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Ecological-economic modelling to compare the impact of organic and conventional farming on endangered grassland bird and butterfly species

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  • Gerling, Charlotte
  • Sturm, Astrid
  • Wätzold, Frank

Abstract

We applied an ecological-economic modelling procedure to analyse the impact of organic versus conventional management of meadows on endangered bird and butterfly species in Saxony, Germany. Applying the modelling procedure enables us to focus on two aspects that hitherto have been neglected in analysing the impact of organic farming on biodiversity. (1) Possible differences in the timing of land use between organic and conventional farming, and (2) differences in the uptake of agri-environment schemes (AES) by organic and conventional farmers. We found that for the species considered the difference in the impact of conventional and organic farming is minor, because in our case study region the timing of land use on most areas with organic farming is very similar to the timing on areas with conventional farming. We also found that in comparison with conventional farmers, organic farmers generally face lower opportunity costs when implementing AES measures. Additionally, organic farmers are offered lower payments for such measures. These factors influence organic farmers' decisions to take part in AES, which in turn has an important impact on biodiversity conservation. In order to better conserve species it may be necessary to adapt the payment structure of AES with respect to organic farming.

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  • Gerling, Charlotte & Sturm, Astrid & Wätzold, Frank, 2019. "Ecological-economic modelling to compare the impact of organic and conventional farming on endangered grassland bird and butterfly species," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 424-434.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:agisys:v:173:y:2019:i:c:p:424-434
    DOI: 10.1016/j.agsy.2019.02.016
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Sturm, Astrid & Drechsler, Martin & Johst, Karin & Mewes, Melanie & Wätzold, Frank, 2018. "DSS-Ecopay – A decision support software for designing ecologically effective and cost-effective agri-environment schemes to conserve endangered grassland biodiversity," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 113-116.
    2. Mewes, Melanie & Drechsler, Martin & Johst, Karin & Sturm, Astrid & Wätzold, Frank, 2015. "A systematic approach for assessing spatially and temporally differentiated opportunity costs of biodiversity conservation measures in grasslands," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 76-88.
    3. Johst, Karin & Drechsler, Martin & Watzold, Frank, 2002. "An ecological-economic modelling procedure to design compensation payments for the efficient spatio-temporal allocation of species protection measures," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 37-49, April.
    4. Frank Wätzold & Martin Drechsler & Karin Johst & Melanie Mewes & Astrid Sturm, 2016. "A Novel, Spatiotemporally Explicit Ecological-economic Modeling Procedure for the Design of Cost-effective Agri-environment Schemes to Conserve Biodiversity," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 98(2), pages 489-512.
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    Cited by:

    1. Timothy C. Durham & Tamás Mizik, 2021. "Comparative Economics of Conventional, Organic, and Alternative Agricultural Production Systems," Economies, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-22, April.
    2. Gerling, Charlotte & Strum, Astrid & Wätzold, Frank, 2020. "The impact of climate change on the profit-maximising timing of grassland use and conservation costs," MPRA Paper 102945, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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