Sponsor
This research was supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) KAKENHI Grant Number 20H01493. This study was conducted as part of a project by the Policy Research Institute of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan, with research funding provided by the institute.
Published In
Journal of Agricultural Economics
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
4-1-2026
Subjects
Methane emissions -- Rice Farming -- Japan
Abstract
Agricultural methane emissions represent a significant contributor to global climate change, with irrigated rice cultivation beingone of the primary sources. Despite the availability of effective mitigation technologies, their adoption often remains limited dueto behavioural and institutional constraints. Water management practice that extends drainage periods during cultivation cancurb methane emissions from irrigated rice at low cost, yet uptake among Japanese farmers remains modest. We surveyed 2219rice producers in Shiga Prefecture using a labelled choice experiment that embedded two behavioural nudges (social norm andloss aversion) and one informational boost (knowledge enhancement), presented with or without a reminder. Farmers most fa-voured a 7-day drainage extension. Social-norm messages did not robustly shift adoption intentions, but loss-aversion and knowl-edge enhancement paired with reminders increased the probability of choosing water management practice by 5–10 percentagepoints, particularly when financial incentives were modest. The added value of nudges and boosts faded once subsidies ap-proached prevailing ceiling levels, suggesting diminishing marginal returns to stacking instruments. These findings suggest that timely, low-cost behavioural interventions can effectively complement agri-environmental payments in resource-constrainedsettings, providing a scalable and context-sensitive strategy to accelerate the adoption of climate-smart rice practices.
Rights
Copyright (c) 2026 The Authors
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Locate the Document
DOI
10.1111/1477-9552.70038
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/44601
Citation Details
Du, S., Tanaka, K., Sasaki, H., Horie, T., & Horie, S. (2026). Promoting Methane Reductions Through Behavioural Nudges and Informational Boosts: A Field Choice Experiment in Japanese Rice Farming. Journal of Agricultural Economics. Portico.