Landscape features on farms: Evidence on factors influencing their quantity and ecological value

IF 6.6 2区经济学 Q1 ECOLOGY

Ecological Economics Pub Date : 2025-05-03 DOI:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2025.108646

Antonia Kaiser , Yanbing Wang , Noëlle Klein , Gabriele Mack , Christian Ritzel

{"title":"Landscape features on farms: Evidence on factors influencing their quantity and ecological value","authors":"Antonia Kaiser , Yanbing Wang , Noëlle Klein , Gabriele Mack , Christian Ritzel","doi":"10.1016/j.ecolecon.2025.108646","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Intensive agriculture and increasingly homogeneous agricultural landscapes are major drivers of biodiversity loss. The implementation of landscape features (e.g. hedges, trees, and field margins) as part of ecological focus areas on farms is a promising approach. This study aims to fill the gaps in understanding the influence of factors related to farmers' willingness and ability on their implementation of landscape features. We combine survey data on socio-psychological, economic, and sociodemographic factors collected in 2023 from 882 Swiss farmers with agricultural census data on registered landscape features and with biodiversity scores. Using regression analysis and various robustness checks, we estimate the influence of the above-mentioned factors on the farm area covered by landscape features and the ecological value of these features. Our findings indicate that both farmers' willingness (personal norms and self-efficacy to conserve biodiversity) and ability (biodiversity payments, education, and farm type) to preserve biodiversity affect the area of landscape features. The ecological value provided by landscape features is more influenced by farmers' ability than by their willingness. However, we also find that for landscape features that are not supported by biodiversity payments, farmers' willingness (i.e. personal norms) plays a decisive role, while ability is not important.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51021,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Economics","volume":"235 ","pages":"Article 108646"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6000,"publicationDate":"2025-05-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Ecological Economics","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800925001296","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ECOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Intensive agriculture and increasingly homogeneous agricultural landscapes are major drivers of biodiversity loss. The implementation of landscape features (e.g. hedges, trees, and field margins) as part of ecological focus areas on farms is a promising approach. This study aims to fill the gaps in understanding the influence of factors related to farmers' willingness and ability on their implementation of landscape features. We combine survey data on socio-psychological, economic, and sociodemographic factors collected in 2023 from 882 Swiss farmers with agricultural census data on registered landscape features and with biodiversity scores. Using regression analysis and various robustness checks, we estimate the influence of the above-mentioned factors on the farm area covered by landscape features and the ecological value of these features. Our findings indicate that both farmers' willingness (personal norms and self-efficacy to conserve biodiversity) and ability (biodiversity payments, education, and farm type) to preserve biodiversity affect the area of landscape features. The ecological value provided by landscape features is more influenced by farmers' ability than by their willingness. However, we also find that for landscape features that are not supported by biodiversity payments, farmers' willingness (i.e. personal norms) plays a decisive role, while ability is not important.

查看原文本刊更多论文

农场景观特征：数量和生态价值影响因素的证据

集约化农业和日益同质化的农业景观是生物多样性丧失的主要驱动因素。将景观特征（如树篱、树木和田地边缘）作为农场生态重点区域的一部分是一种很有前途的方法。本研究旨在填补理解农户意愿和能力相关因素对景观特征实施影响的空白。我们将2023年从882名瑞士农民中收集的社会心理、经济和社会人口因素调查数据与农业普查数据（已登记景观特征）和生物多样性评分相结合。通过回归分析和各种稳健性检验，我们估计了上述因素对景观特征所覆盖农田面积的影响及其生态价值。研究结果表明，农民保护生物多样性的意愿（个人规范和自我效能）和保护生物多样性的能力（生物多样性支付、教育和农场类型）都影响景观特征的面积。景观特征所提供的生态价值受农户能力的影响大于农户意愿的影响。然而，我们也发现，对于不受生物多样性支付支持的景观特征，农民的意愿（即个人规范）起决定性作用，而能力并不重要。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Ecological Economics 环境科学-环境科学

CiteScore

12.00

自引率

5.70%

发文量

313

审稿时长

6 months

期刊介绍： Ecological Economics is concerned with extending and integrating the understanding of the interfaces and interplay between "nature''s household" (ecosystems) and "humanity''s household" (the economy). Ecological economics is an interdisciplinary field defined by a set of concrete problems or challenges related to governing economic activity in a way that promotes human well-being, sustainability, and justice. The journal thus emphasizes critical work that draws on and integrates elements of ecological science, economics, and the analysis of values, behaviors, cultural practices, institutional structures, and societal dynamics. The journal is transdisciplinary in spirit and methodologically open, drawing on the insights offered by a variety of intellectual traditions, and appealing to a diverse readership. Specific research areas covered include: valuation of natural resources, sustainable agriculture and development, ecologically integrated technology, integrated ecologic-economic modelling at scales from local to regional to global, implications of thermodynamics for economics and ecology, renewable resource management and conservation, critical assessments of the basic assumptions underlying current economic and ecological paradigms and the implications of alternative assumptions, economic and ecological consequences of genetically engineered organisms, and gene pool inventory and management, alternative principles for valuing natural wealth, integrating natural resources and environmental services into national income and wealth accounts, methods of implementing efficient environmental policies, case studies of economic-ecologic conflict or harmony, etc. New issues in this area are rapidly emerging and will find a ready forum in Ecological Economics.