Designing information policies for soil and water quality: Farmers’ preferences and prior participation effects for advisory services in Flanders[Élaboration de politiques d'information sur la qualité des sols et de l'eau : préférences des agriculteurs et effets de la participation préalable aux services de conseil en Flandre]

Agricultural extension services are increasingly mobilized in agri-environmental contexts, where they complement regulatory approaches by supporting farmers in managing soil and water quality. From a societal and policymaking perspective, producing and delivering such information entails non-negligible costs, making it important to understand how prior participation influences both engagement and preferences for service design. To address this, we conduct a Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE) to examine Flemish farmers' preferences for soil and water quality advisory programs. To complement this ex ante analysis, selected variables derived from an ex post assessment are incorporated as interaction terms in the choice model, allowing us to assess whether prior engagement with such programs is associated with differences in participation decisions and preferences for program design. Using random-parameters logit and latent class models, we find that farmers consistently prefer advisory services delivered by practice and research centers, farmer unions, and private consultants over government-affiliated advisors, and are strongly sensitive to participation costs. While previous engagement does not significantly increase willingness to participate, interaction effects indicate that prior participants are more averse to regulation-themed sessions and more cost-sensitive. These findings suggest that increasing program visibility alone is unlikely to improve uptake. Instead, advisory programs should prioritize perceived relevance and institutional legitimacy, notably by ensuring diversity in advisory providers and strengthening their perceived independence and credibility.