Effectiveness Of Agri-environment Schemes Research Articles

Effects of Agri-Environment Schemes in Terms of the Results for Soil, Water and Soil Organic Matter in Central and Eastern Europe

Building on the agri-environment framework in Central and Eastern Europe, the article emphasizes the role and the use of the agri-environment in provision of different ecosystem services. It shows that relevant conservation measures with regard to ameliorating soil degradation contribute to the existence of sustainable land systems. In our study, we (i) identified what the soil water aggregate means, (ii) reviewed how agri-environment schemes (AES) function to support soil water requirements, and (iii) how appropriate soils are identified with regard to the implementation of soil conservation under the agri-environment. Empirical data were surveyed to assess AES as the pivotal subsidy in four countries: the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia. Quantitative data were assessed to contribute to evidence on and the expenditure effect of the measures. This review found that AES schemes in arable land systems implement several approaches such as cover crops and the reversion of arable land systems to grassland. The costs of AE measures reflect the costs of the particular agri-environmental practice and its constraints on commercial performance by the farmer. The AES budget analysis showed that subsidization moderately increased over the 2000–2020 time frame. However, the magnitude of the AES budget is still largely overshadowed by generic subsidies at farm level.

Effect of agri-environment schemes (2007–2014) on groundwater quality; spatial analysis in Bavaria, Germany

Degradation of groundwater quality and contamination of drinking resources is one of the most widespread and harmful impacts of over-fertilisation in agriculture. As part of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), agri-environment schemes (AES) have as main objective the protection and management of the farm environment, including groundwater quality. In this article a spatial econometric model is applied to evaluate the impact of AES on groundwater nitrate concentrations. Bavaria, a federal state of Germany, is used as a case study, due to the findings of high nitrate concentrations in the groundwater. A significantly negative effect is found between AES expenditures focusing on grassland management and nitrogen concentrations, while AES focusing on crop management, organic farming and preservation of cultural landscape did not show a significant effect. The assessment of other factors such as cereals and forage showed a statistically positive effect on nitrate concentrations. However, loam soil texture, rainfall, and residential area were found to negatively affect nitrate concentrations.

Annual flower strips and honeybee hive supplementation differently affect arthropod guilds and ecosystem services in a mass-flowering crop

Intensively managed agricultural landscapes have degraded the provisioning of diverse and continuous forage and shelter habitats for arthropods and weakened the delivery of ecosystem services such as insect crop pollination and biological pest control. In response, farmers are incentivised to sow flower strips along field margins to counteract resource bottlenecks. Yet, it is poorly understood how effective this diversification practice is when combined with the supplementation of honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) hives, which is commonly used to boost insect pollination in flowering crops. Honeybees share floral resources with wild pollinators and natural enemies of pests, which could lead to competition for food resources. We sampled pollinators, natural enemies and their pests as well as estimated the benefit of insect pollination in 17 organic faba bean (Vicia faba minor L.) fields in southern Sweden either with or without sown annual flower strips and with or without added honeybee hives. In fields with flower strips, bumblebee (Bombus spp.) densities were redistributed from field edges to interiors but without affecting their overall densities. Flower strips enhanced silver Y moth (Autographa gamma L.) densities and carabid beetle Shannon diversity along the field edge, and overall spider activity density. The supplementation of honeybee hives enhanced honeybee densities, overall ladybird beetle densities, black bean aphid (Aphis fabae Scop.) densities along field edges, but deterred silver Y moths and pushed bumblebees towards the field interior. Bean mass per plant was higher in insect pollinated plants compared with bagged, self-pollinated plants. This insect pollination benefit was independent of honeybee hive supplementation and the flower strip treatment suggesting that faba bean fields were not deficient in pollinator visits. We conclude that flower strips did not provide sufficient floral resources to increase overall wild pollinator densities in faba bean fields. Yet, annual flower strips attracted and facilitated ground-dwelling predators, especially spiders, to faba bean fields, likely by providing beneficial shelter habitats. It is worth noting that 2018, in which we collected our data, was characterised by late frosts in spring followed by an unusually hot and dry summer. While these unforeseen weather conditions together with a relatively small sample size might limit the generalisation of our results, we argue that conducting experiments under such conditions provide insights into the effectiveness of agri-environmental schemes under climate change, especially considering that such weather conditions are becoming increasingly more frequent.

