Farmers and nature conservation: Whatis known about attitudes, context factorsand actions affecting conservation?

Farmers’ attitudes towards viability of specific conservation practices or actions strongly impact their decisions on adoptionand change. This review of ‘attitude’ information reveals a wide range of perceptions about what conservation means andwhat the impacts of adoption will mean in economic and environmental terms. Farmers operate in a tight financial situation,and in parts of the world they are highly dependent on government subsidies, and cannot afford to risk losing that support.Use of conservation practices is most effective when these are understood in the context of the individual farm, anddecisions are rooted in land and resource stewardship and long-term concerns about health of the farm and the soil. Theattitudes of farmers entering agri-environmental schemes decide the quality of the result. A model is developed to show howattitudes of the farmer, the farming context and agri-environmental schemes interact and thus influence how the farmingcommunity affects nature and biodiversity. As new agri-environmental schemes are planned, agricultural developmentspecialists need to recognize the complexity of farmer attitudes, the importance of location and individual farmercircumstances, and the multiple factors that influence decisions. We provide these insights and the model to conservationbiologists conducting research in farming areas, decision makers who develop future agri-environmental schemes, educatorstraining tomorrow’s extension officers and nature conservationists, and researchers dealing with nature conservation issuesthrough a combination of scientific disciplines