Promoting farmer uptake of agri-environment schemes: the Countryside Stewardship Arable Options Scheme

The theory of diffusion and adoption of innovation was used to gain an understanding of farmer attitude towards and willingness to participate in the Arable Field Margins option of the Countryside Stewardship Scheme, and to assess the effectiveness of actions to promote participation amongst arable farmers. Informal interviews, followed up by a telephone survey, confirmed that for CS arable options to be attractive, they must be perceived to be practical, offer adequate environmental and financial reward, and fit in with a predominantly commercial farm business purpose. Appropriate promotional pathways were identified for each stage of the adoption process to encourage farmer participation, emphasising the importance of change agents and communications channels. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.