The ‘good farmer’ and nature conservation through the eyes of agricultural advisors : insights from Slovenia

Novak, Ana (author), Šumrada, Tanja (author), Juvančič, Luka (author), Sutherland, Lee-Ann (author)

As nature conservation objectives are becoming increasingly integrated in the management of farming systems, agricultural advisors play a crucial role in facilitating this transition. However, although the literature on farmers’ values and social norms is well established, the role of advisors’ perspectives and how these shape farmers’ engagement with nature conservation remains under-explored. To address this gap, this study applies the “good farmer” conceptual tool, grounded in Bourdieu’s ideas of habitus, capital, and field, to analyse in-depth interviews with 20 Slovenian agricultural advisors. The findings reveal advisors’ embeddedness in a production-oriented habitus, which, together with their institutional role as policy intermediaries, appears to limit their capacity to act as facilitators of change. Advisors often adopt pragmatic strategies to reconcile tensions between top-down nature conservation policies and their position within closely-knit farming communities, where conservation practices are frequently perceived as external to the dominant cultural framework. This study advances the “good farmer” literature by introducing a novel actor group and geographical context – Central and Eastern Europe. We highlight the importance of aligning conservation strategies with locally embedded values, strengthening participatory approaches, and supporting advisors through education and collaboration to foster meaningful sustainability transitions in agriculture.

• Language: English
• Keywords: agricultural advisors, ‘good farmer’, biodiversity-friendly farming, nature conservation, Slovenia
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: BF - Biotechnical Faculty
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2026
• Number of pages: 20 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 43, iss. 1, art. 18
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-177718
• UDC: 631:502
• ISSN on article: 1572-8366
• DOI: 10.1007/s10460-025-10815-z
• COBISS.SI-ID: 263366659
• Publication date in RUL: 05.01.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Agriculture and human values
• Publisher: Springer Nature
• ISSN: 1572-8366
• COBISS.SI-ID: 513116697

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: kmetijstvo, varstvo okolja, kmetje, kmetijski svetovalci, Slovenija

Projects

• Funder: ARRS - Slovenian Research Agency
• Project number: P4-0022
• Name: Ekonomika agroživilstva in naravnih virov

• Funder: EC - European Commission
• Funding programme: NextGenerationEU