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Grass leys as a multifunctional climate mitigation strategy in intensive cropping systems : Balancing environmental benefits and economic barriers

Winberg, Josefin LU orcid ; Larsson, Cecilia LU orcid ; Stjernman, Martin LU orcid ; Ekroos, Johan LU ; Clough, Yann LU orcid and Smith, Henrik G. LU orcid (2026) In Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 406.
Abstract

Agricultural production systems are under pressure to contribute to climate mitigation, biodiversity conservation, and resilient food production. This calls for multifunctional strategies, potentially including integrated biomass production in intensively farmed landscapes to generate renewable energy and positive environmental impacts as co-benefits. Despite this, broader implications of large-scale bioenergy crop incentives that consider both economic decision-making and system-wide consequences for ecosystem services and biodiversity remain insufficiently investigated. This study assessed the potential of increased grass ley cultivation for bioenergy as a multifunctional strategy in intensive agriculture in southern Sweden. By... (More)

Agricultural production systems are under pressure to contribute to climate mitigation, biodiversity conservation, and resilient food production. This calls for multifunctional strategies, potentially including integrated biomass production in intensively farmed landscapes to generate renewable energy and positive environmental impacts as co-benefits. Despite this, broader implications of large-scale bioenergy crop incentives that consider both economic decision-making and system-wide consequences for ecosystem services and biodiversity remain insufficiently investigated. This study assessed the potential of increased grass ley cultivation for bioenergy as a multifunctional strategy in intensive agriculture in southern Sweden. By integrating agent-based economic modelling with environmental and ecological models, we evaluated how financial incentives that increase energy ley cultivation affected agricultural production, environmental indicators, and farmland bird diversity in a highly productive agricultural landscape. Our results show that increased adoption of energy leys can generate positive impact on the studied environmental indicators and biodiversity, but achieving substantial uptake required considerable financial incentives and reduced regional food production. Moreover, production of energy leys primarily increased at the expense of forage production, contributing to increased imports and a structural shift in livestock production towards fewer cattle and more granivores. Although only minor losses of semi-natural grasslands occurred in our modelled scenarios, a change in the type and amount of grazing cattle may pose a threat to their long-term conservation unless complemented by additional policies. This study offers new insights on bioenergy crops as a multifunctional climate strategy, highlighting potential environmental benefits and implications from large-scale incentivization of leys in high-productive arable landscapes. A better understanding of farm decisions and land use can help avoid unintended policy impacts on food production and biodiversity conservation.

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author
; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Agricultural bioenergy, Farmland biodiversity conservation, Grass ley cultivation, Integrated modelling, Multifunctionality
in
Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment
volume
406
article number
110433
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:105035656912
ISSN
0167-8809
DOI
10.1016/j.agee.2026.110433
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © 2026 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
id
3f68f115-26a2-430b-8999-a9d17af0fa06
date added to LUP
2026-05-28 08:47:31
date last changed
2026-05-28 09:31:55
@article{3f68f115-26a2-430b-8999-a9d17af0fa06,
  abstract     = {{<p>Agricultural production systems are under pressure to contribute to climate mitigation, biodiversity conservation, and resilient food production. This calls for multifunctional strategies, potentially including integrated biomass production in intensively farmed landscapes to generate renewable energy and positive environmental impacts as co-benefits. Despite this, broader implications of large-scale bioenergy crop incentives that consider both economic decision-making and system-wide consequences for ecosystem services and biodiversity remain insufficiently investigated. This study assessed the potential of increased grass ley cultivation for bioenergy as a multifunctional strategy in intensive agriculture in southern Sweden. By integrating agent-based economic modelling with environmental and ecological models, we evaluated how financial incentives that increase energy ley cultivation affected agricultural production, environmental indicators, and farmland bird diversity in a highly productive agricultural landscape. Our results show that increased adoption of energy leys can generate positive impact on the studied environmental indicators and biodiversity, but achieving substantial uptake required considerable financial incentives and reduced regional food production. Moreover, production of energy leys primarily increased at the expense of forage production, contributing to increased imports and a structural shift in livestock production towards fewer cattle and more granivores. Although only minor losses of semi-natural grasslands occurred in our modelled scenarios, a change in the type and amount of grazing cattle may pose a threat to their long-term conservation unless complemented by additional policies. This study offers new insights on bioenergy crops as a multifunctional climate strategy, highlighting potential environmental benefits and implications from large-scale incentivization of leys in high-productive arable landscapes. A better understanding of farm decisions and land use can help avoid unintended policy impacts on food production and biodiversity conservation.</p>}},
  author       = {{Winberg, Josefin and Larsson, Cecilia and Stjernman, Martin and Ekroos, Johan and Clough, Yann and Smith, Henrik G.}},
  issn         = {{0167-8809}},
  keywords     = {{Agricultural bioenergy; Farmland biodiversity conservation; Grass ley cultivation; Integrated modelling; Multifunctionality}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{08}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment}},
  title        = {{Grass leys as a multifunctional climate mitigation strategy in intensive cropping systems : Balancing environmental benefits and economic barriers}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2026.110433}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.agee.2026.110433}},
  volume       = {{406}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}