Evaluating the efficient use of ecosystem processes for agricultural production: an empirical analysis of the implementation of a nature-based solution in intensive crop systems

Evaluating the efficient use of ecosystem processes for agricultural production: an empirical analysis of the implementation of a nature-based solution in intensive crop systems | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Evaluating the efficient use of ecosystem processes for agricultural production: an empirical analysis of the implementation of a nature-based solution in intensive crop systems Jerome Faure, Sabrina Gaba, Thomas Perrot, Vincent Bretagnolle, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-3852888/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Nature-based solutions (NBSs) can ensure food production while providing environmental benefits, but there is little scientific knowledge about their economically efficient use. This study fills this gap by investigating NBSs in an agricultural production model calibrated on empirical data. We propose an original framework based on the framework in Saha et al. ( 1997 ), to which we add an explicit model of ecological dynamics. We then apply this amended framework to a case study in France and combine unique ecological, agronomic, psychological, and economic data to estimate and simulate NBS efficiency. We study a form of NBS – the preservation and restoration of semi-natural habitats (SNHs) – and show that the optimal landscape coverage is 17.5%, twice the extent of the current coverage at the study site. Our study supports the rate recommended in existing ecology-based studies and goes further by introducing new productivity-based arguments. We also show that SNH efficiency conditions are shaped by risk preferences and the number of ecosystem services under consideration. The total value of SNHs is twice lower when risk preferences are not considered and four times higher when multiple ecosystem services are modeled. The study opens new avenues to include NBSs in the traditional agricultural economics frameworks and warns about the importance of choices in the modeling process. Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files SUPPLfaure.docx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-3852888","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":267769490,"identity":"d82d1aab-8561-4421-bae4-f7ca22cf952f","order_by":0,"name":"Jerome Faure","email":"data:image/png;base64,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","orcid":"","institution":"Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jerome","middleName":"","lastName":"Faure","suffix":""},{"id":267769491,"identity":"5cb16f13-ccfa-4694-a935-00b8b2c0c7c2","order_by":1,"name":"Sabrina Gaba","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Sabrina","middleName":"","lastName":"Gaba","suffix":""},{"id":267769492,"identity":"dc41f45c-95c4-4b58-acf9-dcb102cc07a3","order_by":2,"name":"Thomas Perrot","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"French Foundation for Biodiversity Research","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Thomas","middleName":"","lastName":"Perrot","suffix":""},{"id":267769493,"identity":"2f6a35d7-42f1-47eb-9e99-541516f812a7","order_by":3,"name":"Vincent Bretagnolle","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Vincent","middleName":"","lastName":"Bretagnolle","suffix":""},{"id":267769494,"identity":"e6e37430-03fa-47f6-bb96-d55fde6fd961","order_by":4,"name":"Lauriane Mouysset","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"International Research Center on Environment and Development","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Lauriane","middleName":"","lastName":"Mouysset","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-01-11 09:04:14","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-3852888/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-3852888/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":54869904,"identity":"914fdcd6-d98a-4847-aa14-aa0e31dcf322","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-04-18 00:37:34","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":516637,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"MSfaure.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-3852888/v1_covered_1946c205-52ea-4b70-9695-7a170be946a3.pdf"},{"id":49873617,"identity":"ce6ae71f-a8ea-4c00-9aa1-c2a710243d48","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-01-19 12:58:53","extension":"docx","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":135988,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"SUPPLfaure.docx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-3852888/v1/c4fe68f07c45afa263a060f0.docx"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Evaluating the efficient use of ecosystem processes for agricultural production: an empirical analysis of the implementation of a nature-based solution in intensive crop systems","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-3852888/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-3852888/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eNature-based solutions (NBSs) can ensure food production while providing environmental benefits, but there is little scientific knowledge about their economically efficient use. This study fills this gap by investigating NBSs in an agricultural production model calibrated on empirical data. We propose an original framework based on the framework in Saha et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR59\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1997\u003c/span\u003e), to which we add an explicit model of ecological dynamics. We then apply this amended framework to a case study in France and combine unique ecological, agronomic, psychological, and economic data to estimate and simulate NBS efficiency. We study a form of NBS \u0026ndash; the preservation and restoration of semi-natural habitats (SNHs) \u0026ndash; and show that the optimal landscape coverage is 17.5%, twice the extent of the current coverage at the study site. Our study supports the rate recommended in existing ecology-based studies and goes further by introducing new productivity-based arguments. We also show that SNH efficiency conditions are shaped by risk preferences and the number of ecosystem services under consideration. The total value of SNHs is twice lower when risk preferences are not considered and four times higher when multiple ecosystem services are modeled. The study opens new avenues to include NBSs in the traditional agricultural economics frameworks and warns about the importance of choices in the modeling process.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Evaluating the efficient use of ecosystem processes for agricultural production: an empirical analysis of the implementation of a nature-based solution in intensive crop systems","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2024-01-19 12:58:48","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-3852888/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"7fc321f3-6105-4d04-a527-eca28ea38bce","owner":[],"postedDate":"January 19th, 2024","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2024-04-18T00:29:23+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2024-01-19 12:58:48","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-3852888","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-3852888","identity":"rs-3852888","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"qtupq5eGEP_6zYnWcrvyt","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}