Impacts of Scaling up Agroecology on the Sustainability of European Agriculture in 2050
Les impacts du développement de l'agroécologie sur la durabilité de l'agriculture européenne en 2050
Die Auswirkungen einer großflächigen Verbreitung von agrarökologischen Maßnahmen auf die Nachhaltigkeit der europäischen Landwirtschaft im Jahr 2050
Andreas Mayer, Gerald Kalt, Lisa Kaufmann, Elin Röös, Adrian Muller, Rainer Weisshaidinger, Anita Frehner, Nicolas Roux, Pete Smith, Michaela C. Theurl, Sarah Matej, Karlheinz Erb
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引用次数: 4
Abstract
The European Commission recently embraced the concept of agroecology as a pathway to reduce negative impacts from agri-food systems on the environment. So far, it remains unclear whether agroecology can deliver on these high hopes if implemented on a large scale. We here assess socio-economic and environmental implications of multiple agroecological futures in the European Union in 2050, based on a novel diagnostic scenario approach, i.e. the biomass balancing model BioBaM-GHG 2.0. We find that agroecological measures from the plot to the food systems level can indeed reduce environmental pressures while maintaining domestic food availability within the EU. Such measures are, for example, more hedgerows on croplands or reduced biomass harvest on high natural value – HNV grasslands. However, a key prerequisite is an overall reduction of the food system's size (based on the reduction of animal production, food wastes, and export production) and an optimised crop-livestock integration. Only then does the transformation towards an agroecological agri-food system in the EU not risk overstretching domestic land availability or produce insufficient agricultural commodities. Mitigating the accompanied trade-off of reduced farm income is a central mandate for policy development aimed at re-designing agriculture in Europe to align with the Green Deal goals.
期刊介绍:
EuroChoices is a full colour, peer reviewed, outreach journal of topical European agri-food and rural resource issues, published three times a year in April, August and December. Its main aim is to bring current research and policy deliberations on agri-food and rural resource issues to a wide readership, both technical & non-technical. The need for this is clear - there are great changes afoot in the European and global agri-food industries and rural areas, which are of enormous impact and concern to society. The issues which underlie present deliberations in the policy and private sectors are complex and, until now, normally expressed in impenetrable technical language.