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Farmer behavior toward herbicide‐free agriculture and conservation tillage

Author

Listed:
  • Viviana Garcia
  • Niklas Möhring
  • Yanbing Wang
  • Robert Finger

Abstract

Balancing conflicting policy goals is a key challenge in the transition to sustainable agricultural systems. An important example is herbicide use reduction potentially conflicting with conservation tillage—which often strongly relies on herbicide use. We investigate the joint uptake of two agri‐environmental schemes, conservation tillage and herbicide‐free agriculture systems. To this end, we use a combination of detailed survey data on farmer behavior, environmental and agronomic data, and census data on the complete population of all farmers from Switzerland. Findings based on a multinomial logit and fixed effects multinomial logit indicate that, conditional on observable factors, the systems are not complementary, but joint adoption occurs for 35% of farmers. Behavioral factors explain 26% of joint adoption behavior, emphasizing the role of risk taking, openness to innovation, and biodiversity valuations in farmers' decisions. Our analysis provides broader implications for assessing and navigating conflicting sustainability goals in agriculture globally.

Suggested Citation

  • Viviana Garcia & Niklas Möhring & Yanbing Wang & Robert Finger, 2026. "Farmer behavior toward herbicide‐free agriculture and conservation tillage," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 108(1), pages 28-53, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:ajagec:v:108:y:2026:i:1:p:28-53
    DOI: 10.1111/ajae.12550
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