Developing payment-by-results approaches for agri-environment schemes: Experience from an arable trial in England

Chaplin, Stephen, Mills, Jane ORCID: 0000-0003-3835-3058 and Chiswell, Hannah Marie ORCID: 0000-0003-4504-1319 (2021) Developing payment-by-results approaches for agri-environment schemes: Experience from an arable trial in England. Land Use Policy, 109. Art 105698. doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2021.105698

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Abstract

There is increasing interest in the potential for payment-by-results approaches to be adopted more widely in agri-environment schemes to address some of the limitations of conventional action-based approaches. To date, researchers have almost exclusively applied the approach in grassland farming systems. This paper reports on the results from an English, pure payment-by-results pilot scheme that tested the delivery of two environmental objectives: provision of winter bird food for farmland birds and provision of pollen and nectar resources for pollinating insects in arable farming systems, and incorporated farmer self-assessments. The method employed an assessment of environmental outcomes using an experimental design, recording the number of plants/seed heads per quadrat for specified species and an analysis of farmers’ attitudes using a qualitative survey. The results from 15 farms revealed improved environmental performance compared to similar measures implemented under conventional agri-environment schemes. The analysis also revealed a high correlation of farmer self-assessment of results with expert assessments. Survey findings also identified farmers’ views on the advantages (flexibility and freedom, fairness) and disadvantages (risk of failure and non-payment) of such an approach.

Item Type:	Article
Article Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Results-based agri-environment payment schemes; Farmer behaviour; Self-assessment; Risk preferences
Subjects:	G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GE Environmental Sciences S Agriculture > S Agriculture (General) S Agriculture > S Agriculture (General) > S560 Farm Economics S Agriculture > S Agriculture (General) > S589.75 Agriculture and the environment S Agriculture > S Agriculture (General) > S604.5 Agricultural conservation S Agriculture > S Agriculture (General) > S900 Conservation of natural resources including land conservation
Divisions:	Schools and Research Institutes > Countryside and Community Research Institute
Research Priority Areas:	Place, Environment and Community
Depositing User:	Sofia Raseta
Date Deposited:	17 Sep 2021 15:04
Last Modified:	26 Sep 2022 09:12
URI:	https://eprints.glos.ac.uk/id/eprint/10162

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