Conference Agenda

European agroecosystems are facing a severe biodiversity crisis. Despite a growing body of academic and practical knowledge on management practices, conservation measures, and policy instruments to enhance farmland biodiversity, existing efforts have fallen short in curbing the loss of farmland biodiversity. One of the primary obstacles is the limited adoption of such approaches by key stakeholders. This presentation aims to provide an overview of methodologies employed, results achieved, and lessons learned from the transdisciplinary ECO²SCAPE research project. Focusing on an agricultural study area in Saxony, Germany, the project aims to strike a balance between ecological, economic, and social considerations in the development of biodiversity enhancing practices. The presentation will touch upon several key aspects, including: (1) The co-design process involving farmers and other stakeholders in the development of biodiversity conservation measures. (2) Findings from semi-structured interviews using adapted photovoice techniques to explore farmers’ values and relationships. (3) Lessons derived from network meetings with farmers and collaborative efforts with biosphere reserves. The goal is to stimulate discussion among fellow researchers with similar or contrasting experiences, to shed light on the main barriers to implementing biodiversity conservation measures, and to pave the way for establishing a roadmap to mitigate farmland biodiversity loss.

As the salience of environmental issues rises in Europe, multifunctional agriculture calls for farming practices that consider more ecosystem services than just food, feed and biomass production. Alongside changing daily practices, multifunctionality implies changes in the contributions that farmers make to society, i.e. their societal role. Within the vast literature on farmer behavior, factors related to farmer (role) identity and the concept of the “good farmer” (Burton et al., 2008) are recognized as major driver of behavior and therefore deserve attention in this context. This study examines farmer perspectives on their ideal societal role, as defined by multiple social, economic and environmental functions associated with farming. We extracted 71 of these functions from interviews, scientific and grey literature and party programs, among others. We use Q method to capture the participants’ subjective opinion on the relative importance of these functions. With the help of a by-person factor analysis, we are able to distinguish groups of participants that share a similar perspective on their ideal societal role. This provides the basis for a typology of farmer role identities, without, however, revealing the prevalence of each type in the study region Eastern Germany.

Payments for ecosystem services (PES) are a common tool to reduce negative impacts from intensive agricultural production on biodiversity. The efficiency of PES, whether process- or result-oriented, hinges on cost-effective monitoring, the actions farmers are rewarded for, appropriate biodiversity indicators, and farmers’ acceptance. Despite expectations that novel technologies such as weeding robots reduce monitoring costs, the potential impact of their widespread use on optimal PES design for biodiversity conservation in arable farming remains unexplored. Our study aims to investigate 1) the influence of weeding robots on optimal scheme design and 2) the challenges and options arising for future PES design. To reach these aims, we use a simulation model to systematically compare how the availability of weeding robot changes the preferability of action-based versus results-based payments under various conditions. This study sheds light on the transformative potential of weeding robots in optimizing PES for biodiversity conservation in arable farming. Results reveal that the difference in efficiency between action- and results-based schemes vanishes if robots are able to carry out biodiversity-sensitive actions. Additionally, our results highlight the necessity for clearly defined multi-dimensional biodiversity targets future scheme design when weeding robots are available.

Diversified farming systems (DFS) have been recognized as effective strategies in the shift to sustainable food production, however factors enabling their adoption are poorly understood and unsustainable monocultures persist in many places.

We conducted a comprehensive meta-analysis of 154 peer-reviewed articles to understand how socio-demographic, economic, biophysical, behavioral, and contextual factors influence the adoption of 10 DFS (i.e., agroforestry, agri-aquaculture, agro-silvopasture, cover crops, fallow, intercropping, crop rotation, embedded natural, rotational grazing, and combined systems).

Results showed that among 45 factors studied in 44 countries, increasing access to extension services and agricultural training, farmers’ formal education and income, secure land tenure, and positive attitude toward sustainable farming practices, had a positive impact on DFS adoption. However, farm biophysical factors, and household socio-demographic characteristics seem to not affect DFS adoption.

These findings emphasize the importance of holistic initiatives and policies that encompass socio-economic empowerment, knowledge dissemination, capacity building while ensuring farmers' land rights and stability in driving sustainable agricultural transformations.