Farmers review of Best Management Practices: drivers and barriers as seen by adopters and non-adopters
Enquête auprès d'agriculteurs sur leurs pratiques relatives aux sols : leviers et barrières tels que décrits par les adoptants et non-adoptants
Résumé
During the past decennia, best management practices (BMPs) have been developed in order to maintain or restore soil health which is essential to the sustainability and resilience of the farm. Adoption rates of these practices vary among different countries and even among different regions within a country. Adoption rates depend on the specific context of a region or a country, consisting of biophysical, economic, social but also regulatory and institutional conditions. Hence, the objective of this study was to investigate farmers’ barriers towards adoption of BMPs across Europe. To identify drivers and barriers for adopting BMPs, we applied a behavioral approach, based on the theory of planned behavior. This approach has been proven successful and offers a repeatable methodology which is very valuable for performing attitudinal research in an wide European context. According to this theory, the greater the intention to behave, the more likely one is to actually perform the behavior. The intention of a farmer to implement a certain BMP is determined by individual beliefs on a set of outcomes (expected effects) associated with the practice, on a set of referents who think the farmer should perform the behavior, and on a set of control factors that might facilitate or obstruct the behavior. All these beliefs influence a farmers’ intention to adopt a certain BMP, and are acting as cognitive drivers or barriers which encourage or discourage the farmer to adopt a specific BMP. This report describes the main drivers and barriers on BMPs perceived by the farmers in 24 Farm Type Zones (FTZ) spread over 8 European countries (Poland, The Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Belgium, France, Austria, Germany). These FTZs are regions within a country and are characterized by land use, farm specialization and by slope, soil texture and climate. The criteria to select FTZs for the study were 1) representation of a large agricultural area, 2) large economic value of the FTZ and/or 3) occurrence of soil degradation problems. The BMPs studied in each FTZ were determined based on expert judgment for their potential contribution to improve soil sustainability in that specific FTZ. About 20 different BMPs were studied across all countries.