Rural development through governance of multifunctional agricultural land-use (MULTAGRI)

• Forschungsstelle: BLW
• Projektnummer: 12.27_2
• Projekttitel Englisch: Rural development through governance of multifunctional agricultural land-use (MULTAGRI)

Schlüsselwörter (Deutsch)

ländliche Entwicklung, Gouvernanz von multifunktionaler landwirtschaftlicher Landnutzung, Landschaftsvielfalt, biologische Vielfalt

Schlüsselwörter (Englisch)

rural development, governance of multifunctional agricultural land-use, landscape and biological diversity

Schlüsselwörter (Französisch)

développement rural, gouvernance de l'utilisation des terres agricole multifonctionnel, diversité biologique et paysagère

Kurzbeschreibung (Englisch)

A key issue for European agricultural policy is to secure sustainable production of food without compromising the role of farmland for conservation of biodiversity and production of public goods (Soussana et al. 2012). Increasing production through agricultural intensification threatens long-term sustainability of agriculture and also compromises biodiversity conservation and production of public goods such as recreation. As an alternative, agricultural production can be enhanced in a sustainable way by promoting supporting and regulating ecosystem services, such as nutrient retention, polli­nation and biological control (Bommarco et al. 2013). However, many of these ecosystem services are generated at spatial and temporal scales beyond individual farms and are therefore affected by the ‘tragedy of ecosystem services’ (Lant et al. 2008). The production of these services therefore requires farmer collaboration (Prager et al. 2012). To achieve this, there is a need to develop European agricultural policies beyond current cross-compliance and agri-environment schemes.

In some cases it may be possible to enhance farmers’ contribution to multifunctional landscapes by identifying and communicating ways in which agricultural production can be brought in line with public goods provision through innovative ecosystem management. In other cases it may be necessary to pay farmers for generating public goods. This second approach would represent a significant change in EU agricultural policy, particularly if large amounts of finance are to be diverted from current income support (Pillar I). To inform European policy development in this area, it is fundamental to understand the consequences of alternative polices on agricultural production and agricultural development on one side and the production of public goods on the other. It is also important that future polices take into account the landscape perspective necessary to benefit services provided by mobile organisms, by accounting for the need of coordination of farmers’ activities.

Methoden (Englisch)

MULTAGRI uses an explicit trans-disciplinary research approach, where researchers from natural and social science jointly study agricultural landscapes as linked socio-ecological systems, in particular focusing on the scale-relationships for both governance and ecological processes underpinning ecosystem services.

Projektziele (Englisch)

MULTAGRI will investigate how governance of agricultural landscapes can promote rural development by harnessing landscape and biological diversity as assets that synergistically promote the production of public goods and sustained intensive agricultural production.

We will do that by:

• Determining empirically the spatial scale affecting a number of key farmland ecosystem services
• Determining synergies and trade-offs between production of public goods and generation of supporting/regulating ecosystem services
• Valuating ecosystem services and public goods produced by typical European farms as a result of ecological intensification
• Assessing how payments for public goods and ecosystem services will affect regional agricultural development
• Assessing the multi-level governance system under which European farmers operate to understand how and why farmers choose to adopt specific management actions at farm and landscape scale
• Evaluating how European agricultural policies can contribute to more sustainable farming strategies with payments for public goods and ecosystem services
• Disseminating project results effectively to both the scientific community and to stakeholders such as policy makers, farmers and the general public.