Using social-psychology models to understand farmers' conservation behaviour

Research into farmers' attitudes and motivations in the past has tended to be subjective and theoretically rather imprecise. This paper presents findi ngs from research based on the structured social-psychology model, the Theo ry of Planned Behaviour, into farmers' conservation-related behaviour. Resp onses from a survey of 100 Bedfordshire farmers were analysed to identify t he underlying determinants of behaviour and to comprehend farmers' altitude s. Farmers with greater environmental awareness, members of the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group, are more influenced by conservation-related conce rns and less by farm management concerns than other farmers. They appear al so to be more influenced by farming and conservation referent groups, grant s and conservation advice. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserv ed.