Citizen preferences for supporting farmers in sustainable rural management: An analysis of five biogeographically differentiated European countries

Abstract

Farmers' adoption of sustainable practices is important if rural management is to deliver against environmental targets. Developing policies that enable such practices requires the support of broader society, including citizens with differing priorities and values related to e.g. food production and environmental protection. The aim of this research was to investigate European citizens' attitudes towards different approaches to promoting sustainable practices among farmers (financial incentivisation for adopters, technical advice regarding traditional methods, and technical advice regarding innovative technological approaches) as well as personal and environmental drivers of these attitudes from a Social Cognitive Theory perspective. Online survey data were analysed from 3,190 citizens in the Czech Republic (n = 649), Spain (n = 623), Sweden (n = 645), Switzerland (n = 641), and the UK (n = 632). These countries represented biogeographical regions with different habitat conditions and roles for agriculture within their national economies. The results indicated that participants from all of the five countries expressed a moderate to high level of support for financial incentivisation, with Swiss participants showing the lowest level of support. A similar range of moderate to high support was shown for technical advice on traditional methods and innovative technological approaches, with traditional methods receiving greater support than innovative approaches in all countries except for Spain. A two-step cluster analysis based on participants' perceptions of ecosystem service benefits in, and threats to, rural areas identified four segments within the participant sample: ‘rural ES benefits-focused citizens’, ‘citizens moderately engaged in rural multifunctionality’, ‘citizens highly engaged in rural multifunctionality’, and ‘ecocentric citizens’. Multiple regression analyses showed that highly engaged citizens tended to have the highest levels of support for all three approaches to promoting sustainable practices, whereas moderately engaged citizens demonstrated the lowest levels of support. Individuals with stronger preservationist environmental attitudes, and with higher trust in farmers and landowners, were associated with greater support. The results provide evidence for guiding future citizen engagement and policymaking related to pro-environmental rural management initiatives.