In recognition that industrial-style farming methods can produce undesirable environmental outcomes, governments have often addressed this problem by encouraging farmers to voluntarily undertake environmentally-friendly actions via implementation of financially incentivised schemes. This paper examines the evolution of such schemes in two contexts: the European Union and Canada, where different philosophies have produced markedly different approaches since their inception in the mid-1980s. The paper draws upon twenty years of program evaluations by multi-disciplinary teams to highlight lessons gained, in particular with respect to the environmental benefits achieved, and insights into farmer decision-making, and program design and operation.

Specific examples will be drawn from several agri-environmental schemes, but notably area-specific programs such as the United Kingdom's Environmentally Sensitive Areas (ESAs) and Canada's Atlantic Coastal Action Program (ACAP), which will be compared and contrasted with the United Kingdom's Countryside Stewardship Scheme (CSS) and the Environmental Farm Plan (EFP) as operated in the Canadian province of Ontario, though subsequently adopted throughout Canada and with variants in parts of the United States. Emphasis will be placed upon the different aims of the various programs, their conceptualisation of the environmental disbenefits to be tackled, their recruitment of farmers, the pro-environmental measures encouraged and their outcomes. The extent of the latter to contribute to notions of sustainable agriculture will be also considered.