The role of farmers' intrinsic motivation in the effectiveness of policy incentives to promote sustainable agricultural practices.

This paper examines the effectiveness of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations on the adoption intensity of sustainable agricultural practices (SAPs) among annual crop farmers in Chile. We use the farmers' attitude towards SAPs as a proxy of intrinsic motivation, while extrinsic motivation is represented by an economic incentive to promote the use of SAPs. The policy program we studied is administered by the Chilean Ministry of Agriculture under the name System of Incentives for the Agro-Environmental Sustainability of Degraded Soils (SIRSD-S. Sustainable behaviour was defined as the adoption of (1) minimum tillage, (2) improved fallow, (3) stubble incorporation, (4) use of manure, and (5) use of compost. A count model was estimated that showed that both sources of motivation, and the interaction between them, significantly predicted the adoption of SAPs. Farmers with low levels of intrinsic motivation depended largely on the SIRSD-S to adopt SAPs, while the incentive was ineffective for intrinsically motivated farmers who adopted more SAPs regardless the presence of extrinsic motivation. Finally, the perception of risk of soil erosion and perceived behavioural control of this risk were found to play a positive role in the adoption of SAPs.

Effect of Warning Labels on Consumer Motivation and Intention to Avoid Consuming Processed Foods.

Nutritional warnings (NWs) as a front-of-package label were implemented as a public policy aiding consumers with recognizing processed foods with high levels of critical nutrients (sodium, saturated fats, carbohydrates, and calories). However, in spite of this tool being well positioned in consumer decision making, there is little extant knowledge about the relationship between the message sent by NW, nutritional knowledge, consumer motivation, and the intention to avoid consuming processed foods. To understand these dimensions' relations, a theoretical model was created and subsequently tested through structural equations. We applied a survey to 807 home food purchasing decision makers. The results show that the direct effect of NW messages raises the intention to avoid processed foods, while eating motivation is negative in its direct effect on the same avoidance intention. However, the message sent by NWs had a mediating effect between the intentions to avoid processed food and eating motivation but showed no such effect on nutritional knowledge. This suggests that the message sent by NWs was able to turn negative eating motivation into positive eating motivation to avoid processed foods. In conclusion, NWs help mitigate eating motivations, as well as boost the intention to avoid processed foods.

Wine industry perceptions and reactions to the COVID-19 crisis in the Old and New Worlds: Do business models make a difference?

The COVID-19 crisis has severely impacted the wine industry, with producers in different countries affected differently and, therefore, differing in their perceptions toward it. These differing perceptions are assumed to be due to different business models, mainly linked to the distribution system adopted and resulting in varying distances of producers to distributors and consumers. While upstream integration characterizes the Old World, the New World applies a downstream business model, being more closely linked to distributors and consumers and, therefore, more vulnerable to shocks, which should lead to higher perceived impacts of the COVID-19 crisis. This study analyzes 542 surveys collected from wineries in nine countries, divided into New World, historical Old World, and emerging Old World. Econometric results show statistically significant differences in both the perceived impact of COVID-19 and wineries' responses in terms of planned investments, with the New World being more affected. A common desire by wineries to direct future investments towards direct-to-consumer sales and communication was found, to the detriment of investments in vineyards and cellars. This desire is particularly strong in the New World, in line with their focus on the downstream part of the value chain, underlying their greater reactivity to shocks and capacity to innovate. [EconLit Citations: D22; L21; L66; Q13].