Sowing the seeds of change: unveiling farmer types to promote climate-smart agriculture adoption in Europe

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) promises to provide a triple win in economic viability, food security and climate change mitigation. This study develops a European farmer typology to enhance the adoption of CSA by combining two research streams, the COM-B behavioural-change theory and segmentation research. Using a survey of 603 farmers from five European countries (Denmark, Lithuania, Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain), the study applies a systematic approach, examining capability, opportunity and motivation factors of the COM-B model. Data analysis resulted into classifying farmers into four types: environmentalists, constrained, indifferents, and traditionalists . The farmer typology reveals that all components of the COM-B model were useful to differentiate the four farmer groups. Environmentalists express high intention to adopt CSA, motivated both internally, by capabilities and motivation, and externally by the opportunities in the social and food systems environments. Constrained farmers share similar intentions but face significant barriers in physical opportunities, such as limited access to markets and credit, policy framework and market willingness to pay. Indifferents, despite sharing some commonalities with constrained farmers, they demonstrate low interest in CSA mainly due to lower levels of psychological capabilities and motivation. Finally, the traditionalists face the strongest barriers in capability, opportunity and motivation in the transition to CSA. This research contributes to the literature by providing a holistic and systematic approach to segment farmers based on key barriers and drivers in adopting CSA and linking these with four categories of tailored strategy and policy interventions aiming to enhance CSA adoption across diverse farming contexts in Europe.