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Effects of farm type on food production, landscape openness, grassland biodiversity, and greenhouse gas emissions in mixed agricultural-forestry regions

Boke Olén, Niklas LU ; Roger, Fabian LU ; Brady, Mark V. LU orcid ; Larsson, Cecilia LU orcid ; Andersson, Georg K.S. LU orcid ; Ekroos, Johan LU ; Caplat, Paul LU ; Smith, Henrik G. LU ; Dänhardt, Juliana LU and Clough, Yann LU (2021) In Agricultural Systems 189.
Abstract

Context: The global demand for food is expected to continue increasing for decades, which may drive both agricultural expansion and intensification. The associated environmental impacts are potentially considerable but will depend on how the agricultural sector develops. Currently, there are contrasting regional developments in agriculture; expansion and/or intensification in some regions and abandonment in others, as well as changes in the type of farming. However, the environmental consequences of changes in farm type are not well understood. Objective: We have evaluated the impacts of farm type on food production and three key environmental variables—landscape openness, grassland biodiversity and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions—in... (More)

Context: The global demand for food is expected to continue increasing for decades, which may drive both agricultural expansion and intensification. The associated environmental impacts are potentially considerable but will depend on how the agricultural sector develops. Currently, there are contrasting regional developments in agriculture; expansion and/or intensification in some regions and abandonment in others, as well as changes in the type of farming. However, the environmental consequences of changes in farm type are not well understood. Objective: We have evaluated the impacts of farm type on food production and three key environmental variables—landscape openness, grassland biodiversity and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions—in three marginal agricultural regions in Sweden. Methods: We do this by first dividing the population of farms in each region into types, based on their land-use and livestock holdings using an innovative clustering method. Thereafter we analysed changes in production activities for farm types over time and evaluated the environmental and food-production impacts, where landscape openness is quantified using a novel indicator. Results and conclusion: Our results show that there is not one single farm type that would simultaneously maximize food production, grassland biodiversity, and landscape openness, whilst minimizing GHG emissions. However, there exists considerable potential to manage the trade-offs between food production and these environmental variables. For example, by reducing land use for dairying and instead increasing both cropping for food production and extensive livestock grazing to maintain landscape openness and biodiversity-rich semi-natural pastures, it would keep food production at similar levels. Significance: Our farm typology allows us to assess the multifunctionality of farming, by relating contrasting production activities to multiple ecosystem services, grassland biodiversity and GHG emissions for informing policy towards more sustainable agriculture. We have demonstrated this with examples under Swedish conditions, but it should to a large extent also be applicable for other countries.

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author
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Agriculture, Biodiversity, Ecosystem services, Farm typology, Food production, Landscape openness
in
Agricultural Systems
volume
189
article number
103071
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:85100052121
ISSN
0308-521X
DOI
10.1016/j.agsy.2021.103071
project
Farm2Forest: Effects of agricultural policy reform on biodiversity and ecosystem services in mixed farming-forestry landscapes.
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
d608515c-09b0-4f8e-bfab-06200ccd9796
date added to LUP
2021-02-05 11:40:13
date last changed
2022-10-31 20:06:57
@article{d608515c-09b0-4f8e-bfab-06200ccd9796,
  abstract     = {{<p>Context: The global demand for food is expected to continue increasing for decades, which may drive both agricultural expansion and intensification. The associated environmental impacts are potentially considerable but will depend on how the agricultural sector develops. Currently, there are contrasting regional developments in agriculture; expansion and/or intensification in some regions and abandonment in others, as well as changes in the type of farming. However, the environmental consequences of changes in farm type are not well understood. Objective: We have evaluated the impacts of farm type on food production and three key environmental variables—landscape openness, grassland biodiversity and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions—in three marginal agricultural regions in Sweden. Methods: We do this by first dividing the population of farms in each region into types, based on their land-use and livestock holdings using an innovative clustering method. Thereafter we analysed changes in production activities for farm types over time and evaluated the environmental and food-production impacts, where landscape openness is quantified using a novel indicator. Results and conclusion: Our results show that there is not one single farm type that would simultaneously maximize food production, grassland biodiversity, and landscape openness, whilst minimizing GHG emissions. However, there exists considerable potential to manage the trade-offs between food production and these environmental variables. For example, by reducing land use for dairying and instead increasing both cropping for food production and extensive livestock grazing to maintain landscape openness and biodiversity-rich semi-natural pastures, it would keep food production at similar levels. Significance: Our farm typology allows us to assess the multifunctionality of farming, by relating contrasting production activities to multiple ecosystem services, grassland biodiversity and GHG emissions for informing policy towards more sustainable agriculture. We have demonstrated this with examples under Swedish conditions, but it should to a large extent also be applicable for other countries.</p>}},
  author       = {{Boke Olén, Niklas and Roger, Fabian and Brady, Mark V. and Larsson, Cecilia and Andersson, Georg K.S. and Ekroos, Johan and Caplat, Paul and Smith, Henrik G. and Dänhardt, Juliana and Clough, Yann}},
  issn         = {{0308-521X}},
  keywords     = {{Agriculture; Biodiversity; Ecosystem services; Farm typology; Food production; Landscape openness}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Agricultural Systems}},
  title        = {{Effects of farm type on food production, landscape openness, grassland biodiversity, and greenhouse gas emissions in mixed agricultural-forestry regions}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2021.103071}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.agsy.2021.103071}},
  volume       = {{189}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}