Can information framing increase farmers' uptake of Eco-schemes? a randomised controlled trial

Abstract The overall success of voluntary agri-environmental programmes often hinges importantly on the level of farmer participation. Their enrolment decisions are shaped by a complex set of behavioural factors, which can be targeted by designing specific behavioural interventions—such as nudges—that aim to improve farmers’ uptake of these schemes. However, the effectiveness of these approaches in real-world settings remains understudied. Here, we use two subsequent randomized controlled trials to evaluate the effect of information treatments on farmers’ enrolment rates and enrolled area in a new Eco-scheme for establishing Skylark plots, which has been implemented as part of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy in Slovenia. The first trial framed enrolment as an environmental gain or loss, while the second trial framed enrolment as a negative or positive descriptive norm. In both trials, interventions had no direct effect on enrolment rates nor on the area enrolled. However, for large farms and for farms with prior enrolment in agri-environmental measures, interventions influenced the enrolment decision and the area enrolled. Our results imply that the provision of untargeted information framing alone may be insufficient to boost enrolment of all farmers in agri-environmental measures. However, such interventions may affect the behaviour of some groups of farmers. To improve enrolment, we recommend better targeting of behavioural interventions, coupled with system-level changes.