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Today, one of the biggest challenges facing the UK is the new target set when the nation became first major economy to pass net zero emissions law, which requires the country to bring all greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050. On the one hand, there are already a few ideas about how we should farm and use land in order to deliver such a target. On the other hand, the government has a new strategy which is to pay farmers for providing public goods, especially for climate change mitigation through the reduction and storage of greenhouse gas emissions. The most critical task is to find a solution to such a question as "How should public spending on farm public goods be allocated?" In this paper, we argue that formulating an effective subsidy scheme cannot focus on the public need alone, but should also take into consideration what farmers must endure and the opportunities they must forgo. This requires a good understanding about the generating process behind the spatial heterogeneity of agricultural land-use at a _ne spatial scale. We aim to provide government and its agents with decision support for policy making post-Brexit in two directions. Firstly, we employ detailed spatial resolution data and establish a new statistical tool that can help: (i) to effectively capture the spatial heterogeneity of agricultural land-use, (ii) to disentangle the contributions of terrain formulations, environmental characteristics, climatic conditions, policies, and other legacy and agglomeration effects in the generating process of the land-use patterns, and (iii) accurately gauge their relative importance across different regions of GB for more targeted subsidies schemes. Secondly, we employ our new method and provide policy advice and evaluation.

Microplastic pollution has recently gained the attention of the public media, politics and research. Microplastics (i.e., plastic particles less than 5mm in size) have been identified as a global environmental threat for terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and human health. Agriculture is assumed to be both victim and polluter of microplastic pollution. Agricultural soils receive microplastic immissions from tire wear and fragmented macroplastic that enters the environment through littering. Furthermore, farmers who fertilize their arable land with sewage sludge and compost unintentionally apply the microplastic particles contained in these biosolids. On the other hand, agricultural soils may emit microplastics into aquatic environment. Because of this ambivalent position as both victim and polluter, the information on microplastic pollution is of current interest for agricultural production and might become a relevant topic for agro-environmental policies in the future. Our research aims to quantify the microplastic immissions into agricultural soils and emissions from agricultural soils into aquatic systems. We use different analysis approaches and interdisciplinary modelling to address these aims for two case studies in Germany. Because research in microplastics is a relatively new concern, we combine different methodological approaches in a complementary way.

