TY - JOUR
T1 - Patterns of agri-environmental scheme participation in Europe
T2 - indicative trends from selected case studies
AU - Pavlis, Evangelos S.
AU - Terkenli, Theano S.
AU - Kristensen, Søren Bech Pilgaard
AU - Busck, Anne Gravsholt
AU - Cosor, Georgia L.
PY - 2016
Y1 - 2016
N2 - This paper investigates the personal and property characteristics of landowners who use EU Rural Development agri-environmental schemes (AES), as well as their motives for participation or non-participation in such schemes. The study is based on a questionnaire survey with landowners, in selected study areas in the Netherlands, Denmark, Austria, Italy and Greece. Our principal findings show that AES tend to attract more the owners of larger farms, who are frequently full-time, younger, post-primary school educated and agriculturally-trained farmers. The latter findings are contingent on local geographical particularities and on subjective factors, farmers' individualities, different rural cultures, landscape types, EU and national policies and special needs of the study areas—all areas where agricultural production is increasingly marginalized, for different reasons. Subsidy scheme participation motives did not seem to be strictly economic; they also regarded personal satisfaction. They are all together generally appeared to be place specific, since the respondents from peri-urban Northern European areas were more motivated to participate in AES than respondents from Central and Southern European areas with marginal potential for agriculture. Motives for non-participation were also found to be dependent on the level of farming engagement and on case-area landscape types.
AB - This paper investigates the personal and property characteristics of landowners who use EU Rural Development agri-environmental schemes (AES), as well as their motives for participation or non-participation in such schemes. The study is based on a questionnaire survey with landowners, in selected study areas in the Netherlands, Denmark, Austria, Italy and Greece. Our principal findings show that AES tend to attract more the owners of larger farms, who are frequently full-time, younger, post-primary school educated and agriculturally-trained farmers. The latter findings are contingent on local geographical particularities and on subjective factors, farmers' individualities, different rural cultures, landscape types, EU and national policies and special needs of the study areas—all areas where agricultural production is increasingly marginalized, for different reasons. Subsidy scheme participation motives did not seem to be strictly economic; they also regarded personal satisfaction. They are all together generally appeared to be place specific, since the respondents from peri-urban Northern European areas were more motivated to participate in AES than respondents from Central and Southern European areas with marginal potential for agriculture. Motives for non-participation were also found to be dependent on the level of farming engagement and on case-area landscape types.
KW - AES participation
KW - Agri-environmental schemes (AES)
KW - Farm size
KW - Farming engagement
KW - Motives
KW - Subsidy use
U2 - 10.1016/j.landusepol.2015.09.024
DO - 10.1016/j.landusepol.2015.09.024
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:84982211865
SN - 0264-8377
VL - 57
SP - 800
EP - 812
JO - Land Use Policy
JF - Land Use Policy
ER -
