Landscape features on farms: Evidence on factors influencing their quantity and ecological value

Intensive agriculture and increasingly homogeneous agricultural landscapes are major drivers of biodiversity loss. The implementation of landscape features (e.g. hedges, trees, and field margins) as part of ecological focus areas on farms is a promising approach. This study aims to fill the gaps in understanding the influence of factors related to farmers' willingness and ability on their implementation of landscape features. We combine survey data on socio-psychological, economic, and sociodemographic factors collected in 2023 from 882 Swiss farmers with agricultural census data on registered landscape features and with biodiversity scores. Using regression analysis and various robustness checks, we estimate the influence of the above-mentioned factors on the farm area covered by landscape features and the ecological value of these features. Our findings indicate that both farmers' willingness (personal norms and self-efficacy to conserve biodiversity) and ability (biodiversity payments, education, and farm type) to preserve biodiversity affect the area of landscape features. The ecological value provided by landscape features is more influenced by farmers' ability than by their willingness. However, we also find that for landscape features that are not supported by biodiversity payments, farmers' willingness (i.e. personal norms) plays a decisive role, while ability is not important. • Landscape features enhance biodiversity in agricultural land. • We study farmers' decisions to create or maintain landscape features. • We conduct a survey on farmers' willingness and ability to conserve biodiversity. • The area of landscape features is influenced by farmers' willingness and ability. • Ability rather than willingness influences the landscape features' ecological value.