摘要：Agri-environmental payments are a key element of the environmental efforts in the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy. Being a voluntary scheme, they can however only be effective if enough farmers choose to participate. While the factors influencing farmers’ decision (not) to participate in agri-environment schemes have been widely studied in the Old Member States, almost no research exists regarding agri-environment scheme uptake in the New Member States. This paper therefore determines which factors motivate farmers in Târnava Mare Region, Romania, to participate in agri-environment schemes, which factors impede the decision to participate, and which lead farmers to quit participation. To do so, the results of 13 case studies of participants, drop-outs, and non-participants are analysed and backed with findings from expert interviews. Results are then compared to findings from Western Europe, revealing significant differences between the decision-making of farmers in Târnava Mare Region and those examined by previous research. Thus, this paper demonstrates that findings from Old Member States regarding agri-environment scheme uptake cannot simply be assumed to hold for New Member States, a fact that should be considered in EU policy making. This highlights the importance of conducting research in Eastern European countries for schemes to reach their full potential across Europe.
