A farming systems approach to assess synergies and trade-offs among ecosystem services

Abstract

Agricultural landscapes are linked to many functions that benefit human well-being, with a focus on food production. These functions are intrinsically linked with the management choices made by farmers, which are reflected in different farming systems (FS) and their shares in the landscape. However, there is a mismatch between the level where these decisions are taken – farm level – and the landscape level, where many ecosystem processes and interactions take place. The FS approach is one way to bridge the gap between both levels since it enables the joint assessment of multiple management decisions from adjacent farmers using farmlevel data and combining them at the landscape level through clustering techniques. The result is a spatial composition of different FS that enables us to capture landscape gradients and spatially relate them with biodiversity and ecosystem services, thus helping to inform and design policies to affect farming system choice. In Europe, the use of the Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS) database, coupled with the Land Parcel Information System (LPIS), a high-resolution spatially-explicit identification system for agricultural plots, provides a potentially rich source of information on agricultural management (e.g., type of crop, livestock stocking, land use).

In this study, we investigated the spatial associations between ecosystem condition and ecosystem services indicators; and explored relationships between landscape gradients and these indicators using a FS approach based on IACS and LPIS data. Agroforestry systems were shown to be linked to a greater ecosystem condition and ecosystem services delivery. In contrast, LG dominated by very intensive and specialized FS revealed the most pronounced negative effects on ecosystems.