Factors influencing German farmer’s decision to grow alley cropping systems as ecological focus areas: a regression analysis

The cultivation of alley cropping agricultural wood is an opportunity to comply with the greening requirements of the common agricultural policy (CAP; 2014-2020), but farmers are not permitted to display the whole alley cropping system (ACS) as ecological focus area (EFA) in Germany. They can display the agricultural wood stripes separately as EFA instead. The willingness of farmers is of key importance for a successful establishment, but, so far, the acceptance of this greening measure is extremely low. The aim of this paper is therefore to point out factors which have linkages to the acceptance of ACS as EFAs by conducting an online survey among German conventional farmers. The results of the regression analysis show that factors such as attitude towards agricultural wood, level of professional education, location and social environment affect the acceptance of ACS as EFA. To conclude, starting points that promote this type of greening measure are identified.