Farmers' Perspectives on the Adoption of Agri-Environmental Schemes in South Moravia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7250/eb-2025-0006Keywords:
agriculture, argi-environmental schemes, Common Agricultural Policy, sustainable practicesAbstract
Human society depends on agriculture for a living, and the health of this industry is a key sign of a nation’s development. Currently, protecting soil resources with ecologically friendly practices and practicing responsible land management are prioritized. The so-called agri-environmental measures of the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union are one method for accomplishing this. Notwithstanding, these methods encounter obstacles such as inadequate adoption by farmers and restricted environmental impact. They require an analysis of environmental features and an assessment of farmer comments in order to be more effective. This study’s objective is to evaluate the opinions of farmers in the Czech Republic's South Moravian region. The situation in the interest area was surveyed using a questionnaire (201 respondents). The impact of different elements (farm features, individual opinions, and socioeconomic factors) on farmers’ adoption of agri-environmental schemes (AES) is investigated by statistical analysis. In general, farmers participate in AES primarily because the program offers enticing financial assistance that fits with their business plan. The likelihood of penalties, undue complexity, red tape, and stringent restrictions are the most prevalent deterrents. Working together with farmers to improve AES and making advisory services available are essential. These creative strategies will undoubtedly increase AECM’s efficacy both domestically in the Czech Republic and globally.
References
Bartkowski, B., & Bartke, S. (2018). Leverage points for governing agricultural soils: A review of empirical studies of European farmers’ decisionmaking. Sustainability, 10(9), 3179. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10093179 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su10093179
Bartkowski, B., Beckmann, M., Bednář, M., Biffi, S., Domingo‐Marimon, C., Mesaroš, M., Schüßler, C., Šarapatka, B., Tarčak, S., Václavík, T., Ziv, G., & Wittstock, F. (2023). Adoption and potential of agri‐environmental schemes in Europe: Cross‐regional evidence from interviews with farmers. People and Nature, 5(5), 1610–1621. https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10526 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10526
Brown, C., Kovacs, E. K., Zinngrebe, Y., Albizua, A., Galanaki, A., Grammatikopoulou, I., Herzon, I., Marquardt, D., McCracken, D., & Olsson, A. (2019). Understanding farmer uptake of measures that support biodiversity and ecosystem services in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP): An EKLIPSE Expert Working Group report. Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Wallingford.
Brown, C., Kovács, E., Herzon, I., Villamayor-Tomas, S., Albizua, A., Galanaki, A., Grammatikopoulou, I., McCracken, D., Olsson, J. A., & Zinngrebe, Y. (2021). Simplistic understandings of farmer motivations could undermine the environmental potential of the common agricultural policy. Land Use Policy, 101, 105136. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2020.105136 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2020.105136
Chyba, J. (2010). Vodhospodářská Bilance a Zemědělská Výroba. Rožnovský, J. A T. Litschmann. Voda v Krajině. Praha: MZE, 69–72.
Cíbik, J., Beracko, P., Bulánková, E., Zaťovičová, Z. Č., Gregušová, K., Kodada, J., Krno, I., Elexová, E. M., Navara, T., Rogánska, A., & Derka, T. (2022). Are springs hotspots of benthic invertebrate diversity? Biodiversity and conservation priority of rheocrene springs in the karst landscape. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, 32(5), 843–858. https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.3802 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.3802
Cudlı́nová, E., Lapka, M., & Bartoš, M. (1999). Problems of agriculture and landscape management as perceived by farmers of the Šumava Mountains (Czech Republic). Landscape and Urban Planning, 46(1–3), 71–82. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0169-2046(99)00048-1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0169-2046(99)00048-1
De Krom, M. P. (2017). Farmer participation in agrienvironmental schemes: Regionalisation and the role of bridging social capital. Land Use Policy, 60, 352–361. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2016.10.026 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2016.10.026
Frantová, N., Rábek, M., Porčová, L., Jovanović, I., Širůček, P., Lukas, V., Hájek, J., Elzner, P., Holková, L., Smutná, P., Smutný, V., Středa, T., & Cerkal, R. (2024). Monitoring Drought Tolerance Mechanisms of Sorghum and Maize Under Unevenly Distributed Precipitation. International Journal of Plant Production, 18(1), 49–67. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42106-023-00278-9 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42106-023-00278-9
Herber, D. R. (2015). Basic implementation of multiple interval pseudospectral methods to solve optimal control problems. UIUCESDL201501.
