IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolec/v70y2011i8p1536-1545.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Farmers adoption of integrated crop protection and organic farming: Do moral and social concerns matter?

Author

Listed:
  • Mzoughi, Naoufel

Abstract

We investigate empirically the role of moral and social concerns in farmers' decision to adopt integrated crop protection (IP) and organic farming (OF). A survey questionnaire has been sent to 1286 fruit-growers and vegetable producers located in the French areas of Alpes de Haute Provence, Hautes-Alpes and Vaucluse. Analysis of individual responses (NÂ =Â 243) shows that, although economic concerns play a strong role, a significant number of respondents give high importance to moral and social ones. We also examine how these considerations matter according to different crop protection strategies, that is, conventional farming, IP and OF. Using a multinomial logistic regression, we find that (1) social concerns (e.g., showing to others one's environmental commitment) drive both IP and OF adoption, (2) moral concerns (e.g., do not feel guilty about one's choices) increase the probability of organic farming adoption only, and (3) farmers who give high importance to economic concerns (e.g., cutting production costs) are less likely to adopt OF.

Suggested Citation

  • Mzoughi, Naoufel, 2011. "Farmers adoption of integrated crop protection and organic farming: Do moral and social concerns matter?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(8), pages 1536-1545, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:70:y:2011:i:8:p:1536-1545
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800911001054
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Benno Torgler & María A. García Valiñas & Alison Macintyre, 2008. "Environmental Participation and Environmental Motivation," Working Papers 2008.95, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    2. Fernandez-Cornejo, Jorge & Ferraioli, Jennifer, 1999. "The Environmental Effects of Adopting IPM Techniques: The Case of Peach Producers," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 31(3), pages 551-564, December.
    3. Gowdy, John M., 2008. "Behavioral economics and climate change policy," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 68(3-4), pages 632-644, December.
    4. Fehr, Ernst & Falk, Armin, 2002. "Psychological foundations of incentives," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(4-5), pages 687-724, May.
    5. Anderson, Jamie B. & Jolly, Desmond A. & Green, Richard D., 2005. "Determinants of farmer adoption of organic production methods in the fresh-market produce sector in California: A logistic regression analysis," 2005 Annual Meeting, July 6-8, 2005, San Francisco, California 36319, Western Agricultural Economics Association.
    6. Uri Gneezy & Aldo Rustichini, 2000. "Pay Enough or Don't Pay at All," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 115(3), pages 791-810.
    7. Ellingsen, Tore & Johannesson, Magnus & Tjøtta, Sigve & Torsvik, Gaute, 2010. "Testing guilt aversion," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 95-107, January.
    8. Frey, Bruno S & Oberholzer-Gee, Felix, 1997. "The Cost of Price Incentives: An Empirical Analysis of Motivation Crowding-Out," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(4), pages 746-755, September.
    9. Frank, Robert H, 1985. "The Demand for Unobservable and Other Nonpositional Goods," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(1), pages 101-116, March.
    10. Fernandez-Cornejo, Jorge & Beach, E. Douglas & Huang, Wen-Yuan, 1994. "The Adoption of IPM Techniques By Vegetable Growers in Florida, Michigan and Texas," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 26(1), pages 158-172, July.
    11. Fredrik Carlsson & Pham Khanh Nam & Martin Linde-Rahr & Peter Martinsson, 2007. "Are Vietnamese farmers concerned with their relative position in society?," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(7), pages 1177-1188.
    12. Christine A. Ervin & David E. Ervin, 1982. "Factors Affecting the Use of Soil Conservation Practices: Hypotheses, Evidence, and Policy Implications," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 58(3), pages 277-292.
    13. Fernandez-Cornejo, Jorge & Ferraioli, Jennifer, 1999. "The Environmental Effects Of Adopting Ipm Techniques: The Case Of Peach Producers," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Southern Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 31(3), pages 1-14, December.
