Working for the environment: Farmer attitudes towards sustainable farming actions in rural Wales, UK

Recognition of land management impacts on water quality and flooding, and climate change induced increases in storm intensity and flood risk, have led to interest in farmer provision of ecosystem services alongside food production. However, pathways for practical design and funding of agroecological interventions are less well understood. Effective design and implementation of sustainable farming initiatives has been linked to human-centred aspects including stakeholder engagement and the provision of social and economic co-benefits. To deepening understanding of user approaches and perspectives, Welsh farmer perspectives on sustainable farming were obtained through discussion, online polls, and questionnaires. Participant-identified barriers to action included incorporation of return on initial time and cost investment in long-term farm budgets, occurrence of extreme weather events, and tenanted land. Decision-making processes were rooted in community discussion to balance perceived needs of the land and farm business, with communication preferences expressed for bilingual farm advice provision and support of farmer-to-farmer knowledge transfer pathways. Participants identified interdependent components of economic, social, cultural, and environmental sustainability necessary to achieve positive environmental outcomes, resembling Bourdieu social theory. Design of tree planting schemes was discussed as an example of this interlinkage, with positive attitudes expressed for land sharing at small spatial scales, but not at the whole-farm scale