Burgers en natuurinclusieve landbouw Meer bekend maakt meer bemind

Abstract

Citizens can support a transition towards nature-inclusive agriculture in various ways; by supporting public policies and private initiatives, via consumption choices, voting behaviour etc. Previous research suggests that the willingness of Dutch citizens to support nature-inclusive agriculture is modest, which would be related to limited knowledge about it. The current study aimed to fill the gap in knowledge about what Dutch citizens know about 'nature-inclusive' agriculture and whether and how they are willing to support nature-inclusive agriculture. A survey among members and followers of nature reserve area manager Natuurmonumenten yielded a response of N=1,550. The study showed that respondents seem to have a fair amount of knowledge about nature-inclusive agriculture and that there are no themes that stand out in terms of the knowledge level. Furthermore, the intention to contribute to nature-inclusive agriculture scored high for private contributions such as political voting but less for contributions such as voluntary work. It was found that knowledge correlates with intention, however, this relation is not very strong and likely influenced by other variables. We expect the response group is not representative and that the 'average' Dutch citizen has both less knowledge and a less favourable attitude towards nature-inclusive agriculture.