The Agriculture Act (2020) proposes that future agri-environment schemes (AES) are framed around the principle of ‘public money for public goods’. While
it is too early to fully assess the impacts of this Act, Defra intends to open new agri-environment schemes to applications in 2024, and pilots began in 2021.
This presents a window of opportunity in which it should be possible to design schemes that are better able to engage participants and cultivate the intrinsic
values that are necessary for ‘culturally sustainable’ participation in environmental approaches (Burton and Paragahawewa, 2011; Chan et al.
2016). However, it has been claimed that more research is needed on the social processes that underlie successful environmental management programmes involving farmers (de Snoo et al. 2013, p. 67). This project seeks to fill this gap by addressing two research questions:
• What factors explain farmers’ participation and engagement, or lack thereof, in agri-environment schemes?
• How can this evidence inform future policy focused on improving the effectiveness of agri-environment schemes?
These questions are approached using a mixed methodology; a statistical analysis of quantitative Farm Business Survey Data using a Generalised Linear
Model and a case study in the county of Cornwall, including interviews, analysed thematically and using Qualitative Comparative Analysis. This allowed
the research to approach agri-environment scheme participation and engagement holistically while testing a novel methodology. The results of this
research are discussed in relation to published literature on values, scheme design, and attitudes and behaviour, using a pragmatist epistemology.
An overemphasis on the choices of individual farmers, as opposed to the operational pressure of the wider agricultural industry and its institutions, risks
schemes not contributing significantly to meeting climate mitigation and biodiversity targets. In this vein, adjusting agri-environment schemes without
wider changes to the food production system will not engender the desired improvements to uptake, engagement and outcomes, and there are significant
research gaps around interventions that offer simultaneous environmental, economic and cultural benefits. A a result, this research has included both an
individual and a system focus. The quantitative analysis identified factors such as production type that influenced land managers’ participation in agri environment schemes, while the qualitative and comparative approaches highlighted pathways to participation and engagement in the context of
Cornwall. It is concluded that agri-environment schemes would benefit from having a place-based focus, supported by the provision of expert advice and
reskilling for land managers. In addition, scheme goals should be supported by wider agricultural and environmental policy, including in the form of a stringent regulatory baseline and potentially intervention elsewhere in the supply chain,
including in processing and retail.