Farming practices and the environment
Submitting InstitutionQueen Margaret University Edinburgh
Unit of AssessmentPsychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience
Summary Impact TypeEconomic
Research Subject Area(s)
Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services
Economics: Applied Economics
Summary of the impact
The model of farmers' decision-making developed by Dr Joyce Willock in
Psychology at Queen Margaret University (QMU) and co-researchers
identified the influences of socio-economic, psychological, and farming
variables on farmers' decisions. Understanding the influences on farmers'
business-oriented and environmentally-oriented decisions is important for
farmers themselves and environmental policy-makers. Findings from the
research by Willock and colleagues have had an impact on (1) Scottish
Government regulations designed to prevent nitrate pollution of the
environment, (2) farmers via the guidance they receive from the Scottish
Government, and (3) current Scottish Government policy towards agriculture
and climate change.
Prior to 1999, research into farmers' decision-making emphasised the
roles of economic variables while paying little regard to other factors.
The explanations of behaviour that resulted from such research (a) focused
on farmers' profit-related motivations at the expense of other drivers of
behaviour, (b) assumed (incorrectly) a direct link between farmers'
expressed attitudes and their behaviours, and/or (c) failed to distinguish
between direct and indirect influences on behaviours. All such
explanations produced, at best, limited understandings of farmers'
decisions through a failure to take account of the wider context within
which farmers made their decisions.
In 1999, Dr Joyce Willock and colleagues reported findings (Key output 1)
from an extensive study that had collected data from 245 farmers based in
eastern Scotland. For this study, the researchers developed three novel
questionnaires, each designed to elicit more detail of influences on
farmers' decision-making than could be obtained from previously-existing
measures: The Edinburgh Farming Attitudes Scale collected data on seven
domains of attitudes (achievement, legislation, pessimism about farming,
openness, financial risk, chemical use, policy communication); The
Edinburgh Farming Objectives Scale data on five factors relating to
objectives (success in farming, conservation of environment, quality of
life, status, off-farm goals), and The Edinburgh Farming Implementation
Scale on four types of farming behaviour (business-oriented behaviour,
environmentally-oriented behaviour, emergent behaviour, stressed
From analysis of the data, Willock and colleagues showed how farmers'
attitudes influenced their behaviours both directly, and indirectly as
mediated by objectives. In particular, Willock et al. demonstrated how the
model could explain farmers' business-oriented and
environmentally-oriented behaviours. For example, they showed how farmers'
environmentally-oriented behaviour is influenced directly by an attitude
of openness in farming and indirectly by an attitude related to
achievement as mediated by an objective of conservation. Similarly,
attitudes to chemical use were seen to exert a direct and an indirect
influence, the latter also mediated by an objective of conservation of the
environment. From these analyses, Willock et al. produced a novel model of
farmers' decision-making that took account of both a broad range of
psychological factors (farmers' attitudes, objectives and behaviours) and
farming context in the form of farm size. The outcomes of this study
provided an integrated and comprehensive framework within which to
understand direct and indirect impact of the wider context upon farmers'
In a continuation of this research, Austin, Deary and Willock (2001; Key
output 2) showed how personality traits (neuroticism, extraversion,
openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness) and psychometric
intelligence can influence farmers' business-oriented and
environmentally-oriented behaviours. The influence of these antecedent
variables arises both directly and indirectly, mediated by psychological
variables of attitudes and objectives identified by Willock et al (1999).
In particular, Austin et al. found that environmentally-related behaviour
was more likely for farmers who scored high on extraversion, openness, and
conscientiousness, and high on cognitive ability, and for farmers with
larger farms. Thus, the inclusion of personality traits and intelligence
extended the previous model of the effects of psychological variables and
farming context produced by Willock et al. (1999).
In contrast to previous explanations of farmers' behaviours, these
studies provided a developed and comprehensive understanding of farmers'
decision-making. Willock, as first author of the 1999 study, conducted
analysis of the data collected for the study and developed the resulting
model of farmers' decision-making. She also conducted the analysis
reported by Austin et al (2001). On these dates, Willock was employed as a
lecturer at QMU (then Queen Margaret College).
References to the research
1. Willock, J., Deary, I. J., Edwards-Jones, G., Gibson, G. J., McGregor,
M. J., Sutherland, A., Dent, J. B., Morgan, O., & Grieve, R. (1999).
The role of attitudes and objectives in farmer decision making: business
and environmentally-oriented behaviour in Scotland. Journal of
Agricultural Economics, 50, 286-303.
2. Austin, E.J., Deary, I.J., & Willock, J. (2001). Personality and
intelligence as predictors of economic behaviour in Scottish farmers. European
Journal of Personality, 15, S123-S137.
