Conference Agenda

This paper analyses the structural, economic, and environmental characteristics of farms

adopting biogas in France, using nationally representative administrative data and a penalised logistic regression framework. While biogas is widely promoted as a key lever for the agricultural energy transition, empirical evidence on the factors shaping its adoption at the farm level remains limited. The results show that biogas adoption is highly selective and concentrated among a narrow subset of farms. Economic size emerges as a critical prerequisite, revealing a strong threshold effect linked to the high capital intensity and irreversibility of anaerobic digestion investments. The production structure also plays a decisive role: livestock-oriented farms, particularly those based on cattle and mixed crop–livestock systems, are significantly more likely to adopt biogas than arable farms. By contrast, variables capturing environmental orientation, such as organic certification, participation in agri-environment-climate measures, or location

within Nitrate Vulnerable Zones, and sociodemographic characteristics of the farmer, exhibit weak and statistically insignificant effects once structural factors are controlled for. Spatial clustering effects, however, significantly increase the likelihood of adoption, highlighting the importance of policy design and territorial dynamics. These findings suggest that current bioga diffusion pathways are structurally constrained, raising questions about the inclusiveness and systemic reach of existing support schemes. The paper contributes to the literature by providing a multidimensional and policy-relevant account of renewable energy adoption in the agricultural sector.