IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/lauspo/v131y2023ics0264837723001345.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Farmers’ attitudes towards, and intentions to adopt, agroforestry on farms in lowland South-East and East England

Author

Listed:
  • Felton, Michelle
  • Jones, Philip
  • Tranter, Richard
  • Clark, Joanna
  • Quaife, Tristan
  • Lukac, Martin

Abstract

Agroforestry (AF) is a land use that incorporates growing trees into agricultural crops and/or livestock production on the same piece of land. Due to tree cover and growth, AF has the potential to generate additional products, enhance biogenic carbon capture and storage, reduce soil erosion and surface water run-off and improve soil structure and fertility. These effects are likely to improve farmers’ financial return with minimal land loss to agricultural production. To date, there has been very little uptake of AF in the UK despite awareness of these benefits and increasing policy support. This suggests that there are barriers to adopting AF that policy, or market developments, have yet to address. This study set out to identify these barriers, along with potential drivers to further uptake of AF in South-East and East lowland England by means of a survey of 224 farmers and landowners in 2019 covering a range of farm sizes and types. Of those farmers who said they might consider planting small areas of AF, small woods and plantations were the preferred option. Silvo-arable AF was preferred to silvo-pastoral AF. If raised to the regional level, this could take up to some 5 % of the total farmed area. Financial reasons were behind some of the reluctance to plant, as was the view that trees might interfere with other farm operations. Farmers might need both planting grants and maintenance payments to help the UK Government reach their woodland planting goal to achieve the UK net-zero target by 2050.

Suggested Citation

  • Felton, Michelle & Jones, Philip & Tranter, Richard & Clark, Joanna & Quaife, Tristan & Lukac, Martin, 2023. "Farmers’ attitudes towards, and intentions to adopt, agroforestry on farms in lowland South-East and East England," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:lauspo:v:131:y:2023:i:c:s0264837723001345
    DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2023.106668
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264837723001345
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.landusepol.2023.106668?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

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

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sok, J. & Hogeveen, H. & Elbers, A.R.W. & Oude Lansink, A.G.J.M., 2015. "Farmers’ beliefs and voluntary vaccination schemes: Bluetongue in Dutch dairy cattle," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 40-49.
    2. Läpple, Doris & Kelley, Hugh, 2013. "Understanding the uptake of organic farming: Accounting for heterogeneities among Irish farmers," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 11-19.
    3. Line Louah & Marjolein Visser & Alice Blaimont & Charles De Cannière, 2017. "Barriers to the development of temperate agroforestry as an example of agroecological innovation: Mainly a matter of cognitive lock-in?," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/258841, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    4. Hopkins, Jonathan & Sutherland, Lee-Ann & Ehlers, Melf-Hinrich & Matthews, Keith & Barnes, Andrew & Toma, Luiza, 2017. "Scottish farmers' intentions to afforest land in the context of farm diversification," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 122-132.
    5. Palma, J. & Graves, A.R. & Burgess, P.J. & van der Werf, W. & Herzog, F., 2007. "Integrating environmental and economic performance to assess modern silvoarable agroforestry in Europe," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(4), pages 759-767, September.
    6. Valatin, Gregory & Moseley, Darren & Dandy, Norman, 2016. "Insights from behavioural economics for forest economics and environmental policy: Potential nudges to encourage woodland creation for climate change mitigation and adaptation?," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 27-36.
    7. Jaap Sok & Joao Rossi Borges & Peter Schmidt & Icek Ajzen, 2021. "Farmer Behaviour as Reasoned Action: A Critical Review of Research with the Theory of Planned Behaviour," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 72(2), pages 388-412, June.
    8. Caroline Ducros & Nigel Watson, 2002. "Integrated Land and Water Management in the United Kingdom: Narrowing the Implementation Gap," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(3), pages 403-423.
    9. E M Janssen & M C M Mourits & H J van der Fels-Klerx & A G J M Oude Lansink, 2020. "Factors underlying Dutch farmers' intentions to adapt their agronomic management to reduce Fusarium species infection in wheat," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(9), pages 1-17, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Rong Ran & Lei Hua & Tingrou Li & Yejing Chen & Junfu Xiao, 2023. "Why Have China’s Poverty Eradication Policy Resulted in the Decline of Arable Land in Poverty-Stricken Areas?," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-18, September.

