Valuing public goods of the agricultural landscape: a choice experiment using reference points to capture observable heterogeneity

The willingness to pay (WTP) for different types of elements and other environmental qualities of the agricultural landscape were investigated by a choice experiment study. To get value measures of a set of attributes as policy relevant as possible, the WTP for 28 levels of 12 attributes was estimated. Two survey versions concerned permanent grassland and two concerned field elements of cultivated land. A sample of 8000 randomly selected Swedish inhabitants was used. The estimated values vary significantly between linear field elements and grassland types, where stone walls and oak-wooded pastures, respectively have the highest marginal WTP. Highly valued environmental qualities are biodiversity, visibility and absence of brushwood. Reference points were included to capture preference heterogeneity. The study cannot reject that respondents may value environmental service levels based on their reference points.