We replicate Bocquého et al. (2014), who used multiple price lists to investigate the risk preferences of 107 French farmers. We collected new data from 1430 participants in 11 European farming systems. In agreement with the original study, farmers' risk preferences are best described by Cumulative Prospect Theory. Structural model estimates show that farmers in the new samples are, on average, less loss averse and more susceptible to probability distortion than in the original study. Explorative analyses indicate differences between estimation approaches, as well as heterogeneity between and within samples. We discuss challenges in replications of economic experiments with farmers across farming contexts.

Promoting and increasing the uptake of sustainable agricultural practices poses a major challenge for European agricultural policy. The scientific evidence for potentially relevant and environmentally beneficial practices, however, is scattered among numerous sources. This article examines the state of knowledge regarding agri-environmental practices and their impact on various domains of the environment (climate change, soil, water and biodiversity). The selection was restricted to practices applicable to German farmers. Ninety-eight literature reviews and meta-analyses assessing the environmental impacts of agri-environmental practices in the German context were found in a systematic review of the academic literature from 2011 onwards. A total of 144 agricultural management practices were identified that contribute toward achieving certain environmental objectives. The practices were clustered in eight categories: (1) Fertilizer strategies, (2) Cultivation, (3) Planting: vegetation, landscape elements & other, (4) Grazing strategies, (5) Feeding strategies, (6) Stable management, (7) Other, (8) Combined practices & bundles. The findings of this study suggest that some general patterns can be observed regarding the environmental benefits of different practices. While it is possible to derive recommendations for specific practices in terms of individual environmental objectives, their relevance is likely to be context-dependent. Moreover, this study reveals that bundles of practices can have positive synergistic impacts on the environment. Notably, only few reviews and meta-analyses considered the implementation and opportunity costs of environmentally beneficial practices. Agri-environmental policies need to consider the broad range of practices that have been shown to impact the environment positively, including their costs, and provide context-specific incentives for farmers to adopt them.

Successful transformation of agriculture toward a more sustainable trajectory requires agri-environmental practices and interventions that are deemed supportive by farmers, have the potential for a transformative change and are based on a solid understanding of farmers’ behavior and decision-making. This article reports on in-depth semi-structured interviews with German farmers to uncover key facilitators of and barriers to the adoption of agri-environmental practices. In a first step, 10 themes were identified using a qualitative content analysis, which were then assessed for their potential leverage point from a system perspective and integrated into the diagnostic Behavior Change Wheel to identify targets for behavioral interventions. The paper shows that adding the transformative potential to behavioral interventions is useful. According to our analyses, deep leverage interventions are most likely to be associated with the theme Land stewardship and Identity, and the COM-B model (Capability, Opportunity, Motivation, Behavior)—element Reflective motivation, referring to the conscious cognitive processes that direct and inspire behavior.

Entrepreneurship needs a vision and leadership skills to accomplish it and a motivation to build something new, which will develop and sustain it. And society needs social entrepreneurs, contributing to a new organization of the welfare system, while making a difference and helping each other. The central theme in the existing social entrepreneurship literature is the pursuit of a social mission or objective. Thus, social entrepreneurs play a role as reformers and revolutionaries, who are intending to solve social problems, and not being answered by governmental policies. Entrepreneurial thinking and acting as well as innovation driving managers is a need for society. However, it is not the organization but the people, united by a proactive and market-driven culture, that are innovative and which combine to populate and to equip the organization with the required competencies. The chapter proposes a methodology to analyze the competencies that should be fostered by higher education programs to provide graduates with the desired competencies for entrepreneurship and driving innovation.