Authors: KLAUS V.H, RICTHER F., BUCHMANN N., JAN P., EL BENNI N. and LUSCHER A.
Abstract
Sustainable agriculture delivers not only market goods but also many public ecosystem ervices and nonmarket goods. Agricultural intensifcation undermines the delivery of many public ecosystem services at local level. Organic farming might decrease the environmental impact of intensive food and feed production on grasslands and could therefore be able to sustain both private and public ecosystem services. A systematic literature search of scientifc publications revealed the absence of literature on the impact of organic farming on ecosystem services in grasslands. Tus, the project ServiceGrass was initiated to explore effects of organic grassland farming on several ecosystem services and their simultaneous provisioning, i.e. multifunctionality, in Switzerland. Te principal aim of the project is to compare the ability of organic and conventional grasslands to deliver ecosystem services at plot and farm levels, including management intensifcation as a major driver. We aim at up-scaling results from rassland plots to farm- and sector-level in order to draw conclusions on the realized ecosystem services portfolio of both farming systems. Findings of this project will underline strengths and weaknesses of organic and conventional farming systems in delivering multiple ecosystem services for sustainable future grassland management.
Keywords: environmental impacts, economic assessment, grassland management, intensifcation, multifunctionality, sustainable agriculture.
Read the full article here
