Heat after the Harvest: Farmer Choices and Perceptions of Crop Residue Burning in Thailand

Crop residue burning (CRB) remains a persistent contributor to air pollution and environmental degradation in South and Southeast Asia, imposing significant health and productivity costs. While policies have emphasized regulatory enforcement and technological alternatives, the behavioral and socioeconomic drivers of CRB are less well understood. This study examines how farmers’ perceptions, social norms, resource access, and socioeconomic characteristics jointly relate to CRB decisions, by drawing on a conceptual framework from the agricultural literature that synthesizes behavioral dimensions of farmer practices. Using original survey data from 1,030 rice farmers in twelve subdistricts across three high-burning provinces near Bangkok, Thailand, we estimate logistic regression models that incorporate interactions between perceptions and socioeconomic aspects. Results show that perceptions—such as viewing CRB as a widespread norm and recognizing its effects on the environment, soil quality, and health—significantly relate to burning behavior; though these effects vary by farm size, education, and resource access. By modeling how perceptions interact with socioeconomic characteristics, this study advances the understanding of behavioral mechanisms and farmers’ attitudes towards environment, soil quality, health, and social aspects of CRB. The findings highlight the importance of integrating behavioral insights into policy design, aligning information dissemination with local contexts, and enabling viable alternatives to burning. Systematically accounting for farmer perceptions could offer actionable pathways for reducing CRB’s environmental impact while promoting sustainable agricultural practices in Thailand and comparable contexts.