A spatially explicit choice model to assess the impact of conservation policy on high nature value farming systems

Abstract

This study was funded by project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-016664 (PTDC/AAG-REC/5007/2014), supported by Norte Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The study was also sponsored by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) through projects PTDC/ AGR-AAM/102300/2008 (FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-008701) and PTDC/BIA-BIC/2203/2012 (FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-028289), under FEDER funds through the Operational Programme for Competitiveness Factors – COMPETE and by National Funds through FCT – Foundation for Science and Technology, and grants to PFR (SFRH/BD/87530/ 2012) and JS (SFRH/BD/63566/2009). LR received support from the Portuguese Ministry of Education and Science and the European Social Fund, through FCT, under POPH – QREN – Typology 4.1 (post-doc grants SFRH/BPD/62865/2009 and SFRH/BPD/93079/2013). PB was supported by EDP Biodiversity Chair. FM was supported by the REN Biodiversity Chair and FCT (IF/01053/2015) ; High Nature Value (HNV) farmland is declining in the EU, with negative consequences for biodiversity conservation. Agri-environment schemes implemented under the Common Agricultural Policy have addressed this problem, with recent proposals advocating direct support to HNV farming systems. However, research is lacking on the economics of HNV farming, which makes it difficult to set the level and type of support that ensure its sustainability. In this paper, we focused on a Special Protection Area for steppe bird conservation, analysing how economic incentives, biophysical and structural features govern the choice of farming system. We found that persistence of the traditional farming system important for steppe birds was associated with economic incentives, resistance to change, and good quality soils, whereas a shift to specialised livestock production systems was favoured by higher rainfall and less fragmented farms. A supply curve built using the choice model predicted that the proportion of traditional farming increased from 20% to 80% of the landscape, when economic incentives increased from about 100€/ha to 160€/ha. Overall, our study highlights the dependence of HNV farming systems on economic incentives, and provides a framework to assess the effects of alternative policy and market scenarios to sustain farmland landscapes promoting biodiversity conservation. ; authorsversion ; published