Agricultural activities have generally major implications on land use and emission of greenhouse gases. Both, land use and climate change have been identified among others as key direct drivers of biodiversity loss. Within the agricultural production context, besides chemical products numerous other tools and methods are used by farmers with the aim to enable a successful harvest and sustainable system. Consequently, the combination of those tools and methods create the major interface to the surrounding nature. The overall decision-making, choice of tools for a specific cropping situation and field context then decides about the more nuanced sustainability profile and the effects on habitats and the environment.
The corresponding sustainability and environmental implications of field crop production have been investigated on two farms in Germany. The simultaneous use of selected sustainability metrics in the field trials allow differentiation and therefore can optimize decision-making for various cropping scenarios, increase transparency about environmental synergies but also about trade-offs, not only for the farmer but also within a regulatory context.
The key metrics used in this work include crop yields per ha to reflect the land use footprint, the crop quality, an economic assessment of the production scenario, greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity of carabids as proxy for natural pest control and biodiversity, soil health related to nutrient balance, organic carbon, earthworm populations and biodiversity of plants in habitats adjacent to the fields.
The results of the production of winter wheat from the first year of the crop rotation are presented. The sustainability profile, climate and environmental implications of different production scenarios with their corresponding choices of tools and methods have been simultaneously assessed, thus enabling a holistic perspective that takes into account the farmers agronomic challenges, decision-making and opportunities for improvement. Therefore, the presented approach can inform strategic decisions and outcome-oriented regulations, that help to improve the sustainability profile of agriculture and also drive solutions from an applied nature conservation perspective.