    14. Brekke, Kjell Arne & Kverndokk, Snorre & Nyborg, Karine, 2003. "An economic model of moral motivation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(9-10), pages 1967-1983, September.
    15. Hayley H. Chouinard & Tobias Paterson & Philip R. Wandschneider & Adrienne M. Ohler, 2008. "Will Farmers Trade Profits for Stewardship? Heterogeneous Motivations for Farm Practice Selection," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 84(1), pages 66-82.
    16. Acs, S. & Berentsen, P.B.M. & Huirne, R.B.M., 2007. "Conversion to organic arable farming in The Netherlands: A dynamic linear programming analysis," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 94(2), pages 405-415, May.
    17. Feder, Gershon & Just, Richard E & Zilberman, David, 1985. "Adoption of Agricultural Innovations in Developing Countries: A Survey," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 33(2), pages 255-298, January.
    18. Ernst Fehr & Karla Hoff & Mayuresh Kshetramade, 2008. "Spite and Development," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(2), pages 494-499, May.
    19. Daniel Kahneman, 2003. "A Psychological Perspective on Economics," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(2), pages 162-168, May.
    20. Gilles Grolleau & Naoufel Mzoughi & Alban Thomas, 2007. "What drives agrifood firms to register for an Environmental Management System?," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 34(2), pages 233-255, June.
    21. Cristoiu, Adriana & Cobos, Blanca Lucena & Caceres-Clavero, Francisco, 2007. "Farm-Level Determinants Of Conversion To Sustainable Farming Practices In The New Members States," 104th Seminar, September 5-8, 2007, Budapest, Hungary 8512, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    22. Torgler Benno & Frey Bruno S. & Wilson Clevo, 2009. "Environmental and Pro-Social Norms: Evidence on Littering," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 9(1), pages 1-41, April.
    23. Genius, Margarita & Pantzios, Christos J. & Tzouvelekas, Vangelis, 2006. "Information Acquisition and Adoption of Organic Farming Practices," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 31(1), pages 1-21, April.
    24. Torgler, Benno & Garcia-Valinas, Maria A., 2007. "The determinants of individuals' attitudes towards preventing environmental damage," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(2-3), pages 536-552, August.
    25. Klonsky, Karen & Greene, Catherine R., 2005. "Widespread Adoption of Organic Agriculture in the US: Are Market-Driven Policies Enough?," 2005 Annual meeting, July 24-27, Providence, RI 19382, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    26. Jayson K. Harper & M. Edward Rister & James W. Mjelde & Bastiaan M. Drees & Michael O. Way, 1990. "Factors Influencing the Adoption of Insect Management Technology," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 72(4), pages 997-1005.
    27. De Cock, Lieve, 2005. "Determinants of Organic Farming Conversion," 2005 International Congress, August 23-27, 2005, Copenhagen, Denmark 24675, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    28. Lynne, Gary D, 2009. "Empathy Conditioned Conservation: “Walking-in-the-Shoes-of-Others” as a Conservation Farmer," Cornhusker Economics 306588, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Department of Agricultural Economics.
    29. John W. Cary & Roger L. Wilkinson, 1997. "Perceived Profitability And Farmers‘ Conservation Behaviour," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(1‐3), pages 13-21, January.
    30. Michael Burton & Dan Rigby & Trevor Young, 1999. "Analysis of the Determinants of Adoption of Organic Horticultural Techniques in the UK," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(1), pages 47-63, January.
    31. Mauceri, Maria & Alwang, Jeffrey Roger & Norton, George W. & Barrera, Victor, 2007. "Effectiveness of Integrated Pest Management Dissemination Techniques: A Case Study of Potato Farmers in Carchi, Ecuador," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Southern Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 39(3), pages 1-16, December.
    32. D'souza, Gerard & Cyphers, Douglas & Phipps, Tim, 1993. "Factors Affecting the Adoption of Sustainable Agricultural Practices," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 22(2), pages 159-165, October.
