INDIRECT INDICATORS OF BIODIVERSITY OF DIFFERENT FARMING

ECONOMICS MODELS

4.5.1. TOWARDS INDICATORS

The literature review assessed the relevant areas of economic literature related to the economic characterisation of organic and low input systems (structural data, income, etc.), as well as those found in section 6.2. This includes statistical information and studies about comparative characteristics of organic, low input and conventional systems.

There are a number of studies concerning performances of organic systems. It led to the selection of candidate indicators (TABLE 4.4). These indicators have been selected because they can potentially be related to direct measurments of biodiversity (mainly species diversity, see TABLE 4.1) and/or because they are in use by existing European statistical surveys. They will be complemented by a comprehensive set of farm management parameters required to characterise farm management types and intensity.

TABLE 4.4. SUMMARY TABLE OF CANDIDATE INDICATORS PLUS

SEVENTH FRAMEWORK PROGRAMME THEME KBBE-2008-1-2-01

Development of appropriate indicators of the relationship between organic/low-input farming and biodiversity

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support statistics full dataset. Covers

around 60,000 Mixed farming methods FADN indicates

livestock and

FADN/FSS Farm typology Farm type will indicate likely level

SEVENTH FRAMEWORK PROGRAMME THEME KBBE-2008-1-2-01

Development of appropriate indicators of the relationship between organic/low-input farming and biodiversity

www.biobio-indicator.org combined with

organic status, LFA status.

than an conventional upland livestock farm

Crop protection use per ha FADN crop protection costs data per ha.

Intensity vales vary by farm type

Andersen (2007) SEAMLESS 6^th Framework EU program

4.5.2. TEXT EXPLANATION OF INDICATOR SELECTION CRITERIA AND CHOICES

The work of the EEA in developing the IRENA indicators is a good foundation for the selection of indicators for BioBio. Their indicator selection was based upon data availability and data quality for the EU-15 countries. As the EU statistics improve for EU-25 and now EU-27 data such as FADN and FSS can potentially be used to provide an indication of biodiversity across the whole EU at regional level.

IRENA indicator 7/EEA core set of indicators CSI 026; FADN/FSS organic land proportion (i.e., the land area for each holding that is organic or in-conversion, as a percentage of total Utilizable Agricultural Area, UAA) provides a simple indication of farming methods that seek to minimise damage to the environment. The measure can be applied to the FADN EU-25/27 dataset to indicate regional, national and EU levels of

“more environmentally friendly” farming methods across Europe.

IRENA indicator 2: Area under agri-environment support will indicate the amount of land per EU region or country that is being paid additional funding for protection or enhancement of the environment. The level of funding will vary, and protection given will vary by country and scheme, but as a general indicator identifies reduced farming intensity and therefore probably higher biodiversity. Number of different crops grown per holding will tend to show an increasing level of biodiversity, the more different crops grown, the higher the biodiversity. Organic farming, particularly in lowland areas encourages this practise, and in particular a mixture of grasslands, cereals and legumes or horticulture is likely to provide the highest levels of biodiversity.

Mixed farming can be identified from FADN, and it is a measure complementary with the number of crops. Mixed livestock and arable farming, with mixtures of crops and livestock species will give the highest potential biodiversity due to variances in plant growth patterns, soil cover, as well as livestock grazing patterns and behaviour. Livestock stocking rate (GLU ha^-1) gives an indication of intensity of livestock production.

Intensively farmed livestock areas will tend to have higher run-off and potential for other negative effects such as poaching of ground, and are likely to rely on higher input levels to maintain production.

IRENA indicator 15: Intensification/extensification is a simple measure of farming intensity, calculated as total input costs per ha. EEA has developed criteria, summarised in Section 3.3.2 for categorizing farms as low, medium or high intensity.

SEVENTH FRAMEWORK PROGRAMME THEME KBBE-2008-1-2-01

Development of appropriate indicators of the relationship between organic/low-input farming and biodiversity

www.biobio-indicator.org

5. DIRECT INDICATORS OF BIODIVERSITY

In a more restrictive sense, “direct indicators” are based on the observation, counts or estimates of the occurrence and/or the abundance of varieties, races, genes, species, taxa and ecosystems and aim to directly evaluate biodiversity. These indicators may be simple (e.g., a species) or complex (e.g., a guild or community) or composite (e.g., a diversity index such as the Shannon index). Within the framework given in section 3.1 the choice of indicators for biodiversity depends primarily on the objects of the study (e.g., Noss, 1990; Huston, 1994) and secondly on whether knowledge is available of the properties of the proposed species and habitats. In the context of organic and low input farming, a criteria matrix can be prepared that takes into account both the objects of the study, for example the linking of the species to agricultural activity, their occurrence and their significance in the agricultural landscapes, and general criteria such as their distribution, their habitats and their place in the food chain (Pearson, 1995; Stork, 1995). The indicators must make it possible to estimate the impact of agricultural activity at plot and farm level, for biodiversity in the agricultural landscape is influenced by local (e.g., crop management method) and landscape factors (e.g., number of semi-natural habitats, (Burel, 1995; Duelli, 1997; Jeanneret, 2003).

5.1. GENETIC DIVERSITY OF CROP AND FORAGE PLANT SPECIES