Farmers drive Australia’s land management efforts. Governments, business, and the not-for-profit sectors recognise this and view connecting farmers to emerging environmental markets, such as soil carbon projects, as a key measure to improve on-farm resilience, respond to climate change and restore biodiversity on agricultural land (DAWE 2020).Given the persistent challenge of engaging farmers in environmental markets and other programs, it appears that appealing solely to economic motivations does not trigger the required action from individuals and governments to improve the condition of Australia’s flora, fauna and ecosystems on agricultural land.This presentation outlines how environmental markets are often based on assumptions on why farmers conserve nature, which does not reflect what they value. This misalignment of values – between what farmers are seeking to protect and what values environmental markets aim to protect – creates a significant barrier to increasing farmer engagement at scale. As such, different approaches to understanding farmers’ decisions to participate in these programs is required.The presentation also explores initial findings from an ongoing research project that works with farmers directly to uncover their decision-making for managing biodiversity, addressing a critical gap between environmental market intention and successful implementation.Presenter/s: Patrick Lucas. Powerpoint slides: Securing Farmers’ Values in Environmental Markets and Programs.#LandcareConf22#FarmingAgricultureLandManagement#NationalLandcareConference