    33. Bruno S. Frey, 1994. "How Intrinsic Motivation is Crowded out and in," Rationality and Society, , vol. 6(3), pages 334-352, July.
    34. Mui, Vai-Lam, 1995. "The economics of envy," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 311-336, May.
    35. Gilg, Andrew & Barr, Stewart, 2006. "Behavioural attitudes towards water saving? Evidence from a study of environmental actions," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(3), pages 400-414, May.
    36. Manner, Mikko & Gowdy, John, 2010. "The evolution of social and moral behavior: Evolutionary insights for public policy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(4), pages 753-761, February.
    37. Easterlin, Richard A., 1995. "Will raising the incomes of all increase the happiness of all?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 35-47, June.
    38. Barrera, Victor & Norton, George W. & Alwang, Jeffrey Roger & Mauceri, Maria, 2005. "Adoption of Integrated Pest Management Technologies: A Case Study of Potato Farmers in Carchi, Ecuador," 2005 Annual meeting, July 24-27, Providence, RI 19400, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    39. Oliver Musshoff & Norbert Hirschauer, 2008. "Adoption of organic farming in Germany and Austria: an integrative dynamic investment perspective," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 39(1), pages 135-145, July.
    40. Solnick, Sara J. & Hong, Li & Hemenway, David, 2007. "Positional goods in the United States and China," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 537-545, August.
    41. Rabin, Matthew, 1993. "Incorporating Fairness into Game Theory and Economics," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(5), pages 1281-1302, December.
    42. Fernandez-Cornejo, Jorge & Beach, E. Douglas & Huang, Wen-Yuan, 1994. "The Adoption Of Ipm Techniques By Vegetable Growers In Florida, Michigan And Texas," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Southern Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 26(1), pages 1-15, July.
    43. D'Souza, Gerard E. & Cyphers, Douglas & Phipps, Tim T., 1993. "Factors Affecting The Adoption Of Sustainable Agricultural Practices," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association, vol. 22(2), pages 1-7, October.
    44. Szvetlana Acs & Paul Berentsen & Ruud Huirne & Marcel van Asseldonk, 2009. "Effect of yield and price risk on conversion from conventional to organic farming ," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 53(3), pages 393-411, July.
    45. Pierpaolo Battigalli & Martin Dufwenberg, 2007. "Guilt in Games," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(2), pages 170-176, May.
    46. Rigby, Dan & Young, Trevor & Burton, Michael, 2001. "The development of and prospects for organic farming in the UK," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(6), pages 599-613, December.
    47. Frey Bruno S. & Neckermann Susanne, 2009. "Abundant but Neglected: Awards as Incentives," The Economists' Voice, De Gruyter, vol. 6(2), pages 1-4, February.
    48. Maybery, Darryl & Crase, Lin & Gullifer, Chris, 2005. "Categorising farming values as economic, conservation and lifestyle," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 59-72, February.
    49. Venkatachalam, L., 2008. "Behavioral economics for environmental policy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(4), pages 640-645, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mzoughi, Naoufel, 2014. "Do organic farmers feel happier than conventional ones? An exploratory analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 38-43.
    2. Zein Kallas & Teresa Serra & José Maria Gil, 2010. "Farmers’ objectives as determinants of organic farming adoption: the case of Catalonian vineyard production," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 41(5), pages 409-423, September.
    3. Korir, Josphat Kiplang’at & Ritho, Cecilia & Irungu, Patrick & Affognon, Hippolyte, 2016. "Factors Influencing Intensity Of Adoption Of Integrated Pest Management Package And Pesticide Misuse In The Control Of Mango Fruit Fly In Embu East Sub-County, Kenya," Dissertations and Theses 271765, University of Nairobi, Department of Agricultural Economics.
    4. G. Grolleau & Naoufel Mzoughi & Sophie Thoyer, 2015. "Using monetary incentives in agri-environmental policies: Can we do more with less? [Les incitations monétaires dans la politique agro-environnementale : peut-on faire mieux avec moins ?]," Post-Print hal-01884947, HAL.
