Abstract

Intensive cattle production systems are currently a major contributor to CO2 emissions and biodiversity loss. Silvopastoral systems that combine foraging pastures and trees into an integrated system for raising livestock have been suggested a promising avenue to store carbon and preserve farmland biodiversity. However, investments and maintenance costs for these improvements are paid by producers, who reap few of the environmental benefits. The objective of the present study was to assess farmers' willingness to adopt silvopastoral systems by reforesting treeless pastures, their compensation claims related to adoption, and how both are affected by their attitudes towards silvopastoral systems. This study was based on a contingent valuation approach coupled with exploratory factor analysis to obtain measures of attitudinal constructs derived from the Theory of Planned Behavior. Results indicate that 52% of respondents were willing to adopt silvopastoral systems and the mean compensation claim per year per hectare is estimated at SEK 3107.17 (308(sic)). Adoption decision is positively correlated with attitudes towards silvopastoral systems, suggesting that decision-making is not solely driven by profit maximization through concerns related to pecuniary factors.

Keywords

Cattle production; Silvopastoral systems; Willingness to adopt; Compensation claims; Contingent valuation method; Theory of planned behavior

Published in

Agroforestry Systems
2022,

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