Links between structural, technical and socio-economic features of farms and the motivations of farmers for organic farming systems

Policy makers are promoting organic farming systems. But much previous research shows the complexity of farmer's decision-making processes regarding incentives to change their practices. This leads to an actor-oriented approach of policy analysis in which farmers' views are studied. This paper reports (i) the results of a comparison between motivations of farmers who moved towards organic farming systems, motivations of farmers who adopt nitrogen reduction, and motivations of farmers who rejected these two changes, in France and in Italy, and (ii) the links between these motivations and the structural, technical and socio-economic features of farms. These results are part of an EU funded project (IMAGES: FAIR3 CT96-2092). Adopters of organic farming systems and (to a lesser degree) adopters of nitrogen reduction are motivated for landscape quality and nature preservation. But adopters of these two measures also are strongly motivated for revenue. Consequently, success of policies promoting organic farming systems and nitrogen reduction depends on ability of these policies to contribute to maintaining or improving the economic sustainability of farms. Further, the high degree of motivation of most of the non adopters for independence in decision-making implies that agri-environmental measures need specific packaging and dissemination strategies