Karásek, P., Stejskalová, D., & Ulčák, Z. (2014). Analysis of rural social aspects in the context of land consolidations and land use planning. The case study, Czech Republic. Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, 62(3), 507–515. https://doi.org/10.11118/actaun201462030507 DOI: https://doi.org/10.11118/actaun201462030507
Lastra-Bravo, X. B., Hubbard, C., Garrod, G., & Tolón-Becerra, A. (2015). What drives farmers’ participation in EU agri-environmental schemes? Results from a qualitative metaanalysis. Environmental Science & Policy, 54, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2015.06.002 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2015.06.002
Meitner, J., Balek, J., Bláhová, M., Semerádová, D., Hlavinka, P., Lukas, V., Jurečka, F., Žalud, Z., Klem, K., Anderson, M. C., Dorigo, W., Fischer, M., & Trnka, M. (2023). Estimating drought-induced crop yield losses at the cadastral area level in the Czech Republic. Agronomy, 13(7), 1669. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy13071669 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy13071669
Micha, R., Khatibzadeh, S., Shi, P., Andrews, K. G., Engell, R. E., & Mozaffarian, D. (2015). Global, regional and national consumption of major food groups in 1990 and 2010: a systematic analysis including 266 country-specific nutrition surveys worldwide. BMJ Open, 5(9), e008705. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2015-008705 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2015-008705
Ministerstvo zemědělství České republiky. (2016). Program rozvoje venkova 2014–2020.
Ministerstvo zemědělství České republiky. (2019). METODIKA k provádění nařízení vlády č. 75/2015 Sb., o podmínkách provádění Agroenvironmentálně-klimatických opatření a o změně nařízení vlády č. 79/2007 Sb., o podmínkách provádění Agroenvironmentálních opatření, ve znění pozdějších předpisů pro rok 2019.
Mostova, A., & Hutorov, A. (2023). Food security in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe: State and strategic directions of provision. Ekonomika APK, 30(1), 20–29. https://doi.org/10.32317/2221-1055.202301020 DOI: https://doi.org/10.32317/2221-1055.202301020
Paulus, A., Hagemann, N., Baaken, Marieke C, Roilo, S., Alarcón-Segura, V., Cord, A. F., & Beckmann, M. (2022). Landscape context and farm characteristics are key to farmers’ adoption of agri-environmental schemes. Land Use Policy, 121, 106320. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2022.106320 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2022.106320
Pavlis, E. S., Terkenli, T. S., Kristensen, S. B., Busck, A. G., & Cosor, G. L. (2016). Patterns of agrienvironmental scheme participation in Europe: Indicative trends from selected case studies. Land Use Policy, 57, 800–812. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2015.09.024 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2015.09.024
Pe’er, G., Bonn, A., Bruelheide, H., Dieker, P., Eisenhauer, N., Feindt, P. H., Hagedorn, G., Hansjürgens, B., Herzon, I., Lomba, Â., Marquard, E., Moreira, F., Nitsch, H., Oppermann, R., Perino, A., Röder, N., Schleyer, C., Schindler, S., Wolf, C., . . . Lakner, S. (2020). Action needed for the EU Common Agricultural Policy to address sustainability challenges. People and Nature, 2(2), 305–316. https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10080 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10080
Potopová, V., Trnka, M., Vizina, A., Semerádová, D., Balek, J., Chawdhery, M., Musiolková, M., Pavlík, P., Možný, M., Štěpánek, P., & Clothier, B. (2022). Projection of 21st-century irrigation water requirements for sensitive agricultural crop commodities across the Czech Republic. Agricultural Water Management, 262, 107337. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2021.107337 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2021.107337
Roilo, S., Spake, R., Bullock, J. M., & Cord, A. F. (2024). A cross-regional analysis of redbacked shrike responses to agri-environmental schemes in Europe. Environmental Research Letters, 19(3), 034004. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad264a DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad264a
Rožnovský, J., Středa, T., Litschmann, T., & Pokladníková, H. (2010). Mesoclimate as a part of recreation potential of the landscape on the example of the Moravian Karst. Public Recreation and Landscape Protection – Hand in Hand? 5, 60–64.
Šarapatka, B., & Niggli, U. (2008). Zemědělství a krajina: cesty k vzájemnému souladu. Univerzita Palackého v Olomouci.
Wittstock, F., Paulus, A., Beckmann, M., Hagemann, N., & Baaken, C. M. (2022). Understanding farmers’ decisionmaking on agrienvironmental schemes: A case study from Saxony, Germany. Land Use Policy, 122, 106371. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2022.106371 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2022.106371
Zavadil, T., & Jančák, V. (2021). Zemědělci formující krajinu: jak ovlivňují podobu krajiny a strukturu využití ploch v Česku?
Zámečník, V. (2018). Agroenvironmentální opatření v České republice. Fórum Ochrany Přírody, 3(2018), 13–18.
Zinngrebe, Y., Pe’er, G., Schueler, S., Schmitt, J., Schmidt, J., & Lakner, S. (2017). The EU’s ecological focus areas – How experts explain farmers’ choices in Germany. Land Use Policy, 65, 93–108. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2017.03.027 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2017.03.027
Ziv, G., Beckmann, M., Bullock, J., Cord, A., Delzeit, R., Domingo, C., Dreßler, G., Hagemann, N., Masó, J., Müller, B., Neteler, M., Sapundzhieva, A., Stoev, P., Stenning, J., Trajković, M., & Václavík, T. (2020). BESTMAP: behavioural, ecological and socioeconomic tools for modelling agricultural policy. Research Ideas and Outcomes, 6, e52052. https://doi.org/10.3897/rio.6.e52052 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/rio.6.e52052
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Kateřina Mazancová (Author)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.