Dutch dairy farmers' preferences for nitrogen abatement options

The current “nitrogen crisis” in the Netherlands calls for new policies to reduce the national emission of nitrogen, starting with agriculture. Considering the voluntary nature of most policies, it is important to understand farmers' preferences for different nitrogen abatement options. This paper ranks the preferences of Dutch dairy farmers regarding four investment options and four management practices using a best-worst scaling survey experiment. Results show that farmers prefer management practices over investment options for nitrogen abatement. Behavioural-economic factors explain some preference heterogeneity. Risk attitude and time discounting are associated most with investment options. Policy design should align incentives with farm structures and investment capacity.