Public goods and farming

Summary in the original language of the document

There has recently been an increase in interest in the “public goods” that could be provided by a farm alongside its primary function of agricultural production. This paper reviews recent reports on the topic of public goods and, in particular, the public goods provided by agriculture and then goes on to discuss the development of a tool which can be used to assess the provision of public goods on a farm across a range of areas: soil management, biodiversity, landscape and heritage, water management, manure management and nutrients, energy and carbon, food security, agricultural systems diversity, social capital, farm business resilience, and animal health and welfare.