An investigation of Irish dairy and drystock farmers’ perceptions of, and attitudes toward, adopting agroforestry practices; and the barriers they face when doing so

Approximately 11% of Ireland’s land cover is afforested; this is 25% lower than the European average. Government policy is to increase forest cover to 18% by 2046 and policy instruments, such as the provision of financial incentives, have been made available to landowners to encourage afforestation. Since 2015, these financial incentives have been expanded to include incentives to encourage farmers to adopt agroforestry. However, the uptake of agroforestry remains low in Ireland; this research sets out to investigate why this is the case. The first stage of the research used the “Theory of Planned Behaviour” as the theoretical framework to identify the perceptions of, attitudes toward, and willingness to adopt, agroforestry amongst Irish dairy and drystock farmers, the largest cohort of farmers in Ireland. An elicitation study involving interviews with thirty-three farmers was conducted; the results of which aided the creation of a questionnaire completed by 415 farmers across Ireland. The results demonstrate that attitude and moral norms mainly drive farmers’ decision making, however these in turn are shaped by the views of their influential people such as their advisors, family members and local farmers. The second stage of the research explored the wider sectoral factors influencing agroforestry uptake. A coupled structural-functional framework based on the Innovation Systems approach was used to identify barriers and failures within the current agroforestry innovation network that are impeding agroforestry adoption. Thirty-three stakeholders involved in the agricultural and forestry sectors in Ireland were interviewed; the main barriers identified included a lack of knowledge of agroforestry amongst actors, a lack of research, policy issues and a lack of goals aimed at promoting agroforestry. Nine goals were identified, that upon being reached would aid agroforestry uptake in Ireland; the final stage of the research concluded with a stakeholder workshop to identify methods to reach each goal.