Agricultural Research and Policy Research Group

Introduction

The agricultural research and policy research group in The Centre of Estonian Rural Research and Knowledge is a recently established interdisciplinary group that integrates research on soils, agroecology, agrotechnology, rural economy and policy.

Through the prior research activities of the group members during last 20 years, the group has accumulated time series and expertise on the condition of agricultural soils, effects of agri-environmental policy instruments, and socioeconomic performance of Estonian farms.

Team is led by Head of Agricultural Research Department Ants-Hannes Viira.

Role

In the current project, the LandPolicy team will provide the unique contribution of:

• Socioeconomic research that involves literature reviews on landowners and users’ decision-making, interviews with stakeholders, and structured questionnaire surveys.
• Economic, environmental and social cost-benefit analysis of land use practices.
• Developing a spatial layer of socioeconomic agents for integrated B&C and socioeconomic analysis.
• Analysing the effectiveness of current policy interventions and studying the design options for more effective and efficient land use policy instruments that support BD&C.