Our results clearly show that economic barriers were the most important barriers to diversified crop rotations (Fig. 2, Table 1). These were followed by legal factors, with low regulatory predictability having a slightly higher weight than strict regulations and bureaucratic workload. The two farm-level barriers concerning resource availability and compatibility with the business strategy were both placed in the less important half of barriers and were seen as only half as impactful as the highest-ranking barrier price pressure. The barriers linked to availability of and access to the necessary knowledge were perceived as least important. Overall, the respondents felt rather strongly limited in their action space (German “Handlungsspielraum”), as indicated by an average rating of 6.25 out of 10 on that question (see SM). This coincides with the average rating of 6.27 assigned to the individual barriers, which allows us to assume that the selected barriers covered the most important factors limiting farmers’ perceived leeway to implement climate-friendly crop rotation and thus providing evidence for the internal validity of results. At the same time, relative weight of barriers that resulted from the survey in some cases strongly diverged from the importance assigned to the barrier in the interviews, pointing to a mismatch in perceptions between farmers and non-farmer stakeholders.
Table 1 Rank and relative weight assigned to each barrier through the survey, by barrier type Economic barriers
Both interviews and the survey portrayed the economic operating environment as the most important set of constraints of their action space to implement diversified crop rotations. The three barriers concerned with agricultural markets and value chains were most prominent (i.e., largest relative weight; Table 1). Interviewees agreed that in conventional farming, currently only a few crops are economically viable, causing Saxon arable farming to be dominated by wheat, barley, rape seed, and maize (I2, I5, I6, I7, I9, I10). Interviewees and survey respondents proposed multiple, interlinked explanations for the limited economic viability of diversified crop rotations.
One key problem associated with diversified farming systems was that additional costs were not met by additional revenue. Several respondents stated that the proposed practices increase their production costs (I6, I9, similarly I8). At the same time, no premium prices for sustainable products were expected, representing additional pressure on already small profit margins. In addition, prices fluctuate (I4), which conflicts with planning crop rotations for several years (compare I3). Low producer prices, combined with climate change effects, have complicated farmers’ financial situation in recent years (I1, I9, compare I4, I7). Consequently, many farming businesses lack the financial leeway to prioritize environmental over economic considerations.
Price pressure was explained with consumers’ limited willingness to pay for environmentally friendly products and the position of Saxon farmers within global agricultural markets and value chains characterized by power asymmetries. Five out of six interviewed farmers and farmers’ association representatives mentioned the lack of willingness to pay for climate-friendly products as a barrier to the implementation of diversified crop rotations (I1, I4, I6, I7, I9). Several interviewees pointed to a perceived attitude-behavior gap in consumers (I1, I4, I7). For Saxon agriculture to become more sustainable, some interviewees demanded a shift of preferences towards regional products and less meat-based diets (I6, I7, I8).
Other value chain actors and the global markets were also attributed responsibility for low producer prices. In a globalized market for agricultural goods, prices do not reflect heterogeneity in agricultural practices, nor in local cost structures and externalities (I6, I7, I8). The “unleashed” [entfesselt] (I8) agricultural markets were linked to a problematic policy environment, including free trade agreements (I7, I8, similarly I9). Low prices were furthermore explained by the market power of retailers, including globally operating companies (I6, I7, I9). Agricultural production in Germany was portrayed as atomized, with individual businesses having little power in relation to the highly concentrated processing and retailing sectors (I2, I10).
Most respondents pointed to a lack of marketing possibilities for crops that would need to be added to the crop rotation (I1, I3, I4, I6, I7, I10), for which there is no direct use on-farm. Several interviewees emphasized that farmers were limited in their crop choice by the demands of the processing industry, retailers, and, ultimately, by society (I1, I4, I6, I7, SR10). In addition, a lack of local processing industry and, more generally, underdeveloped regional food systems were deemed problematic, as regional processing and storage infrastructure are necessary to keep transaction costs low and ensure feasibility of a certain crop (I2, I5, I7, I8). Furthermore, several respondents criticized that deficient local infrastructure results in long transport distances with high climate impact (I2, I5, I8, I9, SR51).
Uneven distribution of livestock within Germany and low prices for imported soy as feed were seen as barriers to using cover crops and locally produced legumes for feed (I6, I8, similarly I10). This hints at the more general problem that the potential economic benefits of sustainable practices are not realized in conventional farming due to externalized environmental costs of less sustainable alternatives (I5, I8, I9, SR54). In Saxony specifically, a decrease in the processing industry was observed, possibly linked to the structural transitions following German reunification (I7, I8, I9, SR51).