The effect of agri-environment schemes on bees on Shropshire farms

The decline of bees and other invertebrate pollinators is cause for global concern, with modern intensive agriculture identified as a key driver. Government-run agri-environment schemes (AES) have the potential to restore the local landscape to benefit bees.Bee abundance, species richness and foraged plants were surveyed over a season on 18 farms in Shropshire, UK, classified into three treatment groups for comparison: Conventional, Entry-Level Stewardship AES (ELS), and Higher-Level Stewardship AES (HLS).Bee abundance and species diversity were significantly higher on AES-compliant farms: there were only small or non-significant differences between ELS- and HLS-compliant farms.ELS and HLS farms had higher diversity of floral foraging resources than conventionally managed farms. Cirsium, Heracleum sphondylium, and Rubus fruticosus were important resources for bees through the season. Synthesis and applicationsThese results highlight that key ELS actions, such as set-aside of uncultivated field margins, hedgerow restoration, late-cut meadows and sowing of nectar-rich flower mixes, are effective AES options to improve the landscape for bee communities. Many plants considered agricultural weeds are important forage resources for bees.

To leave or not to leave? Understanding determinants of farmers’ choices to remain in or abandon agri-environmental schemes

Effectiveness of Agri-Environmental Schemes (AESs) as tools to enhance the rural environment can be achieved not only by increasing uptake rates, but also by avoiding participating farmers abandoning the scheme once they are in. For this reason, it is important to also consider what affects farmers’ decisions to remain in the scheme rather than leave it at the end of the contractual obligation. However, up to now, there has been very little on this issue in the literature. The paper offers a contribution to this by revealing the role of determinants like the farmer’s and farm structural characteristics, farmer’s learning process, neighbourhood effect and the impact of changes in the policy design on the farmer’s decision to remain in the scheme over a long time scale. This is examined in a long-standing scheme in the case study area, the Veneto Region of Italy. The paper uses duration analysis and is based on longitudinal panel-data of the entire population of 2000–2015 adopters. By using only data available in official regional records, it also provides regional policy-makers with an operational tool that is useful to analyse the impact of their AES design changes. The results of the duration models show that a larger farm size, a younger farmer age, the succession in the family farm, and the farmer’s positive attitude towards the environment, trigger longer durations in AES. Similarly, the impact of the accumulation of the farmer’s experience in the scheme management, as well as the neighbourhood effect increase the probability of remaining. Lastly, the changes in policy tailoring and targeting also have a positive impact on maintaining the farmer in the scheme. The paper concludes by noting that duration analysis can deliver useful results in order to guide policy-makers in the effort to steer higher levels of farmers’ persistence in the scheme and provides some recommendations for a more mature agro-environmental policy design.

Perennial, species-rich wildflower strips enhance pest control and crop yield

The effectiveness of agri-environment schemes (AES) such as wildflower strips in promoting farmland biodiversity has been relatively well studied. Their effects on biodiversity-mediated ecosystem services, such as natural pest control, in contrast, remain poorly evaluated and their consequences on crop yield largely unexplored. We assessed the effect of sown, species-rich, perennial wildflower strips, promoted through the Swiss AES, on pest control services and their consequences for crop yield in nearby winter wheat. We found strong reductions in cereal leaf beetle Oulema sp. (CLB) density (eggs: 44%, larvae: 66%) and crop damage (40%) caused by CLB in winter wheat besides wildflower strips (N=10) compared with control fields without wildflower strip (N=10). Moreover, average crop yield was increased by 10% in winter wheat next to wildflower strips up to 10m into the fields. Wheat yield was positively associated with broad leaved plant cover, flower density and diversity of nearby flower strips, yet collinearity with wheat density made these effects difficult to disentangle. Our study demonstrates that diverse wildflower strips with known benefits for farmland biodiversity can also promote biological pest control and crop yield. This creates a win-win situation for crop production and biodiversity conservation, through which such AES may contribute to ecological intensification.

