The Role of Environmental Attitudes and Risk for Adoption with Respect to Farmers' Participation in the Agri-Environmental Practices

This research represents an attempt to systematically introduce the concepts of sustainable agriculture that shall address environmental attitudes and the risks for adoption related to agri-environmental practices. The substantial risks posed by climate change, loss of biodiversity, and other forms of pollution within the 21st century regarding global eco-systems, food production, and human health have emphasized the need to investigate this phenomenon. The agri-environmental practices are aimed at mitigating the environmental impacts of intensive agriculture; however, the adoption of these practices calls for a change in the farmers' behaviors. As farmers are indispensable stakeholders in rural ecological systems, the factors that determine the adoption of agri-environmental practices have been taken into analysis. The research has been carried out on a sample of 246 farmers in the rural areas of the Republic of Serbia. The data has been elaborated on by the SPSS statistical package and PLS SMART software. The findings, in the framework of a farm as a business, point out that the farmers believe that environmental protection is an important segment of production and that good agriculture is a prerequisite for producers' survival, maximum yields, and profits. The farmers, in the framework of stewardship, agree that good agriculture implies responsible management of the farms' agricultural and natural areas, as part of the country's heritage, for the benefit of future generations. The findings also show that the environmental attitudes of farmers in the stewardship frame and factors of risk adoption influence attitudes toward agri-environmental practices. The findings of this paper reveal up-to-date attitudes toward the adoption of further agri-environmental measures, directly contributing to raising awareness of the introduction of new AEM among practitioners in the agricultural sector, decision-makers, and policymakers. The proposed research is significant in the process of transposition of the CAP acquis communautaire in agriculture policy and the implementation of measures under IPARD III.