Analysing farmers' preferences for collaborative arrangements: an experimental approach

This paper analyses farmers' preferences for farm-level collaborative arrangements (CAs) based upon a discrete choice experiment conducted in Germany. A mixed logit and a generalized multinominal logit model are used to determine whether farmers' decisions to establish a CA with a potential partner are influenced by non-monetary attributes like the age of the partner, the years of acquaintance with the partner or the production activities of the partner. Moreover, a monetary attribute is included to calculate the average individual's willingness-to-pay or 'implicit price' for a change in each of the non-monetary attributes. The results show that farmers' preferences for CAs increase, the closer their age is, the more years of (positive) acquaintance between them exist and the more similar their production activities are.