The thesis aims to study both theoretically and empirically the management of ecosystem services by the farmers from the perspective of the economic theory. The concept of ecosystem services is an interdisciplinary concept that refers to "the services that nature offers to human for free". The economic literature has mainly investigated this concept in measuring the value of these services, with few attention to the behavior of agents modifying these services. The thesis is divided into two parts. In the first part, I study both the supply and the demand for the productive ecosystem services (for example, pollination or biological control) by analyzing the behavior of farmers, considered as potential agroecosystem managers. Inspired by the literature on landscape ecology, I introduce biodiversity indicators that are function of land-use into existing models from agricultural production economics literature. This reunion provides a unified theoretical model for analyzing farmers' choices regarding the management of productive ecosystem services. The empirical works consists in estimating all or parts of this theoretical model. My main contribution to the literature is to prove, based on the farmers' observed behavior, that farmers do manage productive ecosystem services. I bring other elements to the literature, notably by providing new insights on the agricultural technology when productive ecosystem services are considered, or by showing that collective management of productive ecosystem services can only rarely arise spontaneously in real landscapes where farmers are heterogeneous. In the second part, I study the demand for the jointly provided public goods by the farmers’ modification of ecosystem service flows, i.e. I study the specificities of the demand for environmental services provided by farmers (in the sense of Engel et al., 2008). In particular, I study the role of the geographic scale of the demand for the design of agri-environmental policy. Indeed, if local public goods influence the welfare of the agents within a defined geographical area (e.g., the improvement of water quality by maintaining a wetland upstream of a treatment plant), global public goods can influence the welfare of all agents (e.g., the carbon sequestration into the soil of a wetland). In this part, I apply the framework of several literatures developed in environmental economics (for example, the literature on environmental federalism or on the "distance-decay") to the specificities of the environmental services provided by farmers; in particular, I integrate that the environmental service provided by a farmer affects the supply of multiple public goods in most cases, the demand for these public goods arising at different geographical scales. I contribute to the literature by showing that, although most of the demand for environmental services provided by farmers is captured locally (at the municipal level), some of the demand is captured by larger and farer areas. This has implications for the governance and the design of agri-environmental policies, which I explore through two examples: the reduction of pesticide application and the maintenance of agricultural wetlands., La thèse étudie théoriquement et empiriquement la gestion des services écosystémiques par les agriculteurs sous l’angle de la théorie économique. Le concept de services écosystémiques est un concept interdisciplinaire désignant « les services qu’offrent gratuitement la nature à l’homme ». La littérature économique s’est principalement emparée de la question de la mesure de la valeur de ces services, en s’intéressant peu ou prou aux comportements des agents modifiant ces services. La thèse se divise en deux parties. Dans la première partie, je m’intéresse à l’offre et à la demande de service écosystémique productifs (par exemple, la pollinisation ou le contrôle biologique) en analysant le comportement des agriculteurs, considérés comme de potentiels gestionnaires des agroécosystèmes. Inspiré par la littérature en écologie du paysage, j’introduis des indicateurs de biodiversité dépendant des assolements dans des modèles existants issus de la littérature en économie de la production appliquée à l’agriculture. Ce rapprochement fournit un modèle théorique unifié où l’on peut analyser les choix des agriculteurs vis-à-vis des services écosystémiques productifs. Les travaux empiriques développés par la suite consistent à estimer toute ou partie de ce modèle théorique. Ma principale contribution à la littérature est de prouver, à partir de l’analyse des comportements observés des agriculteurs, que les agriculteurs gèrent consciemment les services écosystémiques productifs. J’apporte d’autres éléments à la littérature, en fournissant notamment des éléments importants sur la technologie agricole lorsque les services écosystémiques productifs sont considérés, ou en montrant que la gestion collective des services écosystémiques productifs ne peut que rarement émergée spontanément dans des paysages réels où les agriculteurs sont hétérogènes. Dans la deuxième partie, je m’intéresse à la demande pour les biens publics fournis conjointement par les agriculteurs via la modification des flux de services écosystémiques, i.e. je m’intéresse à la demande pour les services environnementaux fournis par les agriculteurs (au sens de Engel et al., 2008). En particulier, j’étudie le rôle de l’échelle géographique de la demande sur la conception de politique agro-environnementale. En effet, si les biens publics locaux vont influencer le bien-être des agents au sein d’une zone géographique délimitée (e.g. amélioration de la qualité de l’eau en maintenant une zone humide en amont d’une station de traitement), les biens publics globaux peuvent influencer le bien-être de l’ensemble des agents (e.g. séquestration du carbone dans une zone humide). Dans cette partie, j’applique les cadres d’analyse de plusieurs littératures développées en économie de l’environnement (par exemple, vi la littérature sur le fédéralisme environnemental ou sur le « distance-decay ») aux spécificités des services environnementaux fournis par l’agriculture ; en particulier, le service environnemental fourni par un agriculteur influe le plus souvent sur la fourniture de multiple biens publics, biens publics dont l’échelle de la demande diffèrent. Je contribue à la littérature en montrant que, bien que la plupart de la demande pour les services environnementaux fournis par les agriculteurs soit capturée localement (à l’échelle de la municipalité), une partie de la demande s’exprime à des échelles plus importantes. Cela a des implications pour la gouvernance et la conception des politiques agroenvironnementales, que j’explore à travers deux exemples : la réduction de l’application des pesticides et le maintien des zones humides agricoles.

