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Exploring factors influencing farmers' compensation request for combating soil erosion in a Mediterranean cropland area
  • Maria De Salvo,
  • Giovanni Signorello,
  • Giuseppe Cucuzza
Maria De Salvo
University of Catania Faculty of Agriculture

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Giovanni Signorello
University of Catania Faculty of Agriculture
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Giuseppe Cucuzza
University of Catania Faculty of Agriculture
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Abstract

Many studies highlight the key role that farmers play in combating soil erosion, and measure their willingness to adopt sustainable cultivation practices in front of a monetary compensation. However, only a few of them focus on factors affecting the magnitude of such compensations, despite this information is crucial in the design and implementation of public supported actions aimed at combating agricultural land desertification. We try to contribute to fill this empirical gap by reporting results of a research carried out to investigate what factors influencing farmers’ compensation request for combating soil erosion in a significant Mediterranean cropland area. Using a discrete choice experiment, we measured cereal growers’ marginal compensation for adopting soil conservation practices. Then, using a post-estimation analysis based on a Seeming Unrelated REgression (SURE) model, we identified and analysed which farm’s and farmers characteristics significantly influenced the requested compensations. This post estimation analysis proved that farmers’ motivations, opinions and currently undertaken cultivation practices matter.