Adoption of voluntary water-pollution reduction technologies and water quality perception among Danish farmers

•Danish farmers perceive the surface water quality as being above average.•Perception of water quality influenced by physical factors and farmers attitudes.•Removal of regulations perceived to have low effect on surface water quality.•Adoption of voluntary technologies influenced by farm slope, size and, farmers’ age and attitude.•Increased information dissemination required to increase awareness on water quality issues.

The adoption of voluntary nutrient reduction technologies among Danish farmers is relatively low despite the introduction of a number of incentives to do so. With data from 267 farmers, this study analyzes the level of adoption of these technologies and the farmers’ perception of water quality, existing regulatory measures and their implementation strategies. In general, farmers perceive the water quality to be above average and indicate a strong opposition to penalties for non-compliance. Results of two ordered probit models on adoption and perception show a significant importance of farm and soil types, farm size and slopes and information availability. These findings point to the need for increased information dissemination on water quality requirements both at national and regional levels and technical and institutional support for the existing and future incentives.