Alkuperäisrotuisten kotieläinten määrä on vähentynyt maailmanlaajuisesti viime vuosikymmenten aikana. Osa roduista on vaarassa hävitä tai jo hävinnyt kokonaan. Tämä johtaa niiden geenivarojen menetykseen ja samalla maatalouden biodiversiteetin vähenemiseen. Erityisesti maatalouden modernisaatio uusine teknologioineen ja rotuineen on johtanut siihen, että alkuperäisrotuja korvataan parempituotoksisilla eläimillä. Alkuperäisrotuja tulisi kuitenkin säilyttää lukuisista syistä. Ne ovat sopeutuneet vaikeisiin ilmasto-olosuhteisiin ja ovat siten tärkeitä varautumisessa tulevaisuuden ympäristöhaasteisiin kuten ilmastonmuutokseen. Alkuperäisrodut ovat tärkeä osa kestävää maataloutta ja niitä suojellaan mm. maisemallisten ja kulttuurihistoriallisten syiden vuoksi. Roduille on myös käyttöä maaseutuelinkeinoissa. Tässä opinnäytetyössä tutkitaan alkuperäisrotujen suojelun kehitystä ja tulevaisuutta kahden tapaustutkimuksen avulla. Ne ovat jakutiankarjan suojelu Sahan tasavallassa Venäjällä ja alkuperäisrotujen suojelu Suomessa. Tärkeimmät tutkimuskysymykset ovat: 1) kuinka suojelun tarve ja merkitys on muuttunut ajan myötä ja mitä virstanpylväitä voidaan tunnistaa; 2) kuinka eri toimijat ovat argumentoineet suojelun tarpeen puolesta, miten diskurssit ovat kehittyneet ja millaisia koalitioita on muodostettu ja 3) kuinka erilaiset argumentit ovat muotoutuneet suojelun politiikoiksi ja kuinka suojelu on järjestetty. Tutkimuksessa käytetään ympäristöhallinnan, ekosysteemipalveluiden ja institutionaalisen lähestymistavan käsitteitä. Ympäristöhallinta tarkastelee maatalouden ympäristöpolitiikkaan liittyviä instituutioita, toimijoita ja sisältöjä. Ekosysteemipalveluissa on kyse ekosysteemien ihmisten hyvinvoinnille tuottamista hyödyistä ja niihin liitetyistä arvoista. Institutionaalinen lähestymistapa analysoi politiikkojen käytännön toimeenpanoa. Lähestymistavat tuottavat kolme toisiaan täydentävää näkökulmaa alkuperäisrotujen suojelun, suojelun kehityksen ja tulevaisuuden ymmärtämiseen. Tutkimus osoittaa, että huolimatta suojelun erilaisista konteksteista, yhteisiä virstanpylväitä, argumentteja ja haasteita voidaan tunnistaa. Molemmissa tapaustutkimuksissa suojelu on seurannut kansainvälistä kehitystä ja myös myötävaikuttanut siihen. Suojelua on edistetty kansallisella ja paikallisella tasolla hyödyntämällä mahdollisuuksia, jotka suojelulle ovat avautuneet kansainvälisen kehityksen myötä. Alkuperäisrotujen suojelun puolesta argumentoidaan ennen kaikkea biologisin, taloudellisin, kulttuurisin ja muin yhteiskunnallisin syin. Alkuperäisrotujen säilyminen edellyttää yhteisiä tavoitteita sekä toimijoiden ja instituutioiden välistä yhteistyötä eri tasoilla ja sektoreilla. Ekosysteemipalveluiden käsite soveltuu kommunikaation apuvälineeksi. The number of native breeds has diminished globally during the last decades. Many breeds have already become endangered or even extinct. The loss of native breeds is still continuing, which will ultimately lead to a global loss of their genetic resources (AnGR) and thereby a loss of agrobiodiversity. The modernisation of agriculture with new technologies and breeds has especially contributed to the situation in which native farm animals have been replaced by better-yielding breeds. Yet, there are multiple reasons to conserve breeds. Many are adapted to difficult climate conditions, and therefore play an important part in answering to future environmental challenges, such as climate change. In addition to their role in sustainable agriculture, there are other reasons to conserve native breeds including, e.g., their role in the landscape, cultural history and rural livelihoods. This research examines the development and future of the conservation of native breeds in two case studies: the conservation of the Yakutian Cattle in the Sakha Republic in the Russian Federation and the conservation of native breeds in Finland. The main research questions examine: how the need for conservation and its meanings have changed over time and what landmarks can be identified; how different actors have argued for the need for conservation, how discourses have developed and what kinds of coalitions have been formed; and how different arguments are translated into policies and policy-making and how the conservation is organised. The research setting comprises: 1) environmental governance dealing with institutions, actors and contents involved with agro-environmental policies, 2) ecosystem services about the benefits ecosystems produce for the well-being of humans and the values underlying these services, and 3) an institutional approach which contributes to understanding the realisation of policies in practice. These approaches provide three complementary perspectives on understanding the conservation of native breeds, its development and its future. The study revealed that despite different contexts in the conservation of native breeds, common milestones, arguments for conservation and challenges to it can all be identified. The conservation in both case studies has followed and contributed to international development, and has benefited from the opportunities that have opened up to conservation at national and local levels. The arguments for the conservation of native breeds consist mainly of biological, economic, cultural and other social factors. Native breeds can be maintained if there are actors willing to aim for common goals. This requires cooperation between actors and institutions at different levels and sectors of conservation. The ES approach provides a feasible communication tool to achieve this.

