Whole farm considerations in the design of management agreements (original) (raw)

Management agreements for the delivery of environmental services by farmers typically relate to that part of the farm that is of immediate public interest. However, the decision-making unit with which the farmer is primarily concerned is the farm business as a whole. This provides the context within which any particular area of the farm is managed. In this paper, the importance that a focus on the wider farm context might hold for achievement of conservation outcomes is shown by drawing on economic theory as well as recent case studies of farm businesses.