Importance of Economic, Social, and Environmental Objectives of Agriculture for Stakeholders—A Meta-Analysis

This article summarizes research results on the relative importance of agricultural policy objectives for different stakeholder groups. We focus on studies that have examined citizens’, farmers’, and experts’ preferences for economic, social, and environmental dimensions of multifunctional agriculture, paying particular attention to agri-environmental objectives. Descriptive and meta-analysis are used to examine 34 studies, employing compositional data analysis. The findings show that, overall, equal importance is attached to the economic, social, and environmental objectives. However, the general public emphasizes social values, whereas experts and farmers place more weight on economic objectives, which are also more prevalent in nationwide studies. With regard to the environment, objectives pertaining to sustainable resource management are weighted higher than landscape or biodiversity goals, although increasing emphasis has been placed on biodiversity in recent years.