Navigating public and private funding options for conservation measures: A cross-country comparison of western European farmers' preferences

Evidence in economics highlights the importance of the design of agri-environmental contracts for farmers' participation. However, there is little evidence on Western European farmers' preferences between alternative public and private contracts and labels, and on their synergies with participation in farmer clusters. In addition, cultural or institutional differences may lead to variation in contract design preferences across countries. Thus, we apply a discrete choice experiment using an online survey to estimate farmers' preferences for the contract organiser ( government, retailer, NGO ), the payment method ( fixed per hectare payment, price premium associated with a label ), and participation in a farmer cluster including technical assistance by a facilitator as part of the contractual arrangement ( no farmer cluster, optional participation, mandatory participation ) in the United Kingdom, France and the Netherlands. Based on a sample of 767 farmers, respondents prefer, on average, government-organised contracts to contracts from retailers or NGOs. Farmers prefer fixed per hectare payments over price premiums associated with a label and contracts granting the option to join a farmer cluster. The results vary between farm types and countries.