Possible solutions to the failure of agri-environmental measures. Could increasing collaboration and knowledge save biodiversity?

Abstract: The common agricultural policy (CAP) has been stated as one of the most important policies within the European Union (EU), and is the fundament for agricultural development in the member states. However, the CAP has been stated to effect biodiversity in a negative way. To handle the decreasing biodiversity in agricultural landscapes within the EU, the CAP has been developed to include measures to maintain biodiversity in agricultural landscapes, two of them being the mandatory “Ecological Focus Areas” (EFA) and the voluntary Agri-Environmental Schemes (AES). In this study, I investigate the differences in farmers’ preferences towards these different measures, and how collaboration between farmers could be increased. The results are obtained through a systematised literature review. One reason for farmers having a negative preference towards collaboration regarding environmental measures could be the risk of lost farmland productivity, which could have an even more negative effect if there is a high probability of farm-takeover. Collaboration between farmers regarding AES could be increased by actively offer information on why collaboration could increase farm productivity, as well as giving information on why this could lead to increased biodiversity. Even if economical determinants have a great impact on farmers’ preferences towards, other determinants such as administrative restrictions and farmers’ perceptions and knowledge play a crucial role when explaining farmers’ preferences towards both AES and EFA. Generally, farmers are most willing to take on environmental measures that are easily implemented and cheap to maintain. This means that when developing agri-environmental policies, policy makers must take a holistic approach to design a policy that motivates farmers to choose measures with high environmental impact.