Learning how to model ecosystem trade-offs at the farm scale

Abstract

The ecosystem service framework provides a forum for scientists from a range of disciplines to communicate and work together alongside other key stakeholders. However to be effective, place-based comparison of the tradeoffs of ecosystem services need further development. These place-based comparisons are vital in agricultural systems due to the increasing global demand for food production, coupled with the realization that this should be achieved with minimal negative impact on the environment. The farm is the logical unit of management in agricultural systems and hence there is a need for ecosystem tradeoff assessments at the farm scale. We have carried out a literature review of thetradeoffs in the delivery of ecosystem services from intensively managed temperate grassland systems. Building on this work, we are now setting up a farm scale experiment to examine the tradeoffs, identified from the refereed literature, as requiring further investigation due to either limited or conflicting evidence. To facilitate an improved understanding of these tradeoffs we need to learn how to model them, based on previous and current modelling frameworks and coupled with improved knowledge of international best practice. Fundamentally, this requires a dialogue between modellers and field scientists