Economic and institutional incentives for agroforestry in Flanders

Agroforestry is described by many studies as a form of agriculture that can provide many ecosystem services to society. Nevertheless, the adoption of this form of agriculture by Flemish farmers is not very high yet. This is partly to the uncertainty surrounding the economic profitability of this system. In this PhD, economic incentives and business models for agroforestry are studied. Case studies of (fictitious) agroforestry companies are examined with an economic model. Choice experiments are used to determine which economic and institutional characteristics influence the preference of farmers to adopt agroforestry. There will also be looked at the other side of the value chain: what is the willingness to pay of consumers for products from agroforestry and under what conditions are these consumers willing to enter into farmer-citizen cooperatives with this form of agriculture? This PhD project wants to explore the possibilities for business models and incentives for agroforestry in depth.