Farmers adoption of the Habitats Directive in Eastern Germany what drives the optimization of grassland conservation?

The following paper provides insights in the adoption-behavior of farmers in Saxony due to the Fauna-Flora-Habitat directive (habitat-directive) of the European Union (EU). For the implementation of the habitat directive, the federal state of Saxony has introduced the instrument of managementplans in combination with agri-environmental programs. The paper shows that the combination of managementplans and agri-environmental programs can be successful for the implementation of nature-conservation measures under specific circumstances. The paper investigates the determinants of the farmers decision to optimize their farming practices towards the objective of nature conservation. The data set consists of interviews with 139 farmers between 2004 and 2011 and additionally information of 333 grassland-sites. A multinomial logit model was applied. The results show that location factors and the design of AEPs exhibit an influence on the implementation of measures of the Habitat Directive. At the plot level, we can (among other factors) observe an impact of specific (dark green) agri-environmental programs on the willingness of farmers to adopt nature conservation measures within the framework of the EU habitat directive. We also investigate the determinants of participation in light green and dark green AEPs. The findings highlight the potential of integrated policy packages to incentivize specific measures of nature conservation within the Natura 2000 framework. Acknowledgement :