The influence of trust on the adoption of SAPs: A scoping review

Details

Supervisors

Van den Broeck, Goedele

Faculty

Faculté des bioingénieurs

Degree label

Master [120] : bioingénieur en sciences et technologies de l'environnement, à finalité spécialisée

Abstract

enModern European agriculture faces immense pressure to transition towards Sustainable Agricultural Practices (SAPs) under frameworks like the European Green Deal and the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). However, adoption rates remain persistently low, demonstrating that the transition is not merely a financial or technical calculation, but a highly complex behavioral process. This scoping review aims to systematically map and conceptualize the multidimensional role of trust and trustworthiness in farmers' decisions to adopt SAPs across Europe. Following the PRISMA-ScR guidelines and methodological frameworks for Humanities and Social Sciences, this study synthesizes a final corpus of 93 empirical peer-reviewed articles. A mixed deductive-inductive approach was employed, utilizing the method of "qualitizing" quantitative data to seamlessly integrate statistical and mixed metrics with qualitative narratives into a comprehensive conceptual framework. The synthesis reveals that a lack of trust acts as a major barrier, serving as a defensive survival mechanism for farmers operating in an increasingly uncertain environment. The analysis identifies that farmers face multiple interconnected layers of mistrust: they often perceive government policies as overly bureaucratic and punitive, fear losing their autonomy to opaque agricultural technologies and corporate data extraction and feel deeply stigmatized or misunderstood by the general public. In response to this high-risk environment, providing purely financial incentives often results in superficial engagement. Farmers may adopt minimal environmental changes simply to secure subsidies, but quickly abandon these practices once the funding ends. Conversely, true adoption is primarily driven by the farmer's internal self-confidence and their reliance on trusted, local peer networks and locally embedded intermediaries. To overcome these systemic barriers, European agricultural governance must undergo a radical shift from top-down enforcement to collaborative, bottom-up empowerment. Fostering a genuine agroecological transition requires creating safe, participatory environments, such as demonstration farms and living labs for example, where farmers can co-design and test innovations without immediate financial or regulatory risks. Moreover, successful adoption depends on empowering independent, local advisors to safely guide farmers through complex changes, alongside flexible financial contracts that fairly share the economic risks of the transition between the state and the farmer. In the end, it is trust that provides the psychological safety required for farmers to take the leap and embrace sustainable change.