BEATLES
Behavioural change towards climate-smart agriculture
BEATLES aspires to identify the individual, systemic and policy lock-ins and levers that influence entire food systems behavioural change and to develop transformation pathways of change to accelerate the systemic and systematic transition to climate-smart agriculture and smart farming technologies, fully aligned with the ambitions of the Farm to Fork and Biodiversity Strategies, and the new CAP at regional and EU levels.
Core activities
The project’s activities include:
- Investigate the full range of individual, systemic and policy factors that affect farmers’ transition to climate-smart agriculture (CSA)
- Set up 5 Use Cases to account for the diversity of farming systems (wheat, apples, dairy, pigs and potatoes and onions) and EU regions (Lithuania, Spain, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands)
- Conduct behavioural experiments in the context of 5 Use Cases to identify effective behavioural interventions for the shift to CSA
- Assess the overall sustainability, environmental and socioeconomic impact of the proposed behavioural interventions
- Develop fair business strategies for the transition to sustainable, productive, climate-smart agriculture
- Formulate policy recommendations and innovative policy tools to foster large-scale and long-term behavioural shifts
- Use participatory approaches to engage multiple value chain stakeholders in the co-creation of effective transformation pathways to change
Major outputs
The BEATLES project started in July 2022. Up to now the project outcomes are the following:
- 5 systematic reviews have been conducted to map the: i) CSA practices and technologies used by farmers, ii) decision-making factors affecting farmers’ behavioural shifts to CSA, iii) business strategies affecting transition to CSA, iv) decision making factors affecting consumers’ purchase of environmentally-friendly products, v) current policy and regulatory framework affecting the transition to CSA.
- 2 surveys, targeting farmers and consumers (more than 700 and 1400 participants respectively), to evaluate the decision-making factors affecting the adoption of CSA practices and the purchase of environmentally-friendly products.
70 interviews with industry stakeholders to understand their role in the transition to CSA. - 5 co-creation workshops, one per Use Case (UC), with 15-25 stakeholders from the value chain actively participating in co-creating pathways for the transition to CSA.
- 2 segmentation studies to identify farmer and consumer segments with similar characteristics with respect to the adoption of CSA practices and the purchase of environmentally–friendly products
Associated Activities
The project organises webinars, workshops, as well as annual co-creation workshops, develops fair value propositions and business models for sustainable and climate-smart food agriculture and generates policy recommendations and tools.