Natural capital, biodiversity, landscape planning, Cranborne Chase
Natural capital, biodiversity, landscape planning, Cranborne Chase
A methodology on natural asset profiling was developed to assess dependencies and impacts on natural capital of Farmer Clusters. The protocol was tested at the Cranborne Chase (UK).
We found that its main dependency is on nitrogen consumption, while the use of energy and pesticides is below the EU average farm use benchmark. Main crop system impacts are on faunal diversity, but some positive impacts come from the adoption of regenerative practice (e.g., low tillage, crop rotation, cover crop) and the high presence (as percent of the utilised agricultural area) of landscape features, with the exception for hedgerows. Two environmental aspects influence biodiversity: permanent grassland and hedgerows. The first is correlated with birds’ biodiversity, the second with pollinators. Moreover, we explored the role of avoided erosion and found it to contribute to 20% of crop production, while pollinators account for 55% of the yield of pollinators dependent crops.
The Cranborne Chase Farmer Cluster exemplifies the necessity of planning natural features at landscape scale rather than addressing the issue at farm level. We found that the high value of pollination demand does not occur on farms where the pollinators are supplied, but spillover emerges as an element in the production-biodiversity relationship across the landscape. The use of natural capital indicators supports the idea that incentivizing and optimizing a correct landscape planning (possibly based on connectivity of the natural and semi-natural patches) can be considered an optimal solution to achieve a more effective use of agri-environmental subsidies, and that natural features addressing the decline of biodiversity should be implemented by adopting a cooperative approach.
A methodology on natural asset profiling was developed to assess dependencies and impacts on natural capital of Farmer Clusters. The protocol was tested at the Cranborne Chase (UK).
We found that its main dependency is on nitrogen consumption, while the use of energy and pesticides is below the EU average farm use benchmark. Main crop system impacts are on faunal diversity, but some positive impacts come from the adoption of regenerative practice (e.g., low tillage, crop rotation, cover crop) and the high presence (as percent of the utilised agricultural area) of landscape features, with the exception for hedgerows. Two environmental aspects influence biodiversity: permanent grassland and hedgerows. The first is correlated with birds’ biodiversity, the second with pollinators. Moreover, we explored the role of avoided erosion and found it to contribute to 20% of crop production, while pollinators account for 55% of the yield of pollinators dependent crops.
The Cranborne Chase Farmer Cluster exemplifies the necessity of planning natural features at landscape scale rather than addressing the issue at farm level. We found that the high value of pollination demand does not occur on farms where the pollinators are supplied, but spillover emerges as an element in the production-biodiversity relationship across the landscape. The use of natural capital indicators supports the idea that incentivizing and optimizing a correct landscape planning (possibly based on connectivity of the natural and semi-natural patches) can be considered an optimal solution to achieve a more effective use of agri-environmental subsidies, and that natural features addressing the decline of biodiversity should be implemented by adopting a cooperative approach.
Farmer Clusters for Realising Agrobiodiversity Management across Ecosystems (FRAMEwork)
Ongoing | 2020-2025
- Main funding source
- Horizon 2020 (EU Research and Innovation Programme)
- Geographical location
- United Kingdom