Exploring farmers motivation for collective action: A Q study on collaboration in Dutch agri-environment schemes

Within the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy, agri-environment schemes (AES) have been designed to address the degradation of the natural environment caused by agriculture. To improve the schemes’ ecological effectiveness, a collective approach focusing on a landscape instead of a single farm level is recommended. This approach is rarely applied across Europe except for the Netherlands, where all AES have to be realised collectively since 2016. As participation in the schemes is voluntary, understanding farmers’ motivation to join is crucial since the uptake and implementation of measures is prerequisite for achieving any effects. Hence, the aim of this study is to explore Dutch farmers’ motivation to participate in collective AES and to find out about the scheme’s main advantages and disadvantages perceived by the farmers.