Assessing the impact of RDP agri-environment measures on the use of nitrogen-based mineral fertilizers through spatial econometrics: The case study of Emilia-Romagna (Italy)

Agriculture is the main source of nitrogen loading (EEA, 2012) and is the sector with the largest residual emission reduction potential (Sutton et al., 2011). Moreover, surpluses of nitrogen are forecast to grow in the next decade (FAO, 2012). The objective of this study is to evaluate the determinants of the use of N-based mineral fertilizers in agriculture and the effectiveness of Agri-Environmental Schemes (AES) implemented in Emilia-Romagna, Italy, in preventing nitrate pollution.The indicator N mineral fertilizer application rate in agriculture was first estimated at the municipality level for the years 2000 and 2010. Thereafter, we performed a Moran's statistics and a LISA (Local Indicators of Spatial Association; Anselin, 1995) analysis to test the data for local spatial autocorrelations. Finally, in order to provide a quantitative evaluation of the impact of the agri-environmental measures on the application rate of N fertilizers, we constructed an aspatial model (Ordinary Least Square model) and two spatial models (spatial lag and error models). All of the models are able to explain more than 70% of the change in the N mineral fertilizer application rate between the years 2000 and 2010 (the dependent variable).The results indicate that the observed decrease in the application rate of N mineral fertilizers in the considered decade was positively influenced by both the uptake of specific AES and the location in Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (NVZ). Among the policy variables, the participation in AES is less important than the location in a NVZ for explaining the reduction in the N mineral fertilizer application rate in the municipalities of Emilia-Romagna. Other significant variables are farm size, population density and share of certified organic surface in the utilized agricultural area (UAA). The availability of finer scale data for the estimation of changes in nitrogen inputs would improve the robustness of the models.

Collective agri-environment schemes: How can regional environmental cooperatives enhance farmers’ intentions for agri-environment schemes?

The effectiveness of agri-environment schemes (AES) in enhancing biodiversity on farmland and creating a long-lasting change in farmers’ motivation towards a more environmental-friendly practice is still strongly debated. Applying a regional approach has been advocated widely to make AES more ecologically and socially sustainable. In the Netherlands, some AES are performed collectively by large regional groups of farmers called Environmental Cooperatives (EC). We hypothesise that these cooperatives enhance farmers’ intention to participate by facilitating the application of AES, but also by generating group pressure. In the study at hand, we used an extended version of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) to investigate which factors are associated with farmers’ intention to participate in two kinds of collective AES (ditch bank management and the protection of meadow birds). Our results demonstrate that attitude and perceived personal ability to participate in these AES are associated with the intention of farmers to participate in ditch bank management. However, for the protection of meadow birds, social pressure, self-identity and facilitation by the EC also relate to the intention of farmers. We conclude that the facilitation undertaken by ECs positively relates to farmers’ intention to participate in collective AES.

The effectiveness of ditch banks as dispersal corridor for plants in agricultural landscapes depends on species’ dispersal traits

The effectiveness of agri-environment schemes (AES) in enhancing biodiversity in agricultural landscapes is still strongly debated. In the Netherlands, one of the most widely implemented AES is the management of ditch banks to enhance plant species diversity. Previous research has shown that this type of AES has not led to increases in plant diversity. However, this work also showed that the success of this type of AES may depend on the presence of source populations in the surrounding areas. In this study we investigated if species-rich nature reserves can act as seed sources for agricultural ditch banks under AES and whether this function of nature reserves differs among plant species with different dispersal capacities. We used data collected by farmers over a 10year period to analyse trends in species richness of target plants and in different dispersal groups in ditch banks under AES at different distances from nature reserves.Our results demonstrate that nature reserves can act as species rich sources in agricultural landscapes and that adjacent AES ditch banks can facilitate the colonisation of the surrounding agricultural landscape. However, the suitability of ditch banks as corridors depends on the dispersal capacity of a species. Particularly water-dispersed species clearly spread from nature reserves into the surrounding agricultural landscape along ditches. In contrast, species without adaptations to disperse over long distances do not show these spatiotemporal patterns.

