Organic farming and biodiversity – how to create a viable farm business including conservation issues

Summary

The extension of organic farming (OF), the increasing recognition of the advantages for improving agro-biodiversity, and the fact that the protection of nature and natural species cannot be taken for granted, has resulted in several interdisciplinary activities. The first of these was the Brodowin Nature Conservation Farm project. Conflicts between nature conservation and modern, large-scale OF, focusing on arable land use systems, were identified, evaluated and solved. Suggestions for adequate financial reward for ecological performance were worked out. The tested optimisation strategies were implemented in a second project: preparing a whole farm management plan based on maps marked with fields having a high potential for specific target species. The aim was to achieve the highest benefit for nature conservation issues with the least expenditure by the farm. A manual is being produced as a third project, with a series of examples for the integration of nature conservation measures, based on the results of our own projects and data sourced in literature, along with different experts. The manual will allow the user to see immediately either how target species/groups can be directly promoted or how measures can be se-lected, and what effects these have on the business.