Previous research has suggested that consumers are becoming increasingly concerned by the effects of conventional agricultural food production practices on human health and environmental wellbeing. This study sought to understand whether environmentally sustainable practices in the vineyard would equate to advantages in the wine marketplace.Structured questionnaires were used to ascertain the views of wine consumers in Christchurch, New Zealand. The findings of this study indicate that consumers have a strong demand for wine which is produced using "green" production practices. Consumers believe that the quality of sustainable wine will be equal to or better than conventionally produced wine, and they are prepared to pay a higher price for this wine.
In the current work, a novel, experimental 'bottom-up' approach is used to quantify the economic value of ecosystem services (ES) associated with highly modified arable landscapes in Canterbury, New Zealand. First, the role of land management practices in the maintenance and enhancement of ES in agricultural land was investigated by quantifying the economic value of ES at the field level under organic and conventional arable systems. This quantification was based on an experimental approach in contrast with the earlier value transfer methods. conventional farming shifted to organic practices, the total economic value of ES would be US $192 million and US $166 million annually for organic and conventional arable area, respectively. In this case, the non-market value of ES for the organic area was US $65 million and that of conventional area was US $35 million annually. This study demonstrated that arable farming provides a range of ES which can be measured using field experiments based on ecological principles by incorporating a 'bottom-up'approach. The work also showed that conventional New Zealand arable farming 3 practices can severely reduce the financial contribution of some of these services in agriculture whereas organic agriculture practices enhance their economic value.
Improving the conditions for natural enemies through conservation biological control (CBC) in agricultural landscapes has the potential to be economically beneficial, but economic assessments of CBC programs are rarely conducted. In this paper, we discuss how to complete an economic assessment of CBC. We also ask what the research and development (R&D) requirements are for CBC and the likelihood of that R&D being funded. We examine the factors that may influence uptake of CBC amongst farmers and consider what policies or strategies might be introduced to increase the incentive to adopt CBC. Relative advantage of CBC over other production systems, trialability (ease of informal field experimentation and learning before adoption) of CBC and the social dynamics of CBC development and extension are key factors influencing adoption. The most important social factors are the social learning processes to support agroecological practices, and the configuration of economic incentives to reward farmers for undertaking the transition to conservation biological control. By itself, neither social pressure to reduce insecticide use nor sophisticated scientific research guarantees expanded implementation of CBC.
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