Mitigating Farmland Biodiversity Loss: A Bio-Economic Model of Land Consolidation and Pesticide Use

Biodiversity loss driven by agricultural intensification is a pressing global issue, with significant implications for ecosystem stability and human well-being. We design an integrated bio-economic agent-based model, informed by historical data from the French agricultural sector, to project future biodiversity trends and evaluate policy interventions. Our model predicts further biodiversity decline under a business-as-usual scenario, primarily due to intensified land consolidation. We evaluate two policy options: reducing pesticide use and subsidizing small farmers. While pesticide reduction rapidly benefits biodiversity in the beginning, it eventually leads to increased land consolidation and further biodiversity loss. In contrast, subsidizing small farmers by reallocating a small fraction of existing subsidies, stabilizes farm sizes and enhances biodiversity in the long run. The most effective strategy results from combining both policies, leveraging pesticide reduction alongside targeted subsidies to balance economic pressures and consistently improve biodiversity.