Thomas Rellensmann, M. Sc.
Profile
As a Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Environmental Economics at the IUSF, I examine how payments for environmental services can be applied to promote environmentally-friendly practices on agricultural lands.
I am particularly interested in fostering collaborative approaches for agri-environmental management to enable environmental outcomes (e.g., biodiversity increases) on a landscape-scale.
Against this objective, I investigate innovative, collaborative farmer groups and develop financial incentives for group participation that promote collaborative efforts for environmental conservation by multiple farmers.
On a methodological level, I apply economic experiments, quantitative data analysis methods, and participatory formats.
Thomas Rellensmann
Umweltökonomie
Barbarastraße 12
Osnabrück 49076
Room: 66/E11
Phone: +49 541 969-2573
thomas.rellensmann@uni-osnabrueck.de
Research Interests
- Agricultural transformation
- Payments for Ecosystem Services
- Agri-environmental policy (CAP)
- Participatory Natural Resource Management
- Social-ecological-system dynamics
Methods
- Experimental economics (lab-in-the-field experiments)
- Quantitative data analysis for causal inference (e.g. structural equation modelling)
- Participatory approaches
Current Research Projects
FRAMEwork - Farmer clusters for Realising Agrobiodiversity Management across Ecosystems
Within the Horizon 2020 Project of the European Union FRAMEwork: Farmer clusters for Realising Agrobiodiversity Management across Ecosystems" we (S. Engel, F. Thomas, L. Kuhfuss, M. Fritschle and T. Rellensmann ) investigate the effects of incentives to promote biodiversity-sensitive agriculture.
Publications (peer-reviewed)
Bohnet, Iris C., Hager, Gerid, Rellensmann, Thomas, Hardy, Claire, McHugh, Niamh M., Ablinger, Daniela, Bagnoni, Virginia, Banks, Gillian, Beyer, Marco, Duijvestijn, Lennard, Franck, Pierre, Janeckova, Kristina, Kaasik, Riina, Martin, Youri, Moonen, Anna-Camilla, Salehi, Aliyeh, Sanchez-García, Carlos, Schoone, Martine, Scott, Clare, Travnicek, Jan, van Rijn, Paul, Varas, Gonzalo, Veromann, Eve, Warlop, François, Wohlmuth, Marie-Luise & Begg, Graham S. (2026). Dynamic trajectories and maturity of farmer collaboration for biodiversity sensitive farming – Insights from the FRAMEwork Farmer Clusters. Agricultural Systems, 233, 104644. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2026.104644
Baaken, Marieke Cornelia, Thomas, Fabian, Engel, Stefanie, Fritschle, Moritz Peter, Ortiz-Riomalo, Juan Felipe & Rellensmann, Thomas (2025). Advancing Agri-Environmental Policy with Behavioral and Experimental Economics: Insights, Innovations, and Future Directions. Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 50(4): 830-865. https://doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.364787
Publications (technical and policy reports)
Rellensmann, Thomas, Engel, Stefanie, Thomas, Fabian, & Fritschle, Moritz. (2022). D6.4 Review of existing public incentive schemes plus design options. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7115622
Fritschle, Moritz Peter, Thomas, Fabian, Engel, Stefanie, Rellensmann, Thomas & Kuhfuss, Laure. (2022). D6.3 Report on current and potential private incentives. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7115617