Nature balance scheme for farms--evaluation of the ecological situation

Farming needs more and more support in society to get further subsidies. This will only be possible when the ecological benefit can be proved. Up to now a method to measure biodiversity and ecological benefit of farms is missing. In the state of Baden-Wurttemberg (Germany), farmers and agri-environment experts have worked together to devise schemes to record the ecological richness and benefits of farms, especially in the field of biodiversity and cultural landscape issues. The scheme uses 47 different indicators divided into four sectors, biodiversity-structural richness, biodiversity-species richness, farm management, and field management (farming methods). Farmers can perform the assessment themselves, on average sized farms in Southwest Germany one working day may be sufficient. After assessing the ecological situation of the farm an evaluation can easily be made in form of a nature balance scheme. The presented nature balance scheme is based on a 100-point target system revealing ecological benefits as well as shortcomings of the farms. The paper presents results after applying the method to 16 farms in different natural environments and especially the case study Gengenbach (10 farms). Four out of 10 farms achieved the target of 100 points and thus it could be stated that they manage a sustainable agriculture in the sense of biodiversity and environmental sound farming. The results are encouraging because they show that the method works well and farmers become aware of the ecological situation of their farms.