Modelling farming system dynamics in High Nature Value Farmland under policy change

Understanding the factors driving changes in farm management is needed for designing policies and subsidy schemes to protect High Nature Value Farmland (HNVF). We describe farming system dynamics in HNVF of southern Portugal, between 2000–2002 and 2008–2010, encompassing a period of major policy transformations introduced by the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Union in 2003. We also assess how farming system dynamics was modulated by structural, biophysical and policy factors constraining agricultural options. Farming systems changed in about 40% of the farmed area during the period of study. Overall, there was a marked transition from arable systems to either specialized livestock or permanent crop systems, involving major declines in the traditional system of dry cereal rotations and sheep grazing. Transitions were influenced by farm size, soil quality and coverage by open oak woodlands, while there was little effect of agri-environment schemes and legal regulations specifically targeted to support the traditional farming system. Despite these changes, agricultural intensity remained essentially stable, though there was a marked decline in land-use heterogeneity with likely negative impacts on biodiversity. Observed changes agree with ex-ante impact assessments of the CAP reform in Iberian cereal steppes, which suggested that decoupling of payments from production could promote shifts from the traditional cereal–fallow–sheep system towards specialized livestock grazing systems. Effectively protecting HNFV may thus require a better integration of horizontal policies and agri-environment schemes.

Action versus Result-Oriented Schemes in a Grassland Agroecosystem: A Dynamic Modelling Approach

Effects of agri-environment schemes (AES) on biodiversity remain controversial. While most AES are action-oriented, result-oriented and habitat-oriented schemes have recently been proposed as a solution to improve AES efficiency. The objective of this study was to compare action-oriented, habitat-oriented and result-oriented schemes in terms of ecological and productive performance as well as in terms of management flexibility. We developed a dynamic modelling approach based on the viable control framework to carry out a long term assessment of the three schemes in a grassland agroecosystem. The model explicitly links grazed grassland dynamics to bird population dynamics. It is applied to lapwing conservation in wet grasslands in France. We ran the model to assess the three AES scenarios. The model revealed the grazing strategies respecting ecological and productive constraints specific to each scheme. Grazing strategies were assessed by both their ecological and productive performance. The viable control approach made it possible to obtain the whole set of viable grazing strategies and therefore to quantify the management flexibility of the grassland agroecosystem. Our results showed that habitat and result-oriented scenarios led to much higher ecological performance than the action-oriented one. Differences in both ecological and productive performance between the habitat and result-oriented scenarios were limited. Flexibility of the grassland agroecosystem in the result-oriented scenario was much higher than in that of habitat-oriented scenario. Our model confirms the higher flexibility as well as the better ecological and productive performance of result-oriented schemes. A larger use of result-oriented schemes in conservation may also allow farmers to adapt their management to local conditions and to climatic variations.

Effects of grazing and biogeographic regions on grassland biodiversity in Hungary – analysing assemblages of 1200 species

Agricultural intensification is a major threat to biodiversity. Agri-environment schemes, the main tools to counteract negative impacts of agriculture on the environment, are having mixed effects on biodiversity. One reason for this may be the limited number of species (groups) covered by most studies. Here, we compared species richness and abundance of 10 different species groups on extensively (0.5 cattle/ha) and intensively (1.0–1.2 cattle/ha) grazed semi-natural pastures in 42 fields in three Hungarian regions. Plants, birds and arthropods (leafhoppers, true bugs, orthopterans, leaf-beetles, weevils, bees, carabids, spiders) were sampled. We recorded 347 plant species, 748 territories of 43 bird species, and 51,883 individuals of 808 arthropod species. Compared to West European farmlands, species richness was generally very high. Grazing intensity had minor effects on α and β diversity, abundance and composition of the species assemblages. Region had significant effects on species richness and abundance of four taxa, and had strong effects on β diversity and species composition of all taxa. Regional differences therefore contributed significantly to the high overall biodiversity. We conclude that both grazing regimes deliver significant biodiversity benefits. Agri-environmental policy at the EU level should promote the maintenance of large scale extensive farming systems. At the national level, the effectiveness of agri-environment schemes should be improved via promoting and using research evidence.

