title: Food production, ecosystem services and biodiversity: We can't have it all everywhere.
abstract: Debate about how sustainable intensification and multifunctionality might be implemented continues, but there remains little understanding as to what extent they are achievable in arable landscapes. Policies that influence agronomic decisions are rarely made with an appreciation of the trade-offs that exist between food production, biodiversity conservation and ecosystem service provision. We present an approach that can reveal such trade-offs when used to assess current and future policy options that affect agricultural inputs (e.g. pesticides, nutrients) and practices. In addition, by demonstrating it in a pesticide policy context, we show how safeguarding a range of ecosystem services may have serious implications for UK food security. We suggest that policy change is most usefully implemented at a landscape scale to promote multifunctionality, tailoring pesticide risk assessment and incentives for management that support bundles of ecosystem services to specific landscape contexts. In some instances tough trade-offs may need to be accepted. However, our approach can ensure that current knowledge is used to inform policy decisions for progress towards a more balanced food production system.
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Animal and Plant Sciences, The University of Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK. Electronic address: a.holt@sheffield.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Alison R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Holt
authors.affiliation: Dow AgroSciences, 3 Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxfordshire OX14 4RA, UK. Electronic address: aalix@dow.com.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alix
authors.affiliation: Dow AgroSciences, Latchmore Court, Brand Street, Hitchin, Hertfordshire SG5 1NH, UK. Electronic address: anthompson@dow.com.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Animal and Plant Sciences, The University of Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK. Electronic address: l.maltby@sheffield.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Lorraine
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Maltby
mesh_terms: D044822:Biodiversity; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D017753:Ecosystem; D005523:Food Supply; D006113:United Kingdom
keywords: Arable; Biodiversity conservation; Ecosystem services; Food security; Multifunctional landscapes; Pesticides