International audience; This article examines the role of communication in the process that guides economic actors to integrate the moral obligations implied by adopting sustainability principles in their action choices and to reexamine their practices. We analyze two approaches to implementing agro-environmental measures that encourage farmers to preserve water resources. Verbal interactions between farmers and agricultural advisors, who are part of these policy programs, are analyzed drawing on Jürgen Habermas's theory of communicative action. The discourse analysis used here shows that communicative action encouraged participants to reexamine the validity of the technical, experiential, and normative knowledge that legitimized their reasons for acting. This study brings to light the fact that, in the context of a business primarily oriented towards making a profit, committing to sustainable development does not only operate in technical terms; such a commitment also requires collective validation of the effectiveness of alternative farming practices.

Erosion and agro-environmental measures in the andalusian olive grove. The olive tree is a Mediterranean culture that, aside from its great socio-economic influence, characterizes also to a large extent the landscapes in vast zones of Andalusia. Many of these zones, specially the mountainous ones, are traditionally cultivated in a manner which increases erosion and the filling of dams with sediments. In the long term, it can result in reduced productivity, abandonment and depopulation, particularly in the least favoured zones. To avoid all these effects, and in agreement with measures which accompany the Reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (Regulation 2078/92), the Andalusian government has established a Program which promotes methods of production in the grove, favouring soil conservation by means that reduce erosion., L'olivier est une culture méditerranéenne qui, en plus de son importance socio-économique, caractérise dans une grande mesure le paysage de zones étendues de l'Andalousie. Dans beaucoup d'entre elles, notamment celles dont la topographie est la plus accidentée, la culture traditionnelle peut amener un grave risque d'érosion et de colmatage des barrages. Cette érosion des sols pourrait favoriser à long terme un processus de réduction de la productivité, abandon et dépeuplement, particulièrement pour les zones les plus défavorisées. Pour éviter tous ces effets négatifs, et en accord avec les mesures d'accompagnement de la réforme de la PAC (Règlement 2078/92), le gouvernement andalou a établi un Programme pour encourager dans l'oliveraie des méthodes de production favorisant la conservation du sol, grâce à des techniques de réduction de l'érosion., La erosion y las medidas agroambientales en el olivar andaluz. El olivar es un cultivo mediterráneo que, aparte de su gran influencia socioeconómica, caracteriza también en gran medida el paisaje y la cultura de grandes áreas de Andalucía. En muchas de éstas, especialmente las de topografía mas accidentada, el modo tradicional de cultivo puede conllevar un elevado riesgo de erosión y de colmatación de embalses por arrastres de sedimentos. Esto puede favorecer a largo plazo un proceso de reducción de la productividad, abandono y despoblamiento, particularmente de las áreas mas deprimidas. Para evitar todos estos efectos negativos, y en consonancia con las medidas de acompañamiento de la Reforma de ¡a PAC (Reglamento 2078/92), el gobierno andaluz ha establecido un Programa de fomento de métodos de producción en el olivar que favorezcan la conservación del suelo mediante técnicas que minimicen la erosión., Menor Toribio José,Cuesta Aguilar Maria JoséMenor Toribio José, Cuesta Aguilar Maria José. L'érosion et les mesures agri-environnementales dans l'oliveraie andalouse. In: Sud-Ouest européen, tome 7, 2000. L'environnement entre nature et paysage. pp. 61-68.

