Using Tailored Information and Public Commitment to Improve the Environmental Quality of Farm Lands: An Example from the Netherlands

Abstract

By adopting nature conservation practices, farmers can enhance the environmental quality and biodiversity of their land. In this exploratory study, a behavioral intervention that focused on improving Dutch farmers’ nature conservation practices was developed and tested. This intervention was based on insights derived from social psychology and combined tailored information and public commitment. Participating farmers were divided in three groups: one group received tailored information only, one group received both tailored information and a public commitment manipulation, and one group served as a control. A questionnaire measuring relevant aspects of conservation was completed before and after the intervention. Results show that tailored information combined with public commitment making resulted in a stronger desire to engage in conservation, an increase in surface area of non-subsidized natural habitat, and an increase in time farmers spent on conservation. The intervention affected both subsidized and non-subsidized conservation, but the effects were stronger for non-subsidized conservation.

Land-use change arising from rural land exchange: an agent-based simulation model

“…We expect, however, that categorical land-use change, such as the conversion from arable farming to livestock farming or from farming to nature conservation, will arise also from land exchange from one agent type to another. This is because a categorical change often requires considerable investment in knowledge and equipment for most land owners (Rounsevell et al 2003), while it may also lead to undesired social effects such as an alienation from one's network of peers (Karali et al 2013a, b), which have been shown to strongly influence the willingness to change (Lokhorst et al 2010(Lokhorst et al , 2011. This is supported by data from the Dutch Agricultural Economics Institute, which demonstrate that-over a time span of 10 years-farms that undergo a categorical land-use change (e.g., from dairy farming to arable farming) cover about 4 % of the total agricultural area, while parcels that undergo such a change (i.e.…”

Changing Climate Related Behaviors: A Review of Social-Scientific Interventions

“…Likewise, when applying social scientific knowledge to natural settings, one should never assume that one specific strategy will do the trickinstead, a combination of interventions is to be preferred. Numerous studies have shown that usually, combined interventions are most effective in producing durable behavior change (see, for example, DeLeon & Fuqua, 1995;Lokhorst et al, 2010;Staats et al, 2004). So, a few interventions that are likely to yield result should be chosen and combined in a multilevel intervention.…”

“…Results showed that only participants who made both types of commitment significantly changed their behavior. Another study (Lokhorst, van Dijk, Staats, van Dijk & de Snoo, 2010) looked at the effects of commitment making on farmers' nature conservation efforts. Here, the commitment making was combined with feedback on current conservation and tailored information on how to improve.…”

The Role of Government in Environmental Land Use Planning: Towards an Integral Perspective

“…Governments can try and (re-)design such environments as to promote the desired behaviour. Group pressure can be an important strategy to involve target groups in a policy program, but is hard to organize (for a successful example, see Lokhorst et al, 2010). More often it arises from an effective resonance between the results of other policy instruments.…”

“…In a study by Lokhorst et al (2010), farmers were invited to participate in study groups in which they received feedback on their current conservation efforts. In this setting, farmers were asked to publicly commit to improving these efforts.…”