Design and development of a new approach to increase the value of biodiversity in agriculture

Abstract

Biodiversity is a vital prerequisite for the resilience of agro-ecosystems, for sustainability and long-term food security. Biodiversity in European agricultural landscapes, however, has declined dramatically over the last century, mainly due to agricultural intensification. Current compensations and incentives for biodiversity-sensitive management are often inefficient as they are applied at individual farm level rather than at landscape level and tend to be generic, top-down solutions at EU or national level. Monitoring rarely is carried out, so there is little opportunity to improve biodiversity in agriculture. Consequently, a new approach to the design, implementation and monitoring of biodiversity-sensitive agriculture is needed. The H2020 project “FRAMEwork” (2020-2025) offers a comprehensive package to develop and implement solutions for biodiversity-sensitive farming in Europe which includes four key drivers: First, an "Advanced Farmer Clusters Concept (AFC)" (key driver 1) developed to monitor, evaluate and implement biodiversity management activities, raise farmer awareness, increase farmer engagement and support adaptive management. Such an Advanced Farmer Cluster Austria was established together with local farmers in 2020. Key driver 2 is a new didactic concept designed to motivate farmers to conserve and promote biodiversity using a bottom-up approach. One of the main priorities for farmers is yield security, which is closely linked to a living soil, i.e. high biodiversity in the soil. Therefore, the topic of biodiversity will be gradually shifted over the project duration from the soil to above-ground parts (below and above ground organisms, plant cover, pollinators and birds). To raise awareness among farmers, farmer cluster workshops with “hand's on-activities” are being conducted and measures to improve biodiversity on the cluster farms in the future are discussed. FRAMEwork has conducted scientific biodiversity monitoring (key driver 3) in all cluster and control farms using standardized methods based on the EMBAL protocol including pollinators (butterflies and bumblebees), breeding birds and vegetation surveys. Additionally, changes in land management in the clusters and on control farms will be recorded and mapped in a geographic information system. Based on the maps, links between landscape-level habitat improvements and biodiversity will be identified. The cluster and control farms are being monitored at the beginning and at the end of the project (years 2 and 5). Impacts of the “AFC” on biodiversity and ES will be analyzed using a Before-After-Control-Impact design. Additionally, to implement and increase the awareness in the general public, Citizen Science events (key driver 4) will be organized on the cluster farm. Material for monitoring biodiversity indicators will be developed for use by experts, farmers, and the general public. First results will be presented.Keywords: Biodiversity-sensitive farming, Advanced Farmer Clusters, Arable land, Biodiversity, Monitoring