Details of the impact
The model of farmers' decision-making developed by Willock and colleagues
has had a significant impact on (1) the development of Scottish Government
policy towards farming practices and the environment, (2) farmers
themselves through the guidance provided to them in pursuit of Scottish
Government policy, and (3) current Scottish Government policy towards
agriculture and climate change, as follows:
(1) Scottish Government policy towards farming practices and the
European Union Nitrates Directive 91/676/EEC, which came into effect on 19
December 1991, required all Member States to identify areas at risk of
nitrate contamination and to devise Action Programmes to reduce or prevent
future contamination. Following The Scotland Act (1998), responsibilities
for agriculture and for the environment were devolved from the Westminster
Parliament to the Scottish Parliament. In 2003, the Scottish Executive
(now Scottish Government) designated four areas in Scotland as nitrate
vulnerable zones (NVZs). Thereafter, the Scottish Executive Environment
and Rural Affairs Department funded Willock and co-investigators from the
Scottish Agricultural College (SAC, now part of Scotland's Rural College)
[source 1] to conduct two research projects (Ref. 115-3138; Ref. 541-6157)
to examine farmers' activities in response to and attitudes towards the
2003 regulations and NVZs as designated. Findings from the first study,
conducted in 2004/5, showed that farmers were often sceptical towards the
introduction of NVZs and often made few efforts to comply with the
requirements of the legislation. The second study, conducted in 2006/7,
collected data from interviews with 376 Scottish farmers and from farmers
who attended four workshops, one in each of the NVZs in Scotland. The
subsequent (2007) report of this study [source 2] produced findings and
recommendations designed to inform the Scottish Government in introducing
revised legislation under the EU Nitrates Directive. In particular, this
report made five policy recommendations to promote
environmentally-oriented behaviour that would comply with NVZ Regulations.
These recommendations, based upon the model developed by Willock and
colleagues, had an impact on public policy and services in the Scottish
Government's implementation of The Action Programme for Nitrate Vulnerable
Zones (Scotland) Regulations 2008.
(2) Guidance provided to farmers in NVZs
The 2007 report of farmers' practices and awareness in relation to NVZs
identified differences between NVZ farmers and non-NVZ farmers in their
attitudes towards production and water management and environment. As
noted above, farmers were often sceptical about the designation of NVZs
and thereby less likely to comply with the requirements of the
legislation. The report also noted the potentially damaging effects that
mandatory environmental schemes might have on farmers' attitudes towards
the environment. Of the recommendations included in the report, therefore,
two were designed specifically to have an impact on the guidance to be
provided to farmers to promote environmentally-oriented behaviour, as
- Information must be clearer and it must reach all farmers in NVZs;
- The scientific messages must be made more clearly and more
These recommendations were taken up in the preparation, framing, and
dissemination of the Guidelines for farmers in Nitrate Vulnerable Zones
[source 3], issued in 2008 by the Scottish Government. Willock et al.'s
research has, thereby, had an impact on society, culture and creativity
through guidance issued to farmers under the Action Programme for NVZs.
(3) Current Scottish Government policy towards agriculture and climate
The model of farmers' decision-making developed by Willock and colleagues
continues to influence the policies of the Scottish Government. In 2011,
the Scottish Government introduced its Agriculture and Climate Change:
Evidence on Influencing Behaviours Programme, to be carried out by
analysts in the Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services
Division. This programme has three main aims:
- to gain a better understanding of the range of factors influencing
farmers' behaviours (in general, and in relation to environmental
- to consider the effectiveness of the climate change mitigation
measures in use/available to policy makers;
- to consider how policy makers in Scotland, and opinion formers working
with farmers, could most usefully draw on these behavioural insights to
refine the suite of initiatives which aim to influence farming practice
in relation to mitigating climate change.
In its most recent (2012) report [source 4], this branch of the Scottish
Government takes the model developed by Willock et al. to provide the
relevant evidence for understanding how farmers' behaviour is influenced
by `socio-economic, psychological and farming variables within a
comprehensive framework' (2012, p. 41). The 1999 research conducted by
Willock and colleagues, and the model that it produced, thus continues to
impact upon public policy and services in Scotland.
Sources to corroborate the impact
Scotland's Rural College, as successor to the Scottish Agricultural
College, members of which collaborated with Willock on the research
— SRUC, Rural Research, Education, and Consulting, King's Buildings,
West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JG.
The report produced in 2007 for the Scottish Government —
Barnes, A., Toma, L., Hall, C. & Willock, J. (2007). Implementing
the Action Programme for Nitrate Vulnerable Zones in Scotland: Farming
Practices and Awareness. Edinburgh: Scottish Government Social Research.
ISBN 978 0 7559 6908 1
Available from: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/208205/0055221.pdf
The guidance issued to farmers following the 2007 report —
Scottish Government (2008). Guidelines for farmers in nitrate
vulnerable zones. Edinburgh: Scottish Government.
ISBN 978 0 7559 5742 2
Available from: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/254684/0075393.pdf
Most recent report by Rural and Environment Science and Analytical
Services, Scottish Government, on the Agriculture and Climate Change
Hallam, A., Bowden, A. & Kasprzyk, K. (2012). Agriculture and
climate change: Evidence on influencing farmer behaviours.
Edinburgh: Scottish Government.
ISBN 978 1 78256 151 4
Available from: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/0040/00406623.pdf