Farmers' attitudes toward economic experimentation

Economic experiments have gained popularity in Agricultural Economics. However, challenges in recruitment and acceptance of experimental methods among farmers persist. Surveying 406 Swedish farmers, we explore farmers’ attitudes toward different types and features of economic experiments. Only a quarter of participants accept a randomized controlled trial on agri-environmental schemes where a control group is excluded from payment eligibility. When the randomization varies the size of payments, acceptance drops to only seven percent. Despite being standard practice in lab-in-the-field experiments, farmers strongly reject behavior-contingent payments. Engaging farmers during study design and sharing results with them can ameliorate recruitment challenges.