Farmers and farm advisors play a crucial role in implementing climate-smart farming practices, but they often face challenges in accessing and benefiting from reward mechanisms. This practice abstract aims to identify the key needs of farmers and advisors to engage more effectively with these mechanisms.
Farmers need straightforward, organized, and easy-to-understand information about the available mechanisms, including policy contexts, eligibility criteria, benefits, and potential risks. Organizations like farmer groups are essential for sharing this information.

Easy-to-use carbon calculation tools should help farmers determine their potential earnings from carbon credits. Clear policies with consistent rules, less red tape, and proven methods are crucial for building farmers’ trust in mechanisms. Reliable advisors can help farmers through application processes, compliance tracking, and economic feasibility evaluation. Offering fair and motivating prices for carbon credits and other sustainable production outputs is essential.

Advisors need ongoing training, especially on carbon market tools, updates on national and EU policies, and incentive programs. They need accessible tools to help farmers navigate the complexities of rewarding mechanisms, offering risk assessments and evaluations of long-term economic impacts. Access to trustworthy validation and certification schemes ensures that incentives offered to farmers are credible and financially sound.

To make the most of rewarding mechanisms, it is important to create a user-friendly information platform, strengthen advisory networks by training advisors in climate-smart agriculture and reward systems, equip them with decision-making tools, establish consistent rules, simplify processes, provide stable policies to motivate farmers’ participation, boost market opportunities through fair pricing for carbon credits and sustainable products, and encourage knowledge sharing.