• Increase biodiversity, measured by specific bird species, in the Hellwegbörde region.
• Develop biodiversity promoting measures for intensively farmed agricultural areas.
• Cooperate in supporting the goals of the Natura area’s bird conservation action plan e.g. by implementing biodiversity-promoting measures on 5% of the total area and on 10% of priority areas for farmland birds.

Activities

OG cooperation actions – Forming the OG provided an effective basis for cooperation between official stakeholders and guests from nature conservation (biological stations and lower nature authorities), farming (farmers and agricultural association), science (University of Münster and University of Applied Sciences Soest), as well as the advisory service (chamber of agriculture). OG members met twice a year to share, discuss and learn about better production and better bird protection.

An OG strategy and action plan evaluated the history of agri-environmental measures and drew attention to issues that could be improved. In the later stages of the project, the advisory service and biological station monitoring provided updates, which were discussed to inform continuous improvement actions.

The bird and insect population monitoring took place using different approaches. Breeding bird densities on different measures were compared with crop yields, winter bird activity densities, and pollinator populations of wild bees and butterflies. Landscape-related monitoring was also carried out.

Advice was provided on the farms free of charge. The starting point was an individual farm analysis of all the land cultivated. The location of the land plays a particularly important role in the implementation of different measures. The areas that are particularly suitable from an agricultural and nature conservation perspective were analysed. Suitable actions from available funding programmes were recommended for these fields.

All the existing and new support discussed was then compiled in a concept menu of action options. This provided a site-specific presentation of the actions as well as detailed action profiles with information on conditions and management instructions. Farmers also received help to apply for CAP funds.

An action plan was adopted and published to incorporate the recommendations into the design of new actions. At the same time, discussions were held with political decision-makers.

Good-practice examples of action implementation were introduced in presentations and published in circulars to farmers and in agricultural newspapers. Field visits took place for farmers in the region. Results of insect and bird monitoring were published in nature conservation and scientific journals. Public interest in the project was supported through field visits and local media channels.

• 308 advisory sessions for 231 different farms.
• 1 004 hectares on 163 farms benefitting from species conservation measures.
• 520 hectares using 15 specialised contractual nature conservation measures (e.g. flower blocks, fallow land, extensive cereal cultivation in double seed row).
• 8 200 hectares of diverse crop rotation are being managed with at least five different crops, including legumes like peas or beans, as well as the management of small arable fields.
• Seven networking and knowledge sharing meetings between the OG members
• 38 events and lectures featuring the CAP’s rural innovation initiative.
• Students provided monitoring data and stakeholder evaluations as part of their theses. The results of their findings provided valuable insights for better targeted advice.
• Public awareness about the bird sanctuary also increased. This helped reduce the risks of tensions between conservationists, farmers, and dog walkers.

Key lessons

• Demonstration farms are a popular and productive tool for attracting momentum and managing transition processes in the agrifood sector.
• The OG showed that nature conservation, science, intensive crop rotation by farmers and advisory services can work together in a spirit of trust and achieve goals cooperatively.
• Many existing and newly developed biodiversity-promoting measures are effective and have a positive impact on the target insect and bird populations.