1997 .

[25]  C. Morris,et al.  Agricultural turns, geographical turns: retrospect and prospect , 2004 .

[26]  L. Morton,et al.  Reconstructing the good farmer identity: shifts in farmer identities and farm management practices to improve water quality , 2013 .

[27]  I. Hodge.  Agri-environment policy in an era of lower government expenditure: CAP reform and conservation payments , 2013 .

[28]  Mark Toogood,et al.  Factors Affecting European Farmers' Participation in Biodiversity Policies , 2006 .

[29]  K. Overmars,et al.  The provision of public goods by agriculture: Critical questions for effective and efficient policy making , 2013 .

[30]  Charles Francis,et al.  Farmers and nature conservation: What is known about attitudes, context factors and actions affecting conservation? , 2008, Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems.

[31]  Julie Ingram,et al.  Considering the source: commercialisation and trust in agri-environmental information and advisory services in England. , 2013, Journal of environmental management.

[32]  A. Homburg,et al.  Explaining pro-environmental behavior with a cognitive theory of stress , 2006 .

[33]  H. Ayer.  GRASS ROOTS COLLECTIVE ACTION: AGRICULTURAL OPPORTUNITIES , 1997 .

[34]  J. Ingram,et al.  Understanding and influencing behaviour change by farmers to improve water quality. , 2010, The Science of the total environment.

[35]  C. Potter,et al.  The conservation status and potential of elderly farmers: Results from a survey in England and Wales , 1992 .

[36]  C. Mcdowell,et al.  The multivariate modelling and prediction of farmer's conservation behaviour towards natural ecosystems , 1989 .

[37]  P. Wilson,et al.  Explaining variation in farm and farm business performance in respect to farmer behavioural segmentation analysis: Implications for land use policies , 2013 .

[38]  松井 真理子.  英国の田園地域の交通政策--新しい田園地域白書「私たちの田園地域:その未来--イングランドの田園地域への公平な対応(Our Countryside:The Future-A Fair Deal for Rural England)」を中心に (特集 まちづくりと公共交通の魅力) , 2000 .

[39]  I. Brotherton.  What limits participation in ESAs , 1991 .

[40]  L. Prokopy,et al.  Farmers’ views of the environment: the influence of competing attitude frames on landscape conservation efforts , 2015 .

[41]  Laurens Klerkx,et al.  Beyond fragmentation and disconnect: Networks for knowledge exchange in the English land management advisory system , 2012 .

[42]  John Thøgersen,et al.  Informing Versus Nudging in Environmental Policy , 2014 .

[43]  S. L. Karrer.  Swiss farmers' perception of and response to climate change , 2012 .

[44]  Johan Rahm,et al.  Landowners' Participation in Biodiversity Conservation Examined through the Value-Belief-Norm Theory , 2013 .

[45]  I. Ajzen,et al.  Understanding Attitudes and Predicting Social Behavior , 1980 .

[46]  A. M. Lokhorst,et al.  There is an I in nature: The crucial role of the self in nature conservation , 2014 .

[47]  P. Horwitz,et al.  A review of landholder motivations and determinants for participation in conservation covenanting programmes , 2006, Environmental Conservation.

[48]  T. Glebe.  The Environmental Impact of European Farming: How Legitimate Are Agri-Environmental Payments? , 2007 .

[49]  H. Staats,et al.  What's in it for Me? Motivational Differences between Farmers' Subsidised and Non‐Subsidised Conservation Practices , 2011 .

[50]  Tahir Rehman,et al.  Using social-psychology models to understand farmers’ conservation behaviour , 2000 .

[51]  G. Wilson,et al.  Farmer participation in agri-environmental schemes : Towards conservation-oriented thinking? , 2001 .

[52]  F. Berendse,et al.  Collective agri-environment schemes: How can regional environmental cooperatives enhance farmers’ intentions for agri-environment schemes? , 2015 .

[53]  A. Barnes,et al.  Comparing a 'budge' to a 'nudge': farmer responses to voluntary and compulsory compliance in a water quality management regime , 2013 .

[54]  D. Bromley,et al.  Payments for ecosystem services: durable habits, dubious nudges, and doubtful efficacy , 2014 .

[55]  S. Bamberg,et al.  Twenty years after Hines, Hungerford, and Tomera: A new meta-analysis of psycho-social determinants of pro-environmental behaviour , 2007 .

[56]  E Tasmanian,et al.  Understanding and promoting adoption of conservation practices by rural landholders , 2006 .

[57]  S. Schwartz.  Normative Influences on Altruism , 1977 .

[58]  Paul C. Stern,et al.  Environmental Problems and Human Behavior , 1995 .

[59]  Sue Oreszczyn,et al.  The role of networks of practice and webs of influencers on farmers' engagement with and learning about agricultural innovations , 2010 .

[60]  Martin R.J. Battershill,et al.  Socio-economic constraints and environmentally friendly farming in the Southwest of England , 1997 .

[61]  E. Ostrom,et al.  SOCIAL CAPITAL AND THE SECOND-GENERATION THEORIES OF COLLECTIVE ACTION : AN ANALYTICAL APPROACH TO THE FORMS OF SOCIAL CAPITAL , 2002 .

[62]  W. Adams,et al.  Property institutions for rural land conservation: Towards a post-neoliberal agenda , 2014 .

[63]  H. Allcott,et al.  The Short-Run and Long-Run Effects of Behavioral Interventions: Experimental Evidence from Energy Conservation , 2012 .

[64]  Robert Fish,et al.  Conserving English Landscapes: Land Managers and Agri-Environmental Policy , 2003 .

[65]  Richard L. Gorsuch,et al.  Moral obligation and attitudes: Their relation to behavioral intentions. , 1983 .

[66]  M. Winter.  Rural Politics: Policies for Agriculture, Forestry and the Environment , 1996 .

[67]  H. Staats,et al.  Toward effective nature conservation on farmland: making farmers matter , 2013 .

[68]  P. Collier,et al.  Factors influencing farmer participation in forestry. , 2002 .

[69]  D. Gibbon,et al.  Organising Collective Action for Effective Environmental Management and Social Learning in Wales , 2011 .

[70]  C. Spash,et al.  Motives behind willingness to pay for improving biodiversity in a water ecosystem: Economics, ethics and social psychology , 2009 .

[71]  R. Gasson.  GOALS AND VALUES OF FARMERS , 1973 .

[72]  Geoff A. Wilson,et al.  FARMER ENVIRONMENTAL ATTITUDES AND ESA PARTICIPATION , 1996 .

[73]  Nick Evans,et al.  Adjustment strategies revisited: Agricultural change in the Welsh Marches , 2009 .

[74]  Richard E. Petty,et al.  17 Persuasion and Attitude Change , 2012 .

[75]  P. Callero,et al.  Role identity and reasoned action in the prediction of repeated behavior , 1988 .

[76]  D. Gibbon,et al.  Evaluation of key factors that lead to successful agri-environmental co-operative schemes. , 2008 .

[77]  K. Nicholas,et al.  Researching farmer behaviour in climate change adaptation and sustainable agriculture: lessons learned from five case studies , 2015 .

[78]  H. James,et al.  Farmer identity, ethical attitudes and environmental practices , 2014 .

[79]  Mark A. Goddard,et al.  Why garden for wildlife? Social and ecological drivers, motivations and barriers for biodiversity management in residential landscapes , 2013 .

[80]  C. Potter,et al.  THE FARM FAMILY LIFE CYCLE, SUCCESSION PATHS AND ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE IN BRITAIN'S COUNTRYSIDE , 1996 .