The objective of this paper is to provide an empirical investigation into the decision to participate in rural landscape conservation schemes in Italy. Although the high emphasis given to this issue and the increasing resources devoted to the landscape conservation schemes in the Rural Development Programmes (RDP) implemented by the Italian regions, farmers' participation is still very low. A better understanding of what motivates farmers to participate may help to increase adoption of the scheme and the effectiveness of the scheme design itself. In this paper we use data from 2149 household farms located in three Italian northern regions—Alto Adige, Lombardy and Piedmont—extracted from the Farm Accountancy Data Network sample, to estimate a discrete choice model aimed at identifying the variables that affect the probability of participating in a landscape conservation scheme. The model results indicate that participation correlates to farmer income. In addition to this, the probability is influenced by farm characteristics; mainly the use of organic farming practices, specialisation in livestock production and location of the farm in mountain areas.
Participation in rural landscape conservation schemes in Italy
SALVIONI, Cristina
2008-01-01
Abstract
The objective of this paper is to provide an empirical investigation into the decision to participate in rural landscape conservation schemes in Italy. Although the high emphasis given to this issue and the increasing resources devoted to the landscape conservation schemes in the Rural Development Programmes (RDP) implemented by the Italian regions, farmers' participation is still very low. A better understanding of what motivates farmers to participate may help to increase adoption of the scheme and the effectiveness of the scheme design itself. In this paper we use data from 2149 household farms located in three Italian northern regions—Alto Adige, Lombardy and Piedmont—extracted from the Farm Accountancy Data Network sample, to estimate a discrete choice model aimed at identifying the variables that affect the probability of participating in a landscape conservation scheme. The model results indicate that participation correlates to farmer income. In addition to this, the probability is influenced by farm characteristics; mainly the use of organic farming practices, specialisation in livestock production and location of the farm in mountain areas.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