Rising land prices (I2, ID74), combined with a tendency towards higher percentages of leased in comparison to owned land (I2), represent a major cost factor and exert pressure on farmers to keep other costs low (I1). Interviewees pointed to a gradual withdrawal of agricultural land for other land uses (I7, I10) and were worried that agricultural land could be subject to speculation or used for tax avoidance (I1, I7, I8). In addition, one agricultural consultant was concerned about capitalization of CAP direct payments, meaning that these are transferred to land prices and lead to short-term tenure contracts, as landowners hope for increased subsidies (I2, similarly SR64).
Interviewees and survey respondents drew multiple connections between the issues discussed above, suggesting that they cannot be understood as separable problems but rather as different parts of a self-reinforcing system which hinders a sustainability transformation of agriculture. One important mechanism in this context was the interconnection between limited demand for environmentally friendly food and the increasingly complex and globalized food system: the growing disconnect between producer and consumer through longer, globalized value chains (I1, I2, I4, I7) was associated with limited consumer awareness, which in turn was associated with high price pressure on farmers. The lack of premium prices for regional and/or environmentally friendly products further adds to this. As part of this process of globalization, regional food systems have gradually eroded, rendering a diversification of crop rotations more difficult (I8, I9, SR31, SR51). In addition, the economic operating environment was seen as the main cause of limited financial leeway of farming businesses, which caused a strong prioritization of economic over environmental considerations and left farmers with little options to invest in, for example, the development of regional processing and marketing options. Several interviewees and survey respondents expressed the belief that higher willingness to pay by consumers and higher producer prices would increase willingness and actual implementation of environmentally friendly practices (I7, I9, SR51).
The interview and survey results allow to identify some potential heterogeneity in the level and nature of the effects on different farmers, although the sample size does not allow for robust statements about within-sample heterogeneity. Firstly, the mode of production seems important, with the described barriers being more relevant to conventional than to organic farmers. Organic products achieve higher prices and enjoy demand for more diverse products, while diversity in the cropping system is facilitated by organic production standards. Additionally, direct marketing was associated with capturing more of the final value of the product and with being linked to more conscious consumers. The location of a business influenced options to establish novel forms of direct marketing such as community-supported agriculture (I7) as well as the distance to processing industry and on-farm use options. The latter, in addition to local soil and climate conditions, was also affected by the branches of production, with mixed arable and livestock farms having more usage possibilities, for example, for forage plants. However, these businesses were also less flexible, as much of their capital was tied in immobile technology such as buildings for livestock. Lastly, businesses with higher shares of rented land might be more affected by rising land prices.
Regulatory barriers
Two constraints of farmers’ action space were linked to the regulatory frameworks governing agriculture in Germany. Key points of criticism were a perceived lack of regulatory predictability, overly prescriptive and impractical regulations, as well as high transaction costs.
The relevant regulations were perceived as unstable, which conflicted with a need for planning security as a precondition to adapt the farming system to certain sustainability standards and to invest in corresponding technology with possibly long amortization times (I5, I7). According to one interviewee, the framework was changing so quickly that “you have to adapt even before it’s there if you want to master it successfully” (I1). The regulatory environment was criticized for high associated transaction and implementation costs. In addition, the complex system of regulations and related bureaucratic work were described as causing stress and anxiety to farmers (I2, I10). An often-cited example was the time-consuming and rapidly changing bureaucratic load linked to CAP subsidies (I2, I8, I10). In this context, smaller businesses were perceived at a disadvantage because they cannot afford specialized staff for administrative work. This was considered relevant to diversified crop rotations as more diverse rotations may require dividing fields into smaller parcels, leading to additional bureaucratic workload as subsidies are granted on a field-by-field basis (I10).
The implementation of diversified crop rotations is, according to interviewees, further restricted by laws aiming to regulate other environmental problems. Several interviewees perceived parts of the relevant regulations as not adapted to practical agriculture and/or ineffective (I1, I7, I8). The main regulation under criticism was the amended fertilization ordinance (Düngeverordnung 2017/2020; I1, I7, I8, SR57). Criticism included short and inflexible time spans for relevant activities and a lack of differentiation between nitrogen sources, e.g., between synthetic and organic fertilizers (I8). More generally, agri-environmental regulations were portrayed as overly prescriptive (I8, SR13, SR51). Some interviewees saw the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides as a precondition for diversified crop rotations, and stated that legume and cover crop cultivation was hindered by regulations on pesticide use (I1, I5, I6, I7). At the same time, it was pointed out that political targets to reduce pesticide use were not specific enough to guide implementation (I3).
