This paper examines the motivations of participants in a large-scale pilot project that develops a new agrienvironmental measure, gypsum treatment of arable fields, to reduce phosphorus loads to the Baltic Sea. We build a general model of crop production that allows for three motivations: profit maximization, utility from agricultural innovation, and stewardship towards the nature. They all are present in the sample, proved by farmer survey and confirmatory factor analysis. Strong profit motivation relates to large gypsumtreated area and perceived easiness of gypsum as a water protection measure, and strong environmental motivation to environmentally friendly cultivation technologies.