Swedish farmers' approval of nudges

Interest in the use of behavioral policy approaches, such as nudges, has strongly increased over the past years, including in the domains of food, agricultural and environmental policies. While the approval of nudges among the general public has been studied extensively, we know little about the attitude of farmers toward nudging. Farmers may (perceive to) be affected directly by food and agriculture nudges, which may result in different approval as compared to citizens. Moreover, given the increased interest in the use of nudges targeting farm behavior, it is relevant to know their attitude toward these policies. In an online survey, 342 Swedish farmers indicated their approval or disapproval of the same nudging policies that have been investigated in earlier studies with citizens. We find that, overall and over all areas covered, farmers have remarkably lower approval rates of nudging policies than the general public. While this may be partially explained by their socioeconomic profiles, also the connection of some nudges with farming activities may explain their different opinion. We find that farmers with a “green” orientation are generally more favorable, especially so for “green” nudges. [EconLit Citations: Q18, D03].