“It's pretty exciting to be involved in this. For many years, the focus of sustainable agriculture has been on avoiding negatives: water pollution, soil erosion, pesticide residues, etc. In the ecosystems services concept, we're focusing on services that people appreciate and enjoy. Since the amount of land involved in agriculture is so large, we have a strong motivation to provide farmers incentives to support the ecosystem.”
“We know that low-input, sustainable agriculture produces improved water and soil quality, contributes to climate stability and boosts beneficial insect populations, compared to conventional crop production practices. Now we want to figure out which policies would encourage farmers to provide these ecosystem services, as well as how much citizens are willing to pay for the services.”
“Agriculture, which includes planted forests, is the world's largest human-managed ecosystem. There is a huge area of land that people manage for food, fiber and fuel - these are all marketed products with a value attached to them. What we want to know is if we can also manage agriculture for things that people like and appreciate, but don't have markets, such as cleaner air, cleaner water, less global warming, wildlife habitat and aesthetics - many people enjoy seeing the green, open space of farmland in their communities.”
