Spanish Journal of Agricultural Research Editorial Policy Update: Pre-registration of submissions based on primary data

As of January 2022, the Agricultural Economics Section of the Spanish Journal of Agricultural Research encourages authors using primary data on their submissions to pre-register their analysis. This article explains the reasons that have led the Editorial Board to include this requirement

Can economic experiments contribute to a more effective CAP?

In order to keep pace with the evolution of the objectives and means of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy, evaluation tools also need to adapt. A set of tools that have proved highly effective in other policy fields is economic experiments. These allow the testing of a new policy before its implementation, provide evidence of its specific effects, and identify behavioural dimensions that can influence policy outcomes. We argue that agricultural policy should be subject to economic experiments, providing examples to illustrate how they can inform CAP design. We identify the additional efforts needed to establish further proof-of-concept, by running more – and more robust – experiments related to the CAP. This can happen only by integrating experimental evaluation results within the policy cycle and addressing ethical and practical challenges seriously. To do so, researchers would benefit from a concerted European effort to promote the methodology across the EU; organise the replication in time and across Europe of experiments relevant for the CAP; and build a multi-national panel of farmers willing to participate in experiments. Steps are being taken in this direction by the Research Network of Economics Experiments for CAP evaluation (REECAP)

Willing or complying? The delicate interplay between voluntary and mandatory interventions to promote farmers' environmental behavior

Agri-environmental policies generally build around two complementary approaches: mandatory requirements and (compensated) voluntary measures. One of the challenges of the future EU Common Agricultural Policy is precisely to find the right balance between these two types of interventions. We conducted an experiment with farmers in three EU Member States to assess the impact of (1) increasing mandatory contributions to the environment, and of (2) decreasing unconditional income support. We also assess the effect of two key behavioural factors: environmental concern and trait reactance. Results show that both interventions reduce voluntary contributions to the environment, but the reduction is higher when mandatory contributions increase than when income decreases.. However, when mandatory contribution increases substantially, this more than offsets the reduction of voluntary contributions, leading to higher total contributions

Farmers' risk preferences in 11 European farming systems: A multi-country replication of Bocqueho et al. (2014)

We replicate Bocqueho 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. Structural model estimates show that farmers in the new samples are, on average, less loss averse and more susceptible to probability distortion than in the original study. Explorative analyses indicate differences between estimation approaches, as well as heterogeneity between and within samples. We discuss challenges in replications of economic experiments with farmers across farming contexts

Une expérience sur la contribution volontaire à une réseau académique sur la PAC. Une note

International audiencePeer networks can positively affect individual careers and the scientific enterprise as a whole. People's willingness to contribute to such networks is poorly understood. In an email experiment, we investigated how framing the future research environment affects people's willingness to contribute to an emerging academic network. In spite of relatively large treatment effects, we do not find statistically significant effects of pessimistic or optimistic messaging on the willingness to contribute. We discuss limitations of the small sample size and the future research potential of network nudges

Estrategias para incrementar la participacion en programas agroambientales: el papel del capital social

Estrategias para incrementar la participacion en programas agroambientales: el papel del capital socia

Fixed costs involved in crop pattern changes and agri-environmental schemes

Agri-environmental schemes are the main policy instrument currently available in the European Union to promote environmentally friendly farming practices. Nevertheless, the adoption rate of these measures is still limited. This paper develops a profit maximizer theoretical framework to explain the farmer’s sign-up decision and the area to put under an agri-environmental measure characterised by a change in the crop pattern. The application concerns an agri-environmental measure awarding the introduction of alfalfa in cereal farms in Natura 2000 designated areas of Aragon (Spain). The econometric specification accounts for both the upper censoring of the enrolled area, constrained by the available eligible area, and the self-selection of contractors according to the extra-profit of their enrolment. To test the absence of fixed costs of enrolment, a simple tobit with a lower and an upper bound, that corresponds to the non fixed costs situation, is compared to the censored model with selection. Estimated specifications based on the enrolled area do not provided normally distributed residues and are not suitable to carry out the likelihood ratio test. Estimated specifications based on the share of enrolled area in the eligible area provide normally distributed residues. The likelihood ratio test rejects the absence of fixed costs. Technical factors as well as social capital variables are taken into consideration as determinants of technical and transaction costs. Estimation results show that there is an adoption barrier derived from the know-how affecting the fixed compliance costs of introducing the new crop. In addition, there is an adoption barrier derived from transaction costs which are reduced in the presence of social networks. These results suggest that a non linear payment mechanism or auctions might be suitable to ensure a better coverage of Natura 2000 eligible areas by the contracts, with a limited increase in related public expenditures

Insights on cisgenic plants with durable disease resistance under the European Green Deal

Significant shares of harvests are lost to pests and diseases, therefore, minimizing these losses could solve part of the supply constraints to feed the world. Cisgenesis is defined as the insertion of genetic material into a recipient organism from a donor that is sexually compatible. Here, we review (i) conventional plant breeding, (ii) cisgenesis, (iii) current pesticide-based disease management, (iv) potential economic implications of cultivating cisgenic crops with durable disease resistances, and (v) potential environmental implications of cultivating such crops; focusing mostly on potatoes, but also apples, with resistances to Phytophthora infestans and Venturia inaequalis, respectively. Adopting cisgenic varieties could provide benefits to farmers and to the environment through lower pesticide use, thus contributing to the European Green Deal target

Perspectives on stakeholder participation in the design of economic experiments for agricultural policymaking: Pros, cons, and twelve recommendations for researchers

Economic experiments have emerged as a powerful tool for agricultural policy evaluations. In this perspective, we argue that involving stakeholders in the design of economic experiments is critical to satisfy mandates for evidence-based policies and encourage policymakers' usage of experimental results. To identify advantages and disadvantages of involving stakeholders when designing experiments, we synthesize observations from six experiments in Europe and North America. In these experiments, the primary advantage was the ability to learn within realistic decision environments and thus make relevant policy recommendations. Disadvantages include complicated implementation and constraints on treatment design. We compile 12 recommendations for researchers

How well can experts predict farmers’ risk preferences?

International audienc