International audience

The U.S. Federal Government implements environmental, biofuels and crop insurance programs that influence land use. They are not well-integrated in that cost savings from crop insurance subsidies are not acknowledged when screening land for retirement or when calculating the cost of land retirement programs. We identify and evaluate an optimal benefit index for enrollment in a land retirement program that includes a sub-index to rank land according to insurance subsidy savings. All else equal, land ranked higher in the Lorenz stochastic order should be retired first. Empirical analysis based on field level data will be provided.

This paper develops a structural econometric model of agricultural land use and production based on the joint multi-output technology representation introduced by Chambers and Just (1989). Starting from a flexible specification of the farm profit function we derive land use allocation, input applications, crops yield and livestock number equations in a joint and theoretically consistent framework. We present an empirical application using fine-scale spatial data covering the entirety of England and Wales and including the main economic, policy and environmental drivers of land use change in the past 40 years. To account for the presence of censored observations in this micro-level data we estimate the model as a system of two-limits Tobit equations via Quasi-Maximum Likelihood. We finally compare the forecasting ability of our approach against an established benchmark: the land use share logit model.

The U.S. federal government implements environmental, biofuels and crop insurance programs that influence land use. They are not well integrated in that cost savings from crop insurance subsidies are not acknowledged when screening land for retirement or when calculating the cost of land retirement programs. We identify and evaluate an optimal benefit index for enrollment in a land retirement program that includes a sub-index to rank land according to insurance subsidy savings. All else equal, land ranked higher in the Lorenz stochastic order should be retired first.

This paper presents an analysis of the agro-environmental measures applied in the Atlantic Region of Iberian Peninsula, taking as territorial reference mountainous rural spaces with forestry vocation that proposed to take part of the European Natural Network 2000. In order to do this evaluation, it has been done a Delphi analysis with a panel of experts composed by the presidents of different communities of communal ownership woodlands. The results of this analysis shows the opinion of the managers of the aforementioned natural spaces with relation to the quantity, duration and other aspects of the established aids in the examined agro-environmental programmes. One of the final conclusions are that the managers of these forests are disagree with duration and quantity of the aids. Therefore, their demands are not enclosed in the regional institutional framework. However, quantities demanded by managers for realizing several kind of forestry activities are f itted to European framework. Besides the analysis of the policies developed by the actual Common Agrarian Policy, it is analysed an hypothetical proposal of a new programme of conservation of autochthonous landscapes, what conforms a prevision exercise that, in the future, could be taken into account by the policy makers in the elaboration of the new management programmes of the mountainous rural spaces. In order to get that it is analysed how the quantities of the aids destined to promote this kind of actions are adapted to the social actor demands to whom are destined., Se realiza un análisis de las medidas agroambientales de aplicación en la región atlántica de la Península Ibérica, tomando como referencia territorial espacios rurales de montaña con vocación forestal propuestos para formar parte de la Red Natura 2000 Europea. Para tal evaluación se aplica un análisis delphi con un panel de expertos formado por presidentes de comunidades de montes vecinales en mano común. Los resultados del análisis permiten conocer la opinión de los gestores de los espacios naturales de referencia en lo que respecta a la cuantía, duración y otros aspectos de las ayudas establecidas en los programas agroambientales examinados. Una de las conclusiones finales obtenida es que los gestores de dichos montes muestran su desacuerdo con las cuantías y duración de las ayudas existentes pero, sin embargo, las cantidades alternativamente demandadas para realizar diversos tipos de actividades silvícolas, a pesar de no tener encaje en el marco institucional regional, sí se ajustan al marco europeo. Además del análisis de las políticas vigentes en la Política Agraria Común, se evalúa una propuesta hipotética de un nuevo programa de conservación de paisajes autóctonos que, en el futuro, podría ser tenido en cuenta por los decisores políticos a la hora de elaborar nuevos programas de gestión de espacios rurales de montaña. Para ello se analiza en qué medida las cuantías de las ayudas destinadas a fomentar ese tipo de acciones se adaptan a las demandas de los agentes sociales a los que van dirigidas.

