Policy scenarios for agriculture that enhance soil ecosystem services in Europe and China

Aiming to evaluate the effect of agricultural management practices in the environmental footprint, this study develops scenarios of future farm and soil management systems for improved productivity and enhanced soil quality. The analysis is at the continental scale in Europe and China. The evaluation has two components: (1) A multi-actor approach is used to develop the policy scenarios; and (2) An upscalling model is used to evaluate the effect of the scenarios at the continental scale. The results are presented in a series of maps with a 10 x 10 km resolutions, that allow comparison of strategies relevant to agricultural policy development. Three scenarios are evaluated: The Expected scenario maintains the observed tendency in the implementation of beneficial agricultural management practices. The Regional Targets assumes the same rate of implementation of agricultural management practices, but considers that policy efforts are focused on areas where soil threats are more active and soil quality indicators are poorer. The emphasis, therefore, is place on targeting the regions that where the practices would be more beneficial. The Towards 2050 scenario assumes an intensification on the rate of implementation of agricultural management practices as a result of public policies. The scenarios are necessarily a simplification of the complex policy processes that influences farmer choices at the local and regional levels. The content of the study is based on the results of the iSQAPER (http://www.isqaper-project.eu/) H2020 project.