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The European Union fosters cooperation in cross-border regions through the European Cohesion Policy (ECP). The implementation of ECP instruments requires a participatory approach, in which stakeholders' views are acknowledged. However, the multiple of views among and between stakeholders of cross-border initiatives complicate their involvement in a participatory approach. A prerequisite for a meaningful involvement of all stakeholders is an in-depth understanding of their viewpoints on what facilitates cross-border cooperation. However, to date, these viewpoints are poorly understood. This study aims to identify and analyse stakeholders' viewpoints on the facilitation of cross-border cooperation. The viewpoints of a sample of entrepreneurs, members of education institutes, and members from local institutions (policymakers and industry representatives) in the Dutch-German cross-border region Rhine-Waal were collected via Q methodology and complemented through interviews. Four viewpoints emerged: cooperation through pro-active engagement, cooperation through targeted policies, cooperation through an aligned institutional setup, and cooperation through socio-cultural proximity. Results can inform policy-making aimed to increase stakeholder involvement in participatory approaches in cross-border regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to investigate the factors influencing consumer willingness to accept the use of insects to feed poultry, cattle, pigs, and fish. To reach this objective, we conducted an online survey with Brazilian consumers. 600 questionnaires were collected. We analyzed data using descriptive statistics and logistic regression models. In general, the use of insects to feed poultry, pigs and cattle was not widely accepted. A more widely acceptance was found for the use of insects to feed fish. The results of logistic regressions models show that positive attitudes are associated with a higher probability of accepting the use of insects to feed poultry, pigs, cattle, and fish. Perceived benefits were associated with a higher likelihood of accepting the use of insects to feed fish. However, perceived benefits were also associated with a lower likelihood of accepting the use of insects to feed poultry. Perceived challenges were associated with a higher likelihood of accepting the use of insects to feed poultry. However, perceived challenges were associated with a lower likelihood of accepting the use of insects to feed pigs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adoption of sustainable agriculture practices (SAP) has the potential to mitigate climate change's effects, while at the same time minimize degradation of natural resources and increase food production. However, recent policies based on economic incentives alone have largely failed to increase SAP adoption rate at farm level. Understanding farmers' perceptions towards environmental issues and climate change is essential to change this situation. This study aims to categorize farmers in different types, according to their perceptions on environmental issues and on climate change in a sample of Brazilian farmers (n = 172). Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Cluster Analysis were used. Results showed four clusters of farmers: "Worried", "Apathetic", "Anthropocentric" and "Ecocentric". Contrasting to "Worried" and "Apathetic", farmers in "Anthropocentric" and "Ecocentric" clusters presented pro-environmental behavior, which suggests a high likelihood to adopt SAP. While farmers with an anthropocentric view are oriented to increase their economic gains, ecocentric farmers are motivated by environmental concerns i.e. non-economic factors. Insights of this paper can be used to facilitate effective policy development and strategies to increase the adoption rate of SAP. Image 10125 • The study examines the classified environmental behavior of farmers in Brazil. • Statistical analysis was used for the study. • Farmers who are ecocentric and anthropocentric exhibited pro-environmental behavior. • Pro-environmental behavior is not motivated exclusively by financial incentives. • Results will help to increase the adoption rate of sustainable agricultural practices in Brazil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social dimension appears to be the least developed of all dimensions of sustainability, not receiving the same attention as environmental or economic dimension. While biomass utilization is considered to have considerable impact on the social well-being of farmers and local communities, a better understanding of its social sustainability is urgently needed. The process for determining social issues, however, is subject to relatively arbitrary decisions, and lacks comprehensive structure. Social issues must be based on those social objectives and indicators that can be empirically measured and analyzed using at the existing level of knowledge and data available. This study, therefore, aims to identify the most important and relevant social and governance issues for the biofuel sector, and also to determine the issues for which reliable data and practical methods may become available and ultimately simplified for understanding by stakeholders. The sugarcane biojet fuel supply chain in Brazil was used as a case study with a research design of two steps: literature review and expert survey. From the literature review, 13 social issues and 5 governance issues were selected for inclusion in the expert survey. The survey results showed that highly relevant issues were generally perceived as highly important. Furthermore, very practical issues were also perceived as very reliable and simple issues. It was concluded that future research should mostly focus on quantitative assessment of human health and safety, labor rights, working conditions, which were perceived very important but less reliable, practical, and simple. Moreover, this study showed that all governance issues are certainly regarded as important for sustainability, but insufficiently recognized in conventional sustainability assessment schemes. The current certification schemes cover only a limited number of social issues and require addressing social issues more broadly. Learning from this study helps decision makers to extend understandings of the social dimension of sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Actions and public policies have been developed to encourage Brazilian farmers to diversify their agricultural production. However, such actions have