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Roadmap for valuing soil ecosystem services to inform multi-level decision-making in agriculture

Brady, Mark V. LU orcid ; Hristov, Jordan LU ; Wilhelmsson, Fredrik LU and Hedlund, Katarina LU orcid (2019) In Sustainability (Switzerland) 11(19).
Abstract

Agricultural soils contribute to human welfare through their generation of manifold ecosystem services such as food security, water quality and climate regulation, but these are degraded by common farming practices. We have developed a roadmap for evaluating the contribution of both private- and public-good ecosystem services generated by agricultural soils to societal welfare. The approach considers the needs of decision-makers at different levels, from farmers to policy-makers. This we achieve through combining production functions-to quantify the impacts of alternative management practices on agricultural productivity and soil ecosystem services-with non-market valuation of changes in public-good ecosystem services and benefit-cost... (More)

Agricultural soils contribute to human welfare through their generation of manifold ecosystem services such as food security, water quality and climate regulation, but these are degraded by common farming practices. We have developed a roadmap for evaluating the contribution of both private- and public-good ecosystem services generated by agricultural soils to societal welfare. The approach considers the needs of decision-makers at different levels, from farmers to policy-makers. This we achieve through combining production functions-to quantify the impacts of alternative management practices on agricultural productivity and soil ecosystem services-with non-market valuation of changes in public-good ecosystem services and benefit-cost analysis. The results show that the net present value to society of implementing soil-friendly measures are substantial, but negative for farmers in our study region. Although we apply our roadmap to an intensive farming region in Sweden, we believe our results have broad applicability, because farmers do not usually account for the value of public-good ecosystem services. We therefore conclude that market outcomes are not likely to be generating optimal levels of soil ecosystem services from society's perspective. Innovative governance institutions are needed to resolve this market failure to safeguard the welfare of future generations.

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author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Benefit-cost analysis, Climate change, Food security, Natural capital, Nutrient retention, Policy, Soil carbon, Valuation
in
Sustainability (Switzerland)
volume
11
issue
19
article number
5285
pages
20 pages
publisher
MDPI AG
external identifiers
  • scopus:85073625523
ISSN
2071-1050
DOI
10.3390/su11195285
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
3c0cdbce-2e26-4c35-bcc8-9f91e635aee4
date added to LUP
2019-10-29 15:38:27
date last changed
2024-05-15 00:49:50
@article{3c0cdbce-2e26-4c35-bcc8-9f91e635aee4,
  abstract     = {{<p>Agricultural soils contribute to human welfare through their generation of manifold ecosystem services such as food security, water quality and climate regulation, but these are degraded by common farming practices. We have developed a roadmap for evaluating the contribution of both private- and public-good ecosystem services generated by agricultural soils to societal welfare. The approach considers the needs of decision-makers at different levels, from farmers to policy-makers. This we achieve through combining production functions-to quantify the impacts of alternative management practices on agricultural productivity and soil ecosystem services-with non-market valuation of changes in public-good ecosystem services and benefit-cost analysis. The results show that the net present value to society of implementing soil-friendly measures are substantial, but negative for farmers in our study region. Although we apply our roadmap to an intensive farming region in Sweden, we believe our results have broad applicability, because farmers do not usually account for the value of public-good ecosystem services. We therefore conclude that market outcomes are not likely to be generating optimal levels of soil ecosystem services from society's perspective. Innovative governance institutions are needed to resolve this market failure to safeguard the welfare of future generations.</p>}},
  author       = {{Brady, Mark V. and Hristov, Jordan and Wilhelmsson, Fredrik and Hedlund, Katarina}},
  issn         = {{2071-1050}},
  keywords     = {{Benefit-cost analysis; Climate change; Food security; Natural capital; Nutrient retention; Policy; Soil carbon; Valuation}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{10}},
  number       = {{19}},
  publisher    = {{MDPI AG}},
  series       = {{Sustainability (Switzerland)}},
  title        = {{Roadmap for valuing soil ecosystem services to inform multi-level decision-making in agriculture}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su11195285}},
  doi          = {{10.3390/su11195285}},
  volume       = {{11}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}