We replicate Bocquého et al. (2014), who used multiple price lists to investigate the risk preferences of 107 French farmers. We collected new data from 1430 participants in 11 European farming systems. In agreement with the original study, farmers' risk preferences are best described by Cumulative Prospect Theory.The views expressed are purely those of the authors and may not, in any circumstances, be regarded as stating an official position of the European Commission.
Promoting and increasing the uptake of sustainable agricultural practices poses a major challenge for European agricultural policy. The scientific evidence for potentially relevant and environmentally beneficial practices, however, is scattered among numerous sources. This article examines the state of knowledge regarding agri-environmental practices and their impact on various domains of the environment (climate change, soil, water and biodiversity). The selection was restricted to practices applicable to German farmers. Ninety-eight literature reviews and meta-analyses assessing the environmental impacts of agri-environmental practices in the German context were found in a systematic review of the academic literature from 2011 onwards. A total of 144 agricultural management practices were identified that contribute toward achieving certain environmental objectives. The practices were clustered in eight categories: (1) Fertilizer strategies, (2) Cultivation, (3) Planting: vegetation, landscape elements & other, (4) Grazing strategies, (5) Feeding strategies, (6) Stable management, (7) Other, (8) Combined practices & bundles. The findings of this study suggest that some general patterns can be observed regarding the environmental benefits of different practices. While it is possible to derive recommendations for specific practices in terms of individual environmental objectives, their relevance is likely to be context-dependent. Moreover, this study reveals that bundles of practices can have positive synergistic impacts on the environment. Notably, only few reviews and meta-analyses considered the implementation and opportunity costs of environmentally beneficial practices. Agri-environmental policies need to consider the broad range of practices that have been shown to impact the environment positively, including their costs, and provide context-specific incentives for farmers to adopt them.
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