Social construction of the environment and smallholder farmers' participation in ‘low-carbon’, agro-industrial crop production contracts in the Philippines Marvin Joseph F. Montefrio a, ⁎, David A. Sonnenfeld b , Valerie A. Luzadis b a Department of Political Science, College of Liberal Arts, De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines b Department of Environmental Studies, State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, NY, USA abstract article info Article history: Received 26 August 2014 Received in revised form 30 March 2015 Accepted 14 April 2015 Available online xxxx Keywords: Social construction of the environment Sense of place Environmental worldview Contract farming Farmer decision-making Ethnicity Oil palm Jatropha Biofuels Palawan Philippines Several studies have suggested that socio-economic factors and production site characteristics are primary deter- minants of farmers' participation in ‘low-carbon’, agro-industrial (biofuels and oil palm) production contracts. In the Philippines, many smallholder farmers have expressed their intent to participate in intensive production of biofuel crops and oil palm with state and private organizations; others have resisted or remained indifferent. This study looks into smallholders' social construction of the environment and how this may influence their de- cisions to participate in such production contracts. The study is based on a survey of 462 respondents in eight communities in the province of Palawan. Using regression analysis, it illustrates how smallholders' sense of place and environmental worldviews, together with demographic and socio-economic variables, play significant roles in their decisions to enter into new biofuels (jatropha) and oil palm production contracts. Environmental worldviews are significant when there are strong negative perceptions attached to a particular crop production contract, as in the case of oil palm. © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction There is an emerging trend in the establishment of a variety of ‘low- carbon’, agro-industrial production contracts that link smallholder farmers to national and supranational biofuel and oil palm markets (Mol, 2010; Montefrio and Sonnenfeld, 2013; Rossi and Lambrou, 2009). 1 This trend has spurred scholarship on how such institutions are formed and how smallholder farmers decide to participate in such contracts (e.g., Jensen et al., 2004; Clancy et al., 2011; Giannoccaro and Berbel, 2012). Previous studies on farmer and landowners' decision-making in this context have utilized econometric analyses to examine their willingness to participate in ‘low-carbon’, agro-industrial production contracts. Findings have cen- tered on socio-economic and production site characteristics (e.g., size of land available for production, stability of income sources, off-farm em- ployment, perception of economic returns, education of farmers, exiting debts) as primary factors influencing farmers' willingness to produce bio- fuel and oil palm crops (Jensen et al., 2004; Bocquého et al., 2011; Clancy et al., 2011; Giannoccaro and Berbel, 2012). Fewer studies have focused on smallholder farmers' decision-making on whether to participate in biofuel crops or oil palm contract farming in developing countries (e.g., Mabiso, 2012). While some studies have attempted to investigate small- holder participation in contract farming in developing countries, analyses have been limited to the role of socio-economic factors in explaining that behavior. The burgeoning number of quantitative studies overemphasizing narrowly economic explanations of smallholders' involvement in biofuels and oil palm production exemplifies Edwards-Jones' (2006) observation that in most cases individual farmers are assumed to be rational profit maximizers. Moreover, scholarship on farmers' decision- Ecological Economics 116 (2015) 70–77 ⁎ Corresponding author at: Department of Political Science, College of Liberal Arts, De La Salle University, 2401 Taft Avenue, Manila 1004, Philippines. E-mail address: mjfmontefrio@gmail.com (M.J.F. Montefrio). 1 This paper adopts the Philippine government's definition of smallholder farmers as in- dividuals or households dependent on small-scale subsistence farming as their primary source of income (Republic Acts 7607 and 8435). “Small-scale” farms are defined in anoth- er legal document (Republic Act 7307) as 5 ha or less of farmlands owned and cultivated. In this article, the smallholder farmers investigated continue to practice either or a combi- nation of swidden agriculture, fallow land management (e.g., harvesting of non-timber forest products and production of perennials), and wet rice production in communal lands (commons) and/or lands distributed by the government as part of the agrarian reform program (usually less than 3 ha). Agro-industrial production contracts are defined as agreements or arrangements for the production and marketing of agricultural products (e.g., food, fiber or fuel) between processors, farmers and buyers. The following are some of the common terms associated with crop production contracts: joint ventures, partner- ships, contract farming, and outgrower systems. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2015.04.017 0921-8009/© 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Ecological Economics journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolecon