Article Review: Organic farming and amphibian conservation

The economic efficiency of conservation measures for amphibians in organic farming-- Results from bio-economic modeling (Schuler et al. 2012)

As humans start to realize how detrimental industrial farming is to the long term health of our own population and the environment, it has become more and more popular to support organic farming. Because of this, large scale organic farms have begun to pop up around the world, especially in the US and Europe. However, although a main goal of organic farming is to increase the sustainability of agriculture, it often costly for farmers to reach this goal and minimize negative effects on the environment.  It is essential for farmers to reach economic goals by keeping prices low enough to compete with non-organic farmers. It is also essential to do this without sacrificing the environmental goals of organic farming. 

It is important to acknowledge that organic farming is still a form of habitat loss and degradation, but negative effects on species could be minimized by researching farming techniques that are less detrimental to populations. The objective of this article is to present a model that can be applied to other organic farms to assess the cost-efficiency of crop production activities (CPA) for amphibian conservation. Crop production activities are detailed descriptions of how certain crops are produced from beginning to end (tillage-harvest). The authors performed a model-based analysis to assess the environmental and economic effects of different CPAs. For example, the study assessed the effects of various changes in timing and intensity of what they referred to as "work steps" (ploughing, mulching, mowing etc.). They also rearranged the spatial configuration of crops and the total coverage of that crop.

The authors altered these variables over a six year time span on a large scale organic farm in Northeastern Germany. After altering the variables, they measured the suitability of a crop production activity for minimizing the disturbance and injuries to amphibian populations. This variable they referred to as habitat quality. The amphibian populations they investigated were of three different species: common spadefoot toad (Pelobates fuscus), fire-bellied toad (Bombina bombina) and the European tree frog (Hyla arborea).

The table below is a little bit overwhelming, but the numbers for each data point represent the injury rate per work step (WR). This means that the higher the number, the more detrimental it was to the amphibian population. The different species are represented by letters. Overall, it appears as though the different species of amphibians respond similarly to the work steps. There are exceptions where adult tree frogs seem to be more sensitive to some work steps than other species and life stages ( mowing, combine harvesting etc.) As we might expect , ploughing had much more of a negative effect than any other work step.

The authors conducted several other experiments, including assessing the impact of buffer strips around amphibian breeding ponds, and assessing the impact of different crop types on habitat quality. In addition, the economic result of changing these variables was assessed in order to analyze trade-offs between economic and environmental goals. Although the aim  of the study was to reorganize the farm so that the habitat quality of amphibians would be increased, the main goal was still to maximize the total economic benefits in conjunction.

In conclusion, the authors found that some improvements in habitat quality for tree frogs could be satisfied  by small changes in the organization of the farm.  However, a large increase in habitat quality would probably result in significant economic losses to the farm. Also, their results suggested that an increase in buffers did not have a significant positive affect on amphibians unless a high level of habitat quality is aimed for. In other words, farmers should minimize habitat loss in other, more cost-effective ways than buffers if they wish to maximize both economic gain and habitat quality. For example, the authors found that a decrease in peas led to an increase in habitat quality and peas are also less profitable than many of the other crops.

Studies such as this will be important in the future as organic farming becomes the more preferred way of farming.  It has become apