Farmers and foresters across Europe are facing a growing web of uncertainty. Climate extremes are becoming more frequent, markets are increasingly volatile, and regulatory frameworks continue to evolve. These risks do not act in isolation. They interact, accumulate, and shape everyday decisions on farms and in forests. Managing risk has therefore become a central condition for sustainability, resilience, and long-term viability.
Risk management is often understood in technical terms: insurance schemes, mutual funds, digital tools, or early-warning systems. These instruments are essential, but they are only part of the picture. At its core, risk management is about decision-making under uncertainty. It depends on how people perceive risks, how they weigh short-term pressures against long-term benefits, and how confident they feel in the tools and policies available to them.
This human dimension is exactly where PRUDENT positions its work. The project recognises that good risk management requires good information, but also good decisions. Behaviour plays a major role in how farmers respond to uncertainty, whether they engage with advisory services, whether they adopt preventive practices, and whether they act early or react too late. Even when risk-reducing solutions exist, they are not always used consistently or effectively.
PRUDENT addresses this gap by applying behavioural insights to agriculture and forestry. The project explores how small, well-designed interventions, known as green nudges, can support more consistent and informed decision-making. The idea is simple but powerful: better decisions reduce risk, and behavioural insights help us understand how those decisions are actually made in real-world conditions.
By working with behavioural approaches, PRUDENT contributes to more stable adoption of risk-prevention measures, stronger engagement with advisory and support services, and improved responses to climate and market uncertainty. Nudges can help reduce complexity, clarify options, and support timely action, without restricting freedom of choice. Over time, this can strengthen resilience at both farm and system level.
These themes were strongly reflected at the 7th International Forum on Risk Management in Agriculture, organised by Asnacodi Italia in Rome in December 2025, where PRUDENT was presented as part of the discussion on the future of agricultural risk governance. The Forum brought together policymakers, researchers, insurers, farmers’ organisations, and international stakeholders to address the growing challenges posed by climate change, geopolitical instability, and volatile markets.
A clear message emerged from the two-day event: risk management must evolve. Digital innovation, data integration, and procedural simplification are essential to make insurance and mutual tools more accessible. At the same time, speakers emphasised that technical solutions alone are not enough. Training, tailored advisory services, and trust-based local support structures remain fundamental to building real resilience.
The Forum highlighted the importance of linking risk management more closely with sustainability and competitiveness within the Common Agricultural Policy, as well as the need to connect risk tools with access to credit and long-term farm strategies. In this context, PRUDENT was recognised as a relevant European research initiative contributing behavioural insights to the broader risk-management landscape.
The discussions confirmed a shared understanding: risk management should no longer be treated as a separate or reactive mechanism. It needs to become a systemic policy pillar, embedded in everyday decision-making and supported by both smart tools and human expertise. Behavioural approaches can help bridge the gap between available instruments and their effective use, ensuring that preventive action becomes the norm rather than the exception.
For PRUDENT, risk management is not just about coping with uncertainty. It is about enabling farmers and foresters to navigate change with confidence, clarity, and support. By combining behavioural insights with policy innovation and real-world testing, the project contributes to a future where sustainable choices are also the most rational and resilient ones.
In a time of accelerating climate and economic risk, empowering better decisions is one of the strongest forms of protection. This is why risk management matters for PRUDENT, and why behaviour sits at the heart of the solution.
