Assessing the CAP influence on European farmers’ preferences towards the adoption of renewable energy production.

Despite a large literature about energy production from renewable resources, the specific interplay between farm characteristics, market, local regulation and the CAP in the adoption of energy-related technologies by farmers is still poorly studied. This paper aims at analyzing the farmers’ intentions towards the on-farm adoption of energy crops or technologies for renewable energy production under alternative policy scenarios. The analysis is based on the econometric analysis of adoption intentions by a sample of more than 2,300 farm-households interviewed in nine European countries. Stated intentions towards the willingness to adopt energy crops/technology for renewable energy production, are expressed firstly under a scenario with the current CAP post 2013 (Baseline) and secondly under a scenario with the complete abolishment of the CAP support (No CAP). The study confirms that the CAP influences farmers’ decision on the adoption of energy crops/technologies for renewable energy production in the next years. Other relevant variables are farm typology specializations, size of owned and rented land and farmer’s education and advices. Moreover, scenario effects seem to be uneven among European States likely due to the interconnected effects with national renewable energy market and regulation