    5. Gilles GROLLEAU & Naoufel MZOUGHI & Sophie THOYER, 2015. "Les incitations monétaires dans la politique agro-environnementale : peut-on faire mieux avec moins ?," Review of Agricultural and Environmental Studies - Revue d'Etudes en Agriculture et Environnement, INRA Department of Economics, vol. 96(2), pages 241-258.
    6. Korir, Josphat Kiplang'at, 2016. "Factors Influencing Intensity Of Adoption Of Integrated Pest Management Package And Pesticide Misuse In The Control Of Mango Fruit Fly In Embu East Sub-County, Kenya," Research Theses 276445, Collaborative Masters Program in Agricultural and Applied Economics.
    7. Llewellyn, Rick S. & Lindner, Robert K. & Pannell, David J. & Powles, Stephen B., 2002. "Adoption of herbicide resistance management practices by Australian grain growers," 2002 Conference (46th), February 13-15, 2002, Canberra, Australia 179527, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    8. Veldstra, Michael D. & Alexander, Corinne E. & Marshall, Maria I., 2014. "To certify or not to certify? Separating the organic production and certification decisions," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(P2), pages 429-436.
    9. Magali Aubert & Orane Debrune & Joël Huat & Laurent Parrot, 2017. "The institutional environment as an essential support to agro ecology: the case of the formal market gardeners in Mayotte," Post-Print hal-02733930, HAL.
    10. Elisabeth Gsottbauer & Jeroen Bergh, 2011. "Environmental Policy Theory Given Bounded Rationality and Other-regarding Preferences," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 49(2), pages 263-304, June.
    11. Läpple, Doris & Rensburg, Tom Van, 2011. "Adoption of organic farming: Are there differences between early and late adoption?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(7), pages 1406-1414, May.
    12. Marie Briguglio, 2016. "Household Cooperation In Waste Management: Initial Conditions And Intervention," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(3), pages 497-525, July.
    13. Magali Aubert & Jean Marie Codron & Sylvain Rousset & Murat Yercan, 2013. "The adoption of IPM practices by small scale producers: the case of greenhouse tomato growers in Turkey," Post-Print hal-02749133, HAL.
    14. Joachim Schleich & Claudia Schwirplies & Andreas Ziegler, 2014. "Private provision of public goods: Do individual climate protection efforts depend on perceptions of climate policy?," MAGKS Papers on Economics 201453, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    15. Władysława Łuczka & Sławomir Kalinowski, 2020. "Barriers to the Development of Organic Farming: A Polish Case Study," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-19, November.
    16. Sheng Gong & Jason.S. Bergtold & Elizabeth Yeager, 2021. "Assessing the joint adoption and complementarity between in-field conservation practices of Kansas farmers," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 9(1), pages 1-24, December.
    17. Codron, Jean-Marie & Adanacioğlu, Hakan & Aubert, Magali & Bouhsina, Zouhair & El Mekki, Abdelkader Ait & Rousset, Sylvain & Tozanli, Selma & Yercan, Murat, 2014. "The role of market forces and food safety institutions in the adoption of sustainable farming practices: The case of the fresh tomato export sector in Morocco and Turkey," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(P1), pages 268-280.
    18. Caroline Roussy & Aude Ridier & Karim Chaïb, 2014. "Adoption d’innovations par les agriculteurs : rôle des perceptions et des préférences," Post-Print hal-01123427, HAL.
    19. Wollni, Meike & Andersson, Camilla, 2014. "Spatial patterns of organic agriculture adoption: Evidence from Honduras," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 120-128.
    20. Hattam, Caroline & Holloway, Garth J., 2007. "Bayes Estimates of Time to Organic Certification," 81st Annual Conference, April 2-4, 2007, Reading University, UK 7979, Agricultural Economics Society.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:70:y:2011:i:8:p:1536-1545. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolecon .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.