Assessing the Impact of Farm-Management Practices on Ecosystem Services in European Agricultural Systems: A Rapid Evidence Assessment

Kato Van Ruymbeke (), Joana G. Ferreira, Vasileios D. Gkisakis, Jochen Kantelhardt, Gordana Manevska-Tasevska, Peter Matthews, Andreas Niedermayr, Lena Schaller, Katarzyna Bańkowska, Kewan Mertens and Liesbet Vranken
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Kato Van Ruymbeke: Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Katholieke Universiteit (KU) Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
Joana G. Ferreira: Department of Rural Economy, Environment and Society, Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), Edinburgh EH9 3JG, UK
Vasileios D. Gkisakis: Hellenic Agricultural Organization (ELGO-DIMITRA), 11528 Athens, Greece
Jochen Kantelhardt: Institute of Agriculture and Forestry Economics, Universität für Bodenkultur Wien (BOKU), 1180 Wien, Austria
Gordana Manevska-Tasevska: Department of Economics, Agrifood Economic Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), 750 07 Uppsala, Sweden
Peter Matthews: School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Canterbury CT2 7NZ, UK
Andreas Niedermayr: Institute of Agriculture and Forestry Economics, Universität für Bodenkultur Wien (BOKU), 1180 Wien, Austria
Lena Schaller: Institute of Agriculture and Forestry Economics, Universität für Bodenkultur Wien (BOKU), 1180 Wien, Austria
Katarzyna Bańkowska: Department of Economic Modelling, Institute of Rural and Agricultural Development, Polish Academy of Sciences, PL-02-668 Warsaw, Poland
Kewan Mertens: Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Katholieke Universiteit (KU) Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
Liesbet Vranken: Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Katholieke Universiteit (KU) Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 17, 1-24

Abstract: Many farm-management practices focus on maximizing production, while others better reconcile production with the regulation of ecological processes and sociocultural identity through the provisioning of ecosystem services (ESs). Though many studies have evaluated the performance of management practices against ES supply, these studies often focused on only a few practices simultaneously. Here, we incorporate 23 distinct management practices in a rapid evidence assessment to draw more comprehensive conclusions on their supply potential across 14 ESs in European agriculture. The results are visualized using performance indicators that quantify the ES-supply potential of a given management practice. In total, 172 indicators are calculated, among which cover crops are found to have the strongest positive impact on pollination-supply potential, while extensive livestock management is found to have the strongest negative impact for the supply potential for habitat creation/protection. The indicators also provide insight into the state of the peer-reviewed literature. At both the farm and territorial levels, the literature noticeably fails to evaluate cultural services. Further, disparities between the number of indicators composed at the farm and territorial levels indicate a systematic bias in the literature toward the assessment of smaller spatial levels.

Keywords: farm-management practices; ecosystem-services supply potential; performance assessment; performance indicators; rapid evidence assessment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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