Enhancing Biodiversity & Resilience in Agriculture
ETH Zurich researchers join forces with Bayer and the International Food Policy Research Institute to develop nature-based solutions that counteract biodiversity loss on farms.
Enhancing Biodiversity & Resilience in Crop Production
Project Goal
To embed biodiversity and resilience thinking in intensive arable systems
Description
Restoring biodiversity in agricultural landscapes, which now cover 50% of the Earth’s land surface, will require working with farmers to develop new knowledge and tools for integrating natural habitats into agricultural systems. Doing so can enhance the ecological and economic resiliency of agriculture while supporting biodiversity, both central objectives of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
This project will consolidate and synthesize existing knowledge relating to farm and landscape practices to enhance biodiversity and resilience in intensive soy, maize, and wheat production systems. The project team will work together with farmers in Brazil, Germany, France, the United States to validate the currently available management options and to evaluate potential beneficial policies and business models.
Objectives
- Synthesise knowledge on habitat creation options for biodiversity and resilience
- Explore scenarios with farmers for biodiversity-oriented outcomes
- Develop the basis for decision-making and value generation tools
- Outline financial and business models by which interventions can be scaled
Duration
2021-2022
Project Partners
This project brings together academic, industry, and policy expertise in agriculture and ecosystem management. ETH Zurich and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) have joined with partners in Brazil, Germany, France and the USA, to provide both global and local perspectives. Bayer AG, as the funding agency, has strong interest in identifying practices that could enhance biodiversity, while simultaneously improving the resilience of farmed systems. Our outputs will be disseminated through outreach activities in collaboration with project partners and Bayer.
Biodiversity and resilience interventions:
Analysis of interviews with farmers
Blogs and News
Agri-environmental schemes seek to improve the sustainability of agriculture, but their success depends on farmer participation. Using a systematic review of 79 scientific articles, researchers summarize the key factors that play a role in farmers’ uptake of such schemes. Read blog (EN) external page Agrarpolitik Blog lesen (DE)
external page The role of behavioural factors and opportunity costs in farmers' participation in voluntary agri‐environmental schemes: A systematic review by Schaub, S. et al. in Journal of Agricultural Economics.
external page Biodiversity indicators for result-based agri-environmental schemes – Current state and future prospects by Elmiger, N. et al. published in Agricultural Systems.
Indicators for Increasing Biodiversity on Farms: In action-based schemes for promoting biodiversity, farmers are paid for implementing specific measures. A new policy brief based on results of the project provides overview of existing indicators – both those proposed by in the scientific literature and those used in practice. The brief also highlights how the choice of indicators enables #policy decision-makers to take account of and promote various aspects of biodiversity in a cost-efficient manner.
ETH and IFPRI engaged in a collaboration to enhance the understanding of factors positively and negatively influencing farmers decisions to apply and implement measures to preserve or restore biodiversity and with that resilience of their farming systems with a focus on intensive row cropping systems (corn, soy, or wheat). The collaboration worked on 5 different work packages starting with farmer interviews in Brazil, Germany, France, and the United States to better understand farmers’ knowledge, perceptions, and experience with biodiversity.
Read results of study in Download Final Report (PDF, 5.1 MB)
Jaboury Ghazoul, Professor of Ecosystem Management at ETH Zurich, comments on the importance of soil health to agricultural sustainability and how agribusinesses can help feed microbes as well as people. Read blog
Jaboury Ghazoul, Professor of Ecosystem Management at ETH Zurich, shares his thoughts on why science can play a substantial role in enabling the transformation of agriculture and in providing farmers with the security and confidence to make the transition. Read blog
Today, Bayer, IFPRI and ETH announce a research collaboration to address how agriculture can develop and implement new solutions to reduce its impact on biodiversity. Over the next several months, the first phase of the partnership will begin with interactive farmer engagement aimed at understanding current challenges and risks farmers face to help inform and validate the identification of potential scalalble solutions and business models. Read full press release
Event Calendar
Enhancing Biodiversity and Resilience in Intensive Farming Systems: Results from an ETH Zürich-IFPRI Collaborative study
In recognition of the developing science coupled with the growing interest of farmers in exploring new approaches to enhance farm resilience, ETH Zurich and IFPRI are pleased to share their research findings undertaken as part of the Enhancing Biodiversity and Resilience in Crop Production project, supported by Bayer. Over the course 2021-2022, ETH Zurich and IFPRI, together with partners in Germany, France, Brazil, and the USA, conducted systematic reviews of the scientific literature, complemented with interviews with farmers in each country, to evaluate management options for enhancing biodiversity and resilience in crop production.
A panel composed of farmers, researchers, government and private sector actors then commented on these research findings through the lens of farm management realities, and offered their perspectives on how to advance this area of research and how to achieve greater coherence of multiple policies, programs, and efforts.
Date: Tuesday, 06 December 2022
Bending the curve of biodiversity loss: How can agriculture become part of the solution?
This second webinar focused on one key aspect already raised in the first one: It is imperative in business to work alongside farmers to build sustainable agricultural systems that open new opportunities for farmers to draw on their historical and current creativity in agricultural practice. Understanding and working within farmer constraints to identify pathways towards biodiversity is the only way by which realistic solutions can be implemented.
The first results of interviews with French and German farmers were presented, regarding their perceptions and experiences in relation to biodiversity-friendly practices and habitat creation solutions, their views on farm management priorities and issues, their aspirations and innovative management strategies considering changing environmental and regulatory conditions.
In parallel, the webinar provided a scientific perspective: A review of scientific literature on habitat creation measures and their relationship to different biodiversity dimensions conducted by ETH may provide first insights into most promising approaches.
Date: Wednesday, 04 May 2022
Bending the curve of biodiversity loss: How can agriculture become part of the solution?
A panel discussion hosted by the World Food System Center focused on enhancing biodiversity and resilience in agriculture for environmental well-being. We invited questions, suggestions, and ideas on how farmers, policy makers, and corporations might develop environmentally friendly farming systems. A panel of experts from different sectors discussed the presented questions during the event.
Date: Tuesday, 29 June 2021