The effect of agri-environment schemes on grey partridges at the farm level in England

In this study results from land managed by volunteer members of the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust's Partridge Count Scheme (PCS) were used to determine how well Environmental Stewardship (ES) and its predecessor schemes have performed for one intensively studied farmland bird, the grey partridge ( Perdix perdix) between 2005 and 2008. The individual agri-environmental scheme (AES) options that PCS members chose to implement were classified into groups based on the habitat that they provide for grey partridges at different stages of their life cycle. Three groups of options had consistently positive effects—beetle banks, conservation headlands and wild bird cover, all in-field options. Options with consistently negative effects were those including grass and scrub management. Unfortunately for grey partridges, beetle banks and conservation headlands currently have very little uptake within AES; of non-PCS agreements 1.9% include beetle banks and 2% conservation headlands. Non-PCS agreements have a slightly higher uptake of wild bird cover (12.9%).

Synergy between nature reserves and agri-environmental schemes in enhancing ditch bank target species plant diversity

The issue of what conservation strategies to apply in agricultural landscape for the most effective protection of biodiversity has been debated for some years. The creation and maintenance of nature reserves is often hampered by both ecological and economic factors, while the ecological effectiveness of agri-environment schemes (AES) is still being queried. Our study examined how the spatial pattern of nature reserves and AES affects the diversity of 25 target species of conservation interest in ditch banks and how this information might be used to develop a strategy resulting in synergy between protected areas and enhanced matrix quality. We studied target species plant diversity on 92 ditch banks under AES and on 102 banks not under such a regime; all of them running parallel to nature reserves. We compared the results with those obtained from a previous study which focused on ditch banks running transverse. On non-AES ditch banks running parallel to nature reserves, there was a significant decline in species richness with increasing distance from the nature reserve while this was not the case for AES ditch banks. The effect of AES differed between the two directions, with a significant effect beyond 200 m in the parallel direction and within 200 m in the transverse direction. Our results indicate that synergy between nature reserves and AES can enhance plant diversity and, since the AES effect was different in different direction due to wind direction and nitrogen input to adjacent fields, location of AES should be chosen carefully.

The Agri-Environmental Footprint

The monitoring and assessment of agri-environmental (AE) changes and impacts can help to reconcile different land use interests. This paper presents a common methodological framework for assessing changes and, related to that assessment, the effectiveness of AE schemes. The authors use a quantitative farm-level Agri-environmental Footprint Index (AFI), which aggregates the measurement of a range of farm and landscape-level indicators. The involvement of stakeholders is critically important in regionally customizing the index and its actual application. Such involvement raises the awareness of stakeholders about the multifunctionality of landscapes. This research builds on the results of the EU-funded AE-Footprint project.

Effects of agri-environment schemes in a long-term ecological time series

We investigated the impact of agri-environment schemes, including organic farming, on contrasting taxa, when the management of a Southern English farm was changed in the middle of a 12-year time series for an ecosystem-monitoring programme. Plant species richness, including butterfly larval food plants, increased, whilst grassland productivity decreased. There was no overall difference in butterfly or carabid beetle abundance or species richness after the management changes, but some individual species increased significantly. Moth abundance and species richness significantly increased following changes in management. There were significant longer term increases in butterfly and carabid populations from when monitoring started in 1994, which continued through the change in management. This contrasted with national trends over the same period. Warmer summers generally increased invertebrate abundance, but there was no significant trend in weather variables for the years following the change in management. This study corroborates results from short-term comparison of contrasting farms and demonstrates measurable benefits to biodiversity from the implementation of agri-environment schemes, which continue to increase over at least 5 years.

