MOSAICA: A multi-scale bioeconomic model for the design and ex ante assessment of cropping system mosaics

Abstract

To understand the effects of policy changes on organisations and compositions of cropping systems at regional scale and their contribution to the sustainable development of regions, we built a regional, spatially explicit, multi-scale, bioeconomic model called MOSAICA. This model explicitly incorporates information at field, farm, sub-regional and regional scale to provide cropping system mosaics by way of regional optimisation of the sum of individual farmer's utilities under field, farm and territory biophysical and socioeconomic constraints. Its generic structure means it can be used in different regions with geographic information on the location of the field and farm, data on cropping system performance, on location factors and on policy schemes. We used the model in Guadeloupe to test the impact of three scenarios of change on the agricultural subsidy regimes. The model produced three cropping system mosaics which reduced the area under banana and sugarcane, turned specialized banana and sugarcane farming systems into breeding systems while improving the overall contribution of agriculture to sustainable development. The spatially explicit results of changes in ecosystem services, and in farming systems with MOSAICA make it an appropriate decision-aid tool for regional planning. Highlights • We built a multi-scale spatially explicit regional bioeconomic model called MOSAICA • MOSAICA combines field, farm, and regional data to produce cropping system mosaics • MOSAICA models impacts of policy and novel scenarios on cropping systems mosaics • Spatially explicit indicators can help decision-makers to assess different targeted policies • MOSAICA can help explore scenarios to improve sustainable development of regions

Spatial modelling of agro-ecosystem dynamics across scales: A case in the cotton region of West-Burkina Faso

“…Previous studies have linked field level to farm level (Janssen and Van Ittersum, 2007) and further aggregated results to a regional level (Van Ittersum et al, 2008); or farm level to regional level (Faivre et al, 2004;Leenhardt et al, 2010;Veldkamp et al, 2001;Yun, 2003); and more recently, other studies linked plot level (only crop rotation), farm level, sub-regional and regional level Chopin et al, 2015;Houet et al, 2014). The innovative scale transitions implemented in our method enable models to link two fundamental aspects of an agro-ecosystem: land production that concerns the biological development of vegetation, and land use and land cover.…”

Designing scenarios for upscaling climate-smart agriculture on a small tropical island

“…MOSAICA simulates mosaics of cropping systems in different agricultural and policy contexts (Chopin et al, 2015b). The model accounts for constraints and opportunities in the field (e.g., soil types and climate), farm (e.g., availability of production factors), and regional levels (e.g., market size).…”

Cultivating biomass locally or importing it? LCA of biomass provision scenarios for cleaner electricity production in a small tropical island

“…We modeled the production of energy cane in Guadeloupe with the MOSAICA model that simulates land use change scenario [56]. MOSAICA is a bio-economic model that simulates the mosaics of cropping systems at the landscape scale under different agricultural and policy contexts.…”