Research based on farmer surveys is a cornerstone of agricultural economics. Farmer surveys provide unique insights into be-havioural variables—such as values, motivations, attitudes, behaviours, and preferences—that are unavailable in secondarydatasets. However, the decline in farm numbers across most European countries, combined with a growing number of surveys,is posing a threat to farmer survey research. This paper synthesises current practices in farmer surveys in the Netherlands,Slovenia, and Sweden. Our approach is meta-scientific, drawing on a survey aimed at researchers responsible for 34 farmersurveys conducted between January 2019 and August 2024. This analysis is complemented by a document analysis and criticalreflection workshops. We identify three key challenges: (i) limited consistency and standardisation of socio-economic surveyquestions, (ii) long surveys, which are associated with high attrition and low response rates, and (iii) low adoption of open sciencepractices. To address these challenges, we propose a set of best practices to enhance the transparency, comparability, standard-isation, and reusability of farmer survey data. These best practices aim to strengthen the quality of survey-based research inagricultural economics and ensure that farmer surveys continue to support evidence-based policymaking

SLIJPER Thomas;  HOHLER Julia;  SUMRADA Tanja;  ROMMEL Jens;  ALIF Ziva;  BARREIRO HURLE Jesus;  DIETRICH Anne Sophie;  GOTTLIEB Uliana;  HA Thanh Mai;  HAKELIUS Karin;  HANSSON Helena;  HUANG Vivian Wei;  KNEZ Katja;  LEDUC Gaelle;  LIND Nina;  DE MEY Yann;  NOVAK Ana;  OPDENBOSCH Harold;  OWUSU-SEKYERE Enoch;  OYINBO Oyakhilomen;  PERPAR Anton;  SOK Jaap;  VISSERS Luuk;  WANG Scarlet;  YANORE Lotte; 

2026-06-03

WILEY

JRC142856

1477-9552 (online),   

https://doi.org/10.1111/1477-9552.70024,    https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1477-9552.70024,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC142856,   

10.1111/1477-9552.70024 (online),