Enhancing biodiversity in French crop production systems : Cost-benefits analysis on five measures from the Ecostack project

Abstract

A decrease of biodiversity in agricultural landscapes has been observed in the last decades. Stacking biodiversity around and inside fields would provide a method to counterbalance this effect. This study, conducted within the Ecostack project, aims to determine the costs and benefits of several measures enhancing biodiversity. In the five main measures studied there are 3 off-crop measures: hedges, flowering strips, grassy margins; and 2 in-crop measures: cultivar mixture and direct sowing. Data concerning the costs and benefits of the measures were gathered from interviews with farmers from the Rhone and Isère counties. Other stakeholders such as the Hunting Federation and the Chamber of Agriculture, which help farmers to implement some of these measures, were also interviewed to collect more quantitative data. The opinions of farmers for implementing or not the measures were also collected. Viability of measures is difficult to estimate. Hedges and grassy margins are frequently implemented due to the current legislation. In-crop practices are done by almost half of the farmers and flowering strips are set aside by the farmers. Farmers were not really interested in implementing more of these measures mostly because of economic factors. The important presence of off-crop practices is also a hindering force for farmers. Further research on benefits would be needed to complete the costs-benefits analysis.