Wildlife has its uses. Managing farmland for ecosystem services

Abstract

The trade-off between the production of our food and the abundance and diversity of wildlife is well established (e.g. Stoate et al. 2009). As crop yields increased during the second half of the last century, wildlife declined. In response, a series of agri-environment schemes has diverted a proportion of the productive land to the creation and management of wildlife habitats, often to great effect. But, as the numbers of people and their consumption across the globe increase, and crop yields no longer do so, the conflict between food production and wildlife intensifies. At least, this is how the situation is usually portrayed.

I see it slightly differently. There is no doubt that the relationship between food production and environmental objectives is a complex one. In recent years, it has been expressed in terms of ‘ecosystem services’, the benefits we derive from the environment, including food, fuel, clean water, flood control, nutrient cycling, carbon sequestration and numerous others. But the concept remains rather nebulous to most. This is not least because there is still much that we do not understand about the various ‘services’ and the interactions between them. We need a real practical setting in which to bring the wide range of issues to life, to make explicit some of these esoteric concepts, independently of the jargon.