Die Adoption von Agrarumweltprogrammen in der Schweizer Getreideproduktion

summary Adoption of Agri‐environmental Programmes in Swiss Crop Production We analyse the adoption of agri‐environmental programmes, i.e. extensive and organic crop production, in Switzerland for the years 2008 and 2009. While extensive crop production is adopted by about 60 per cent of all eligible farms, the adoption of organic crop production is very limited. Using logistic regressions we find that farms located in adverse production conditions (e.g. at higher altitudes) are more likely to be adopters of extensive crop production. Moreover, our results show that the probability of adopting organic production decreases with increasing specialisation in crop production. We find that organic producers tend to be slightly younger and better educated than other farmers. However, no differences in farmers’ age and education are found between non‐adopters and extensive crop producers. This shows that, in general, the non‐adoption of agri‐environmental programmes in Switzerland is not primarily an educational problem. Moreover, we find that land tenure has no influence on the adoption of agri‐environmental crop production schemes. Thus, large shares of rented land do not limit the adoption of agri‐environmental programmes. In order to increase the adoption rates of extensive and organic production, particularly in non‐adverse production conditions, site‐ and region‐specific levels of ecological direct payments could be used.