Abstract
An alarming decrease of insects in number and variety calls for measures of protection and promotion, since insects are crucial for the functioning of ecosystems and provide multiple ecosystem services. Agricultural landscapes can provide vast insect habitats if they are managed accordingly. However, little is known about farmers’ problem awareness and attitudes toward insect biodiversity loss, related farming practises, or alternative acceptable insect-friendly solutions. To fill these research gaps, this paper aimed to reveal farmers’ perceptions and attitudes regarding these aspects in two German case studies. We conducted 23 semi-structured interviews with farmers in 2019 and qualitatively analysed them using semantic web analysis. Farmers mostly reported awareness of insects’ ecosystem services and disservices related to agricultural production rather than mentioning the holistic ecological importance of insects. About half of the farmers confirmed insect loss based on their own observations, whereas a similar number doubted there had been a decrease of insects. Most farmers are open-minded towards insect-friendly measures if financially compensated. The farmers also mentioned a joint societal responsibility for insects, economic pressure on farmers to use pesticides due to global market prices, and unbalanced agricultural policies. This study revealed in-depth insights into farmers’ thinking about insects and how farmers contextualise arguments. Our results identified overlaps in farmers’ mental models, which paves the way for co-designing insect-friendly farming practices in landscape labs. Local transformation efforts can also demonstrate new pathways for a shift on the higher levels.
Highlights
Insects play a crucial role for ecosystem functioning in general and in agricultural landscapes in particular
Even cultural ecosystem services can be compromised, such as nature tourism specialized on attractive “flagship” insect species, connectedness with nature, or cultural heritage based on endemic insects (Cardoso et al 2020; Hall and Martins 2020)
When comparing the group diagrams of landscape lab 1 and 2, it turned out that farmers’ mental models have many overlaps in their fundamental structure. These overlaps can be explained by the common practices in conventional agriculture, socio-political framing conditions, societal demands, public debates about insect conservations, and shared farmers’ self-concepts which play a more important role throughout Germany than regional differences
Summary
Insects play a crucial role for ecosystem functioning in general and in agricultural landscapes in particular. Insects deliver irreplaceable ecosystem services, such as pollination, natural pest control, decomposition of organic matter in soils or seed dispersal - which are important for agricultural production (Isaacs et al 2009; Schowalter et al 2018; Dainese et al 2019; Cardoso et al 2020). The loss of insect abundance and biomass causes a decrease of numerous ecological functions and ecosystem services provided by insects with far-reaching negative consequences for biodiversity, complex biotic interactions, and human wellbeing (Dainese et al 2019). Economic and ecological consequences can result from a reduced performance of pollinators and insect antagonists of pests, which in turn could lead to yield losses and lower agri-food production outputs (Cardoso et al 2020). Even cultural ecosystem services can be compromised, such as nature tourism specialized on attractive “flagship” insect species, connectedness with nature, or cultural heritage based on endemic insects (Cardoso et al 2020; Hall and Martins 2020)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
