Farmer's response to mitigation practices in Spain

Abstract

European agriculture faces new policy objectives derived from the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). The implementation of agricultural practices for GHG mitigation is a challenge for European farmers and farmer’s advisers. Although the knowledge of advisors related to soil sustainable management is very comprehensive, some aspects related to GHG mitigation need further understanding to reach standardised practices that meet the new policy objectives (Ingram et al, 2007). In addition, there is a lack of knowledge on how cultural and social factors (such as education, information, traditional local practices, among others) and policy incentives interact for making possible the implementation of mitigation measures (OECD, 2012). Here we evaluate farmers’ behaviour and the determinants of implementation of mitigation practices at farm level in Spain. First we evaluate the potential mitigation practices based on a survey of previous studies, then we select the most adequate practices by consulting and expert panel and carrying out a multi-criteria analysis of their responses under two climate scenarios. Finally we evaluate farmers’ potential implementation by conducting a wide-survey.