Resource efficiency issues, environmental problems and socio-economic challenges resulted in an increased focus on sustainable production. At a European level, despite the policy incentives (i.e. CAP reform) and major investments on innovation – digitalization research for sustainability, the adoption of sustainable production practices remains low. Understanding the farmers‘ behaviour is of strategic importance to alter this state. To that end, we explored the demographic characteristics of farmers in an intensive agricultural area. We interviewed the entire set of the region‘s farmers that have adopted sustainable practices and a random sample of farmers practising conventional farming. The main results suggest that a high level of vocational training and practising farming as the main job are of fundamental importance towards adopting sustainable farm management practices. Further analysis also reveals the importance of the dynamics and interactions among farmers.