Effects of agri-environment schemes on plant diversity in Bavarian grasslands

Grasslands play an important role in terms of biodiversity, landscape and agriculture. For 25 years, the Bavarian agri-environment scheme (AES) “Agricultural landscape program” (KULAP) has been funding management practices which are intended to conserve cultural landscapes and enhance biodiversity. The aim of this study was to evaluate the Bavarian AES schemes in terms of plant diversity. As AES is divided into many different, clearly divergent schemes, each of these schemes was evaluated separately. The evaluation focussed not only on species richness but also on other diversity parameters such as the presence of rare and common species, the percentage of species group members and the evenness as well as agronomic values such as forage value, percentage of agronomically desirable species or percentage of weeds. In order to achieve this goal, we selected about 950 pairs of grassland plots with and without AES. Differences in species richness between AES and control plots were most significant in the site related AES schemes and organic farming, whereas plots with other farm related AES schemes hardly differed from their controls. Obviously, schemes which really demand management changes on the part of the farmer have a definite effect on plant species diversity in grasslands compared to those which closely resemble conventional management.

Ecological and social challenges to biodiversity conservation on farmland: reconnecting habitats on a landscape scale

1 Landscape level planning is essential if agri-environment schemes (AESs) are to reduce the fragmentation and vulnerability of many mammal populations. But if AESs are to work at the landscape level, then some form of planning and/or targeting of participating farmers may be required. 2 We developed an integrated, landscape-scale project in the Chichester Plains, where we demonstrated that farmer participation in conservation work could be enhanced by offering greater temporal flexibility and bespoke design of projects in synergy with business needs. 3 We adapted an existing model of farmer behaviour, based on farmers' responses to attitudinal questions, and applied this to farmers in two regions of England, the Chichester Plains and the Upper Thames. The model predicted farmer uptake of AESs with 79% accuracy. 4 We postulate that the effectiveness of AESs at the landscape level could be enhanced by using ecological models to identify suitable tracts of habitat, and then by using simple behavioural models to identify the farmers in appropriate areas who are most likely to adopt the conservation schemes. Finally, in order to maximize the likelihood of farmers joining the scheme, we would recommend working with farmers on a one-to-one basis in order to tailor the details of the AES to their particular ecological and business situations.

A Swiss agri-environment scheme effectively enhances species richness for some taxa over time

The effectiveness of agri-environment schemes (AESs) in promoting biodiversity was recently debated. One reason for limited effectiveness of AESs may be their application to small and scattered patches of land. This study presents the evaluation of a scheme adopted by the canton of Aargau, Switzerland, which seems to be unique in its consequent focus on entire farms, aiming at increasing quality and quantity of ecological compensated areas (ECAs). In vascular plants and snails, the species richness increased during a period of 5 years on plots with AES, but not on control plots without AES. In butterflies and birds, no significant differences were found between AES plots and control plots in the change of species richness over time. While butterfly species numbers generally decreased, bird species numbers increased on both AES plots and control plots. It appears that agri-environment schemes can be effective in protecting and promoting biodiversity, but the effect may depend on the group of organisms.

The effect of agri-environment schemes on amphibian diversity and abundance

The Western Peat District of The Netherlands has a characteristic Dutch landscape. It consists mainly of meadows for dairy farming, crisscrossed by a dense network of ditches. Its biodiversity is regarded as of high national and international importance, but is declining as a result of intensive farming. Besides the establishment of reserves, measures to conserve and restore biological diversity have been implemented in the form of agri-environment schemes (AES). The aim of this research is to investigate, first, whether the reserves, assuming these provide source populations, affect the distribution of amphibians and, second, whether AES in the form of nature-friendly ditch bank management benefits amphibian diversity and abundance and enhances distribution across the agricultural landscape. In total, 42 ditches (24 control ditches and 18 AES ditches) were studied. Each ditch was perpendicular to the boundary of one of the reserves and was divided into five ditch sections of 100m spread over 800m, starting in the reserve and proceeding into the farmland. Generalized Linear Modelling was used to quantify the effect of nature-friendly ditch bank management (AES) and distance to the nature reserve on amphibian diversity and abundance. Species richness was high in AES ditches as compared to control ditches. The number of observed green frog (Rana esculenta synkl.) seemed to decline in the control ditches at large distances from the reserve. The other species, although their abundances were higher in the reserves, did not show a declining trend across the farmland. However, all adult amphibians except green frogs together had significantly higher abundances in the AES ditches compared to the control ditches. These results illustrate the potential role of agricultural ditches, combined with reserves and nature-friendly ditch bank management, in the conservation of amphibian populations.