    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. Borremans, L. & Marchand, F. & Visser, M. & Wauters, E., 2018. "Nurturing agroforestry systems in Flanders: Analysis from an agricultural innovation systems perspective," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 205-219.
    2. Bakker, L. & Sok, J. & van der Werf, W. & Bianchi, F.J.J.A., 2021. "Kicking the Habit: What Makes and Breaks Farmers' Intentions to Reduce Pesticide Use?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    3. Barnes, A.P. & McMillan, J. & Sutherland, L.-A. & Hopkins, J. & Thomson, S.G., 2022. "Farmer intentional pathways for net zero carbon: Exploring the lock-in effects of forestry and renewables," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    4. Nana, Tian & Lu, Fadian, 2013. "Adaptive management decision of agroforestry under timber price risk," Journal of Forest Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 162-173.
    5. Pierre Marie Stassart & Maarten Crivits & Julie Hermesse & Louis Tessier & Julie Van Damme & Joost Dessein, 2018. "The Generative Potential of Tensions within Belgian Agroecology," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-22, June.
    6. de Lauwere, Carolien & Slegers, Monique & Meeusen, Marieke, 2022. "The influence of behavioural factors and external conditions on Dutch farmers’ decision making in the transition towards circular agriculture," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    7. Gómez-Limón, José A. & Gutiérrez-Martín, Carlos & Riesgo, Laura, 2016. "Modeling at farm level: Positive Multi-Attribute Utility Programming," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 17-27.
    8. Wollni, Meike & Andersson, Camilla, 2014. "Spatial patterns of organic agriculture adoption: Evidence from Honduras," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 120-128.
    9. Julia Jouan & Mireille De Graeuwe & Matthieu Carof & Rim Baccar & Nathalie Bareille & Suzanne Bastian & Delphine Brogna & Giovanni Burgio & Sébastien Couvreur & Michał Cupiał & Benjamin Dumont & Anne-, 2020. "Learning Interdisciplinarity and Systems Approaches in Agroecology: Experience with the Serious Game SEGAE," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-15, May.
    10. Lang, Le Dang & Tiwari, Aviral Kumar & Hieu, Hoang Ngoc & Ha, Nguyen Minh & Gaur, Jighyasu, 2023. "The role of structural social capital in driving social-oriented sustainable agricultural entrepreneurship," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    11. Catarina Roseta‐Palma & Yiğit Sağlam, 2019. "Downside risk in reservoir management," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 63(2), pages 328-353, April.
    12. Morais, Manoela & Binotto, Erlaine & Borges, João Augusto Rossi, 2017. "Identifying beliefs underlying successors’ intention to take over the farm," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 48-58.
    13. John M. Polimeni & Raluca I. Iorgulescu & Lucian Liviu Albu & Andrei Ionica, 2022. "Romanian Farmers’ Markets: Understanding the Environmental Attitudes of Farmers as an Instrument for Bioeconomy Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-20, September.
    14. Ouvrard, Benjamin & Abildtrup, Jens & Bostedt, Göran & Stenger, Anne, 2019. "Determinants of forest owners attitudes towards wood ash recycling in Sweden - Can the nutrient cycle be closed?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 1-1.
    15. Haluk Gedikoglu & Sansel Tandogan & Joseph Parcell, 2023. "Neighbor effects on adoption of conservation practices: cases of grass filter systems and injecting manure," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 70(3), pages 723-756, June.
    16. Ufer, Danielle J. & Ortega, David L. & Wolf, Christopher A. & McKendree, Melissa & Swanson, Janice, 2022. "Getting past the gatekeeper: Key motivations of dairy farmer intent to adopt animal health and welfare-improving biotechnology," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    17. Aikaterini Papapostolou & Charikleia Karakosta & Kalliopi-Anastasia Kourti & Haris Doukas & John Psarras, 2019. "Supporting Europe’s Energy Policy Towards a Decarbonised Energy System: A Comparative Assessment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(15), pages 1-26, July.
    18. Kelley, Hugh & van Rensburg, Thomas M. & Jeserich, Nadine, 2016. "Determinants of demand for recreational walking trails in Ireland," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 173-186.
    19. Nuray Cakirli Akyüz & Ludwig Theuvsen, 2020. "The Impact of Behavioral Drivers on Adoption of Sustainable Agricultural Practices: The Case of Organic Farming in Turkey," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-20, August.
    20. van Rensburg, Thomas M. & Kelley, Hugh & Jeserich, Nadine, 2015. "What influences the probability of wind farm planning approval: Evidence from Ireland," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 12-22.

    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:lauspo:v:131:y:2023:i:c:s0264837723001345. 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: Joice Jiang (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/land-use-policy .

    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.