Biophysical barriers
The main barrier to diversified crop rotations that was associated with climate change is water scarcity, which has already affected the range of crops that can be grown in certain locations (I6). Several of the most grown crops in Saxony, including rape seed, wheat, barley, maize, potatoes, sunflowers, and turnips, are being negatively affected by climate change (I1, I3, I7). As water scarcity induced by climate change especially affects the spring season, spring sowing generally has become more difficult (I2, I6). Crops sown in fall, in contrast, benefit from winter humidity (I2, I6). The need to adapt crop choice to changing climate conditions coincides with a market environment that limits crop choice (see 4.1), causing the shift to happen within the range of dominant species (I6, I3). Crops that could make rotations more sustainable are not among the winners of climate change: legumes formerly suitable for the region, such as peas and broad beans, were described as very sensitive to dry conditions (I9). Dry soils complicate the establishment of cover crops (I3, I4, I5), which results in the risks of losing the investments in seeds (I5) and of having a bare fallow (I4). In addition, cover crops compete with the following cash crop for soil moisture (I4, I5). Mild winters further complicate cover crop cultivation as common cultivation practices assume that they die from frost (I4). In short, the technical solutions needed to deal with new climatic conditions were often missing due to lack of research on the new conditions (I9).
Climate change exacerbates the impact of several other barriers: interviewees repeatedly referred to yield losses in previous years as a reason why businesses lacked money for environmental protection (I1, I2, I6). Additionally, climate change was linked to new technology and knowledge needs, which may increase production costs (I6, I7, I8, I9). In turn, climate change also had negative effects of farmers’ intention to implement mitigation measures, because of a narrative of the farmer as the victim rather than the culprit of climate change (I3).
Path dependencies
The available financial, technological, and human resources largely determine the way a business can respond to the multiple factors that affect the action space and are thus a crucial determinant of the businesses’ capability to overcome the barriers to diversified crop rotations. Generally, the further away the business is from sustainability-oriented thinking and practices, the higher are the costs to reach them. For example, previous production decisions were described as determining technology needs linked to diversified crop rotations (I4, I7, I9) and developing new production branches was considered costly (I5, I6). In addition to a technological path dependency, respondents described a knowledge-based path dependency, as a farmer’s knowledge was said to focus on the main past activities (I3, I5, I9, I10). In addition, workforce availability is considered a problem in Saxony (I2, I4, SR65). Current employees and managers are often not fully prepared to implement sustainability measures due to a lack of time and training as well as short-term employment (I2, I4, I5, I8, I10). In cooperatives, which are an important form of farmer cooperation in Germany, accountability of managers to members might create a status-quo bias (I5), in a situation where crop choice decisions are made short-term and mainly based on market prices (I3). This contrasts with diversified crop rotations, which need to be planned beforehand.
Business-level path dependencies are accompanied by structural issues in Saxony: regarding land allocation and structure, the German Democratic Republic (GDR) is showing long-term consequences, as farming was collectivized in so-called LPG (Landwirtschaftliche Produktionsgenossenschaften; agricultural production associations), landscape elements were removed and fields combined, incentivizing large-scale production of a few crops rather than diverse crop rotations (I8, also see I10). However, it should be noted that similar processes of simplification also took place in Western Germany.
Knowledge factors
Despite high importance assigned to knowledge barriers by several interview partners, restricted availability of and access to knowledge were weighted low in the survey. As the interviews covered a more diverse group of stakeholders than the survey, this divergence might be explained by differences in self- and outside perception of conventional farmers’ knowledge levels and access to knowledge.
Interviewees from several stakeholder groups identified a need for more research on climate-friendly agriculture (I3, I9, I10), especially on organic agriculture (I10). One farmer claimed that the scientific community fails to propose practically applicable solutions (I6) while another stated that “most of the time, the practicing farmer is already one step ahead of what climate scientists propose” (I1). In contrast, other interviewees claimed that there was already plenty of knowledge awaiting implementation (I9, I10). The public authority representative shared that, because of unavailable knowledge, the authority did not know which practices to incentivize (I3).
In addition to knowledge production, knowledge distribution was considered a problem. Agricultural vocational training was criticized for a focus on economic issues, while underemphasizing ecology, sustainability, and organic agriculture (I8, I9). As agricultural best practices are highly context-specific, acquiring the necessary knowledge requires experimentation or specialized advisory services and demonstration farms (I1,I2, I3, I4, I9, I10), which is costly for producers, especially in the Saxon context where advisory services are largely privatized (I3). Experiments and increased investment in advisory services by public authorities partly alleviated this problem (I3, I4).
Knowledge barriers were linked to several other barriers. For example, the lack of knowledge diminishes the response capacity of farmers facing climate change (I9, I6) and the development of novel forms of using more diverse crops (I3). Furthermore, difficulties to quantify soil fertility and thus the effects of specific measures on it were cited as impeding efforts to convince farmers of the on-farm benefits of adopting diversified crop rotations (I3). Regarding access to knowledge, incomplete agricultural education and costly advisory services increase implementation costs which might be problematic given limited financial leeway. Table 2 provides a summary of the main findings for each barrier type.
Table 2 Main points associated with each barrier type as identified through the interviews