Design agricultural subsidies to keep ecosystem services from grassland and pastures

Today, there is a debate about a broader sustainability goal for our food products, in which, in addition to the climate, animal welfare, biodiversity and ecosystem services also involve consumers, policy makers and researchers. The researchers Christel Cederberg, Maria Henriksson and Håkan Rosenkvist describes this in a report from Chalmers University of Technology. In the project, the researchers analyzed the economics and ecosystem services in grass-based organic milk and meat production, with grazing in focus. Farmers have participated in the project, among other things with input data on the use of natural pastures, where there is a shortage of data.

The design of agricultural subsidies within EU agricultural policy CAP plays a crucial role in ensuring that important ecosystem services from grassland and pastures not are getting lost. The authors propose a subsidy for ‘meters of edges’ so that smaller parcels provide more support per hectare than larger parcels and to favor field edges, which constitute important small biotopes. The report also shows that consumers have a willingness to pay for preserving of the natural pastures.