Invertebrates perform many vital functions in agricultural production, but many taxa are in decline, including pest natural enemies. Action is needed to increase their abundance if more sustainable agricultural systems are to be achieved. Conservation biological control (CBC) is a key component of integrated pest management yet has failed to be widely adopted in mainstream agriculture. Approaches to improving conservation biological control have been largely ad hoc. Two approaches are described to improve this process, one based upon pest natural enemy ecology and resource provision while the other focusses on the ecosystem service delivery using the QuESSA (Quantification of Ecological Services for Sustainable Agriculture) project as an example. In this project, a predictive scoring system was developed to show the potential of five seminatural habitat categories to provide biological control, from which predictive maps were generated for Europe. Actual biological control was measured in a series of case studies using sentinel systems (insect or seed prey), trade-offs between ecosystem services were explored, and heatmaps of biological control were generated. The overall conclusion from the QuESSA project was that results were context specific, indicating that more targeted approaches to CBC are needed. This may include designing new habitats or modifying existing habitats to support the types of natural enemies required for specific crops or pests.
Background: This systematic map protocol responds to an urgent policy need to evaluate key environmental benefits of new compulsory greening measures in the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), with the aim of building a policy better linked to environmental performance. The systematic map will focus on Ecological Focus Areas (EFAs), in which larger arable farmers must dedicate 5% of their arable land to ecologically beneficial habitats, landscape features and land uses. The European Commission's Joint Research Centre has used a software tool called the 'EFA calculator' to inform the European Commission about environmental benefits of EFA implementation. However, there are gaps in the EFA calculator's coverage of ecosystem services, especially 'global climate regulation' , and an opportunity to use systematic mapping methods to enhance its capture of evidence, in advance of forthcoming CAP reforms. We describe a method for assembling a database of relevant, peer-reviewed research conducted in all agricultural landscapes in Europe and neighbouring countries with similar biogeography, addressing the primary question: what are the impacts of selected EFA features in agricultural land on two policy-relevant ecosystem service outcomes-global climate regulation and pollination? The method is streamlined to allow results in good time for the current, time-limited opportunity to influence reforms of the CAP greening measures at European and Member State level. Methods: We will search four bibliographic databases in English, using a predefined and tested search string that focuses on a subset of EFA options and ecosystem service outcomes. The options and outcomes are selected as those with particular policy relevance and traction. Only articles in English will be included. We will screen search results at title, abstract and full text levels, recording the number of studies deemed non-relevant (with reasons at full text). A systematic map database that displays the meta-data (i.e. descriptive summary information about settings and methods) of relevant studies will be produced following full text assessment. The systematic map database will be published as a MS-Excel database. The nature and extent of the evidence base will be discussed, and the applicability of methods to convert the available evidence into EFA calculator scores will be assessed.
Arable crops are typically grown in annual rotations. Diverse rotations can support ecosystem services, provide economic resilience and support adaptation to climate change. Our aim was to assess farmers' attitudes to planning and diversifying crop rotations, focusing on their responses in the face of contrasting climate viewpoints. We interviewed 75 farmers from four regions along a latitudinal gradient from the south of the UK to the south of France. We used a semi-structured questionnaire with face-to-face interviews and asked farmers to respond to two narrative viewpoints of climate change impacts: one viewpoint focused on opportunities, the other on constraints. We found in all four regions that farmers' use rotations, and the crops within rotations, to achieve their main objectives of financial stability and improved soil health. Most farmers (79-100% depending on region) said they had experienced climate change, and many (54-83%) had already implemented changes in their farming practices. We did not find a difference in these results based on latitude. However, farmers' self-reported outlook was mostly optimistic in southern UK and become progressively more pessimistic further south. Overall, most farmers predicted that they would diversify and lengthen rotations in response to climate change. However, when presented with a viewpoint of climate change impacts focusing on opportunities, more farmers were likely to diversify and lengthen, and fewer were likely to shorten rotations, compared to a viewpoint presenting constraints from these impacts. Crucially, here we show that the presentation of climate change affects the ways in which farmers predict how they will respond to climate change. Diversified rotations would align with multiple other economic and environmental benefits. Therefore, it is essential to consider the way in which climate change impacts are communicated, and the effect on farmers' behavior, when designing measures to support environmentally-sustainable adaptation to climate change.
Pour mettre en œuvre la mesure 24 du Plan Biodiversité, l’Agence de l’Eau Adour Garonne a expérimenté le dispositif « Paiements pour Services Environnementaux » (PSE) dès 2019 en utilisant le régime « de minimis » et en 2020 dans le cadre de la notification nationale obtenue auprès de la Commission européenne par l’Etat français. Ce dispositif sera poursuivi en 2021 et 2022. Cet article présente le dispositif mis en œuvre sur 30 territoires du bassin Adour-Garonne et les premiers résultats obtenus. Il est basé sur un système à points obtenus à partir de trois indicateurs : « La rotation longue et couverture du sol », « l’extensification des pratiques agricoles » au travers du niveau d’utilisation de l’azote chimique sur les surfaces fourragères et des produits phytosanitaires sur les cultures, et « la présence d’infrastructures agroécologiques (IAE) ». La rémunération est basée sur des conditions d’éligibilité, le score obtenu, une valeur du point de 5€, une note minimale de 16 points et un plafond d’aide. 382 PSE ont été signés en 2019 et 856 en 2020. Le montant moyen du PSE (y compris les GAEC) a été de 6250 € en 2019 et 7583 € en 2020. Les PSE de 2020 ont permis notamment de protéger et de valoriser 2500 ha de prairies humides, 4300 km de haies et 59 étangs anciens. Aucune évaluation ni de ce dispositif Adour-Garonne, ni du dispositif national n’a été effectuée à ce jour. Cependant il est apparu intéressant de présenter ces premiers résultats qui permettent d’alimenter le débat actuel sur les écorégimes de la future PAC en cours de discussion. Cet article présentera successivement le cadre du dispositif expérimental français, sa déclinaison dans le bassin Adour-Garonne et les premiers résultats obtenus après deux ans de mise en œuvre.
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