EIP-AGRI Focus Group Benefits of landscape features for arable crop production

Summary

This report is the result of the work of the EIP AGRI Focus Group (FG) on Ecological Focus Areas (EFAs) and more specifically on how landscape features (LFs) contribute to the profitability of arable crop production. The scientific literature shows that LFs provide habitats for beneficial insects and other arthropods, birds, plants etc. When appropriately designed and targeted, they also prove to be effective in controlling erosion, wind, and nutrient loss and providing landscape amenities. In this report, we focus on: i) ‘field margins’, the spontaneously established strips of herbaceous plants at the edge of fields; ii) ‘hedgerows’, composed of one or two rows of planted or naturally established shrubs and/or trees, and; iii) ‘grassy or flower strips’, intentionally sown, the former mostly with grasses and the latter with flowering plants. The central scope was to examine if and how landscape features could contribute to the profitability of arable crop production. Other direct economic effects for the farmers include the production of wood, fruits, grass for horses, etc. We also included the benefits of landscape features to the society (aesthetics, social value, ecosystem services towards society) that the markets mostly fail to provide. A farm and the embedding landscape are systems that should be approached in a holistic way.