Influence of Climatic Changes on Farmers’ Participation in Biodiversity‐Enhancing Agri‐Environmental‐Climate Schemes

Biodiversity loss on agricultural land is progressing while European farmers’ participation in agri‐environmental‐climate schemes (AECS) is limited. Meanwhile, weather extremes are increasingly affecting agricultural production and, thus, land management decisions. Using a discrete choice experiment in Southern Germany, we explore determinants of farmer participation in biodiversity AECS. Management flexibility emerged as a key factor for scheme adoption. Farmers who experience negative impacts from climate change or have pessimistic expectations about future climatic conditions tend to invest less in non‐productive AECS if they believe they have effective adaptation practices that support continued crop production. To ensure the transition to sustainable food production in the future, our results highlight the need to design and promote sustainable adaptation strategies to climate change in addition to AECS. Our results also highlight the need to consider different farm types, considering that forage farms seem less reactive to climatic changes.