In his numerous textbooks WILHELM BRANDES has laid the foundation for theoretically appropriate modeling of farm firms, which has recently been expanded to modeling sustainability goals. The published research results belong to the fields of economic, ecological, and social sustainability. Standard method for the analysis of economic sustainability is the gross margin calculation, for the given purpose extended by associated opportunity costs and/or by appropriately adding further associable branch specific costs. At an on-farm-basis the system has been developed to a management information system under sustainability goals which has been further developed to the new forms of precision agriculture by incorporating yield and soil nutrient mapping, spectroscopic crop condition information as well as use of the global positioning system. At an aggregated, sectoral and regional level the method has been adjusted for the analysis of regional opportunity costs, supply-demand-functions, quota rents etc. Research on product chain sustainability in a world wide comparison are still incipient, whereby the cost effects of environmental standards are increasingly observed. The use of farm records for describing the economic and ecological sustainability of farming systems through updating the list of indicators and by the help of appropriate evaluation routines is asked for by the addressees and needs to be further developed. In transform countries goals of social sustainability are focused at in converting former production cooperatives, collective farms, and state farms. Advanced simultaneous-dynamic planning methods in a highly disaggregative form describe not only social secondary constraints as to liabilities, social compensation plans, etc. but also as to investment and disinvestment and all cash flows by time. They allow to link farm records with the financial plan and controlling and they are as well adequate in view of the increasingly necessary risk analyses, in particular price, policy, and production risk. Ecological sustainability goals concerning for instance soil erosion, nitrate leaching, emission of greenhouse gases and toxic substances, etc. have created methodological variants of farm planning which provide for effect analyses in defining entrepreneurial adaptive paths as well as agro-ecological policy. Modules from natural science were incorporated into models optimizing farming systems holistically. On the aggregated level it was possible to join farm based models to GIS-supported landscape models. Results from such models are presented on the level of small regions and are made readily available on modern data records to addressees in landscape planning and policy. Single farm problems are modeled according to the multi agent approach, which looks at least promising in explaining findings under heavy competition for land, quotas, pollution rights, etc. Essential prerequisite for a continuing innovative development of quantitative farm planning under a sustainability objective was – amongst others – the interdisciplinary approach and the consequent adjustment of research with questions posed by addressees.

Under the condition of significant changes in the framework of EU Agricultural Policy Agro-Environmental Programmes are evaluated in this paper. The MEKA-Programme of Baden-Württemberg and the KULAP-Programme of Brandenburg, both measures under the EU-Regulation VO (EWG) 2078/92 of 1992, are analysed using farm level Linear Programming models. One of the most important results is that both, the MEKA- and the KULAP-Program, have positive environmental effects. In addition they are also responsible for significant transfer payments which under unfavourable production conditions can reach up to 40 % of the farm level gross margins. Farm structure, indicated by production conditions, crops and major production areas, is responsible for the application to the above mentioned programmes as well as for the extent of positive environmental effects. Losses in production efficiency and additional income effects are the consequence of non-consideration of the programmes offered. With respect to the results of the model calculation it is suggested that agro-environmental measures become more goal oriented and consider as far as possible regional conditions. More general programmes should become a more flexible and allow for flexible and dynamic reactions to changing circumstances.