been unable to encourage production and economic diversification. This article uses the theory of reasoned action (TRA) and the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to understand the intention of dairy farmers to diversify agricultural production. Results showed that the TRA had better explanatory power of farmers’ intention to diversify agricultural production than the TPB model. Corroborating the theory, results revealed that attitude and subjective norm positively influence the intention of farmers to diversify agricultural production. Implications for public policies are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies on the adoption of innovations usually ignore underlying psychological constructs that affect farmers’ decisions and behavior, such as intention, perceptions, and beliefs. This paper uses psychological constructs from the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to analyze factors that affect the adoption of improved natural grassland. The TPB hypothesizes that adoption is driven by intention, which in turn is determined by three psychological constructs: attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control. These three psychological constructs are derived from behavioral, normative and control beliefs, respectively. The first objective was to identify the influence of attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control on the intention of farmers to use improved natural grassland. The second objective was to understand the role of farmers’ beliefs as drivers of their attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control. The theoretical framework and model were applied to a sample of 214 Brazilian cattle farmers. Results showed that attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control were all positively and significantly correlated with intention. The intention of farmers to use improved natural grassland was therefore influenced by farmers’ evaluation of the use of improved natural grassland (attitude), their perceptions about the social pressure to use this innovation (subjective norm), and their perceptions about their own capability (perceived behavioral control). Six behavioral beliefs were the drivers of attitude: increase cattle weight gains, increase number of animals per hectare, have pasture throughout the year, increase pasture resistance, prevent soil erosion, and decrease feeding costs. Seven normative beliefs were the drivers of subjective norm: family, friends, neighbor farmers, cattle traders, workers in the place where they buy their inputs, extension agents, and government. Three control beliefs were the drivers of perceived behavioral control: sufficient knowledge, sufficient skills, and availability of qualified technical assistance. The drivers of attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control can be used by policy makers to increase the adoption rate of improved natural grassland. Emphasis should be given to the six perceived benefits of adopting improved natural grassland, the drivers of attitude. The individuals and groups who were found to influence farmers׳ decisions to use it, the drivers of subjective norm, can be used as channels to disseminate information about the innovation. The drivers of perceived behavioral control are factors which facilitate the use of improved natural grassland. Ensuring that these three factors are available to farmers can improve the adoption rate for this innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large body of empirical studies has focused on understanding the factors that influence the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices (SAP). We review 63 papers on this subject and analyze which factors influence, positively or negatively, the adoption of SAP. We categorize these factors in "farmer and farm household characteristics," "farm general characteristics," "farm financial/management characteristics," "exogenous factors," "attributes of SAP," and "psychological factors." We found that a majority of the reviewed papers neglected the inclusion of psychological factors to model farmers' decisions to adopt. Moreover, in the reviewed papers that included psychological factors, the constructs (i.e., farmers' perception) were poorly measured. Future research should consider the development of a "systemic approach," including farmers' socioeconomic characteristics and psychological factors, to better understand the adoption of SAP. By including psychological factors, we advise researchers to examine a set of statements, as this strategy might provide improvements in psychological measurements. Unlabelled Image • Various socioeconomics factors influence the adoption of conservation agriculture. • Traditionally, studies on this subject do not analyze farmers' perception. • To analyze socioeconomic and psychological factors jointly is pivotal to better understand farmers' decision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Farmers' intention is influenced by their positive perceptions about their own capability to adopt environmental enrichment. • Farmers' intention is influenced by their perceptions about the social pressure to adopt environmental enrichment. • Farmers' intention is influenced by their positive evaluations of adoption of environmental enrichment. • Farmers' intention to adopt environmental enrichment is influenced by self-identity. Brazil, one of the leading countries in livestock production, has not yet developed legislation considering animal welfare issues and most of the actions to improve farm animal welfare (FAW) standards are developed by livestock industries and government focusing in meet the demands of exporting countries. Such actions resulted in FAW protocols and manuals for adoption of best management practices. In this context, farmers' decisions are of particular importance as they may comply with current FAW protocols or even decide to provide better FAW standards than required. A present example of farmers' decisions to provide better FAW standards than required by FAW protocols is in the adoption of environmental enrichment in pig farming. This practice is widely available to pig farmers, however, anecdotal evidence shows that the adoption rate is low. This study uses the theory of planned behavior (TPB) as a framework to identify the socio-psychological factors that influence pig farmers' intention to adopt environmental enrichment on their farms. The TPB hypothesizes that intention is determined by three psychological constructs: attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control. These three constructs are derived from behavioral, normative, and control beliefs, respectively. Self-identity was added as an additional construct to explain intention. A survey with 185 farmers was conducted. We used Partial-Least-Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to identify the impact of attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and self-identity on farmers' intention to adopt environmental enrichment on their farms. We used MIMIC models to identify the most important beliefs underlying farmers' intention to adopt environmental enrichment in their farms. Results show that the intention of farmers to adopt was mainly determined by their positive perceptions about their own capability to adopt environmental enrichment (perceived behavioral control), followed by their perceptions about the social pressure to adopt it (subjective norms), their positive evaluations of adoption (attitude), and self-identity. The most important behavioral beliefs were 'increase productivity', and 'decrease animals stress'. The most important normative beliefs were 'family', 'neighbor farmers', 'pig buyers', and 'experts'. The most important control belief was 'receive bonus when selling pigs'. These results revealed important implications to design public and private interventions aimed to stimulate the adoption of animal friendly practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cultured meat has been proposed as an alternative source of protein to overcome the environmental and ethical problems associated with conventional meat production. However, the lack of consumers' acceptance could be a major barrier to the introduction of cultured meat on a large scale. Despite Brazil being one of the countries that consumes the most meat per capita, little is known about Brazilian consumers' preferences for alternative meat. The objective of this study is to identify which attributes influence consumers to possibly replace conventional beef meat with cultured meat in Brazil. An online survey was conducted, and Best-worst scaling methodology was applied to a sample of 225 consumers. The sampling leaned towards educated and employed residents of the southeast region of Brazil, which might not fully represent the Brazilian population. Despite limitations in terms of the sampling demographic, overall, Brazilians appear to be willing to consume cultured meat: 80.9% of the sample would be willing to try it, 61.3% would be willing to eat it regularly, and 56.9% would be willing to eat cultured meat as a replacement for conventionally produced beef. Despite the focus of this study being on attributes of a hypothetical product that is not commercially available, which might pose difficulty to consumers to predict their future consumption behavior, results show that the most important attributes influencing consumers to possibly replace conventional beef meat by cultured meat in Brazil are anticipated risk of zoonotic diseases, anticipated healthiness and anticipated food safety conditions. Attributes related to benefits at a global societal level and intrinsic characteristics of cultured meat were less important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to understand the perceptions of Brazilian citizens about the general conditions of animal welfare in the poultry, beef, and dairy supply chains. To reach this aim, an online survey was conducted. The analysis was based on descriptive statistics and three logistic regression models. Results of descriptive statistics showed that citizens in Brazil had mostly negative perceptions about the conditions of animal welfare in the poultry, beef, and dairy supply chains. Results of the logistic regression models showed that citizens with a background in agricultural/veterinary sciences, and citizens who reported a higher level of knowledge about poultry and dairy supply chains were more likely to perceive the general conditions of animal welfare in these two supply chains as being bad. Citizens who reported previous contact with poultry farms were also more likely to perceive the general conditions of animal welfare in the poultry supply chain as being bad. In addition, the perception that farmers are mainly focused on the economic aspect of farming and less on animal welfare, the perception that animals do not have a good quality of life while housed on farms, and the perception that animals are not adequately transported and slaughtered, negatively impact on perceptions about the general conditions of animal welfare in the poultry, beef, and dairy supply chains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Intention and perceived behavioral control influence purchase behavior for organic food. • Attitude outweigh perceived behavioral control and subjective norms in explaining intention. • Attitude mediates the relation between perceived health benefits and intention. • Attitude mediates the relation between perceived sustainability benefits and intention. • Perceived price moderates the relation between intention and behavior. This study explores the factors that influence consumer purchase intention and behavior for organic vegetables in Brazil. A conceptual model based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB) was developed. In addition to all standard relationships in the TPB, the candidate variables of perceived health benefits, perceived sustainability benefits, and perceived price were added to the TPB-based model. Attitude was expected to mediate the relation between perceived health benefits and intention and the relation between perceived sustainability benefits and intention. Perceived price was expected to moderate the relation between intention and behavior. An online survey was conducted, resulting in a sample size of 504 participants. Data were analyzed by partial-least squares structural equation modeling. The results indicate that intention and perceived behavioral control influence the purchase behavior for organic vegetables, with intention presenting the strongest impact on behavior. Attitude has the strongest impact on consumer intention to purchase organic vegetables, followed by perceived behavioral control and subjective norms. The results also indicate that attitude mediates the relations between perceived health benefits and intention and perceived sustainability benefits and intention. Perceived price moderates the relationship between intention and behavior. Based on the results, managerial implications are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]