Ecological compensation areas are implemented on Swiss farms with the aim of encouraging biodiversity, but recent studies have found that the existing system of incentives for specific conservation measures is insufficient to halt biodiversity loss in the Swiss agricultural landscape. A project with the title “Score with biodiversity - farmers encouraging nature” (MVP ) aims to contribute to a nature-friendly and economically strong agricultural sector, in which animal and plant species co-exist with agriculture in a way that is mutually beneficial. Two new instruments have been developed in the project. With a new points system, the performance of farms in the promotion of natural diversity is evaluated. The points system gives a clear indication to farmers where and how their contribution to biodiversity can be improved, and serves policy by enabling allocation of subsidies to be directed towards measures with quantifiable benefits for  biodiversity. The second instrument is a new approach to consulting in which farmers collaborate directly with advisors to find the optimal measures to encourage biodiversity under the specific conditions of their farms. Farmers can then ensure their ecological measures are targeted to their local conditions and policy makers can be informed of which measures should be given priority support with incentives. As part of this collaboration, participating farmers were interviewed and asked questions about their attitudes toward nature conservation. It was found that farmers identities and their experiences with past nature conservation measures combine with their expectations of direct benefits, such as financial incentives, and their trust that the measures will produce the desired outcomes, to form a behavioural attitude. Swiss farmers display a strong sense of fairness, which drives them to comply with subjective norms, although they feel torn between a societal expectation to conserve nature and a wish to appear productive to their peers. We conclude by offering several persuasion strategies that are based on reconciling the apparent dichotomy between production and nature conservation. Furthermore, we recommend that any changes to the existing policy framework should be undertaken in a consultative process and that farmers be allowed the flexibility to implement measures that will produce the best conservation outcomes on their farms.