The Landscape Ecological Quality of Two Different Farm Management Models: Polyculture Agroforestry vs. Conventional

Gemma Chiaffarelli (), Nicolò Sgalippa and Ilda Vagge
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Gemma Chiaffarelli: Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Milan, Via Celoria 2, 0133 Milan, Italy
Nicolò Sgalippa: Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Milan, Via Celoria 2, 0133 Milan, Italy
Ilda Vagge: Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Milan, Via Celoria 2, 0133 Milan, Italy

Land, 2024, vol. 13, issue 10, 1-29

Abstract: Low-intensity, diversified agricultural land use is needed to counteract the current decline in agrobiodiversity. Landscape ecology tools can support agrobiodiversity assessment efforts by investigating biodiversity-related ecological functions (pattern–process paradigm). In this study, we test a toolkit of landscape ecology analyses to compare different farm management models: polyculture agroforestry (POLY) vs. conventional monoculture crop management (CV). Farm-scale analyses are applied on temperate alluvial sites (Po Plain, Northern Italy), as part of a broader multi-scale analytical approach. We analyze the landscape ecological quality through landscape matrix composition, patch shape complexity, diversity, metastability, and connectivity indices. We assess farm differences through multivariate analyses and t -tests and test a farm classification tool, namely, a scoring system based on the relative contributions of POLY farms, considering their deviation from a local CV baseline. The results showed a separate ecological behavior of the two models. The POLY model showed better performance, with significant positive contributions to the forest and semi-natural component equipment and diversity; agricultural component diversity, metastability; total farm diversity, metastability, connectivity, and circuitry. A reference matrix for the ecological interpretation of the results is provided. Farm classification provides a quick synthesis of such contributions, facilitating farm comparisons. The methodology has a low cost and quickly provides information on ongoing ecological processes resulting from specific farm management practices; it is intended to complement field-scale assessments and could help to meet the need for a partially outcome-based assessment of good farm practice.

Keywords: agrobiodiversity; agroforestry; landscape ecology; farm scale; Northern Italy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
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