Transformative visions and agroecological approaches for more biodiversity in agricultural landscapes

Lead Institute BD Institute of Biodiversity

Transformative visions for landscapes with intensive crop production and extensive grazing (collage)

Specialisation and intensification of food production have transformed agriculture triggering a farmland biodiversity crisis. As the loss of farmland biodiversity undermines the basis of agroecosystems’ productivity and, hence, the sustainability of food systems, another transformation is urgently needed. To support this transformation, we define visions of the future and agroecological approaches with the aim to guide policy toward establishing agricultural land systems in which farmland biodiversity and agriculture are mutually promotive.

Background and Objective

We aim to find responses to the following research questions:

Which targeted agroecological actions can we swiftly implement to enhance farmland biodiversity while ensuring adequate agricultural production?
Under which conditions do existing biodiversity and agricultural policies provide effective incentives to sustainably transform agricultural land systems?
Which archetypical interactions between agriculture, biodiversity, ressource use and governancen characterise agricultural land systems in Germany?
Which potential do archetypes demonstrate to forster the transfer and out/up-scaling of policy measures that halt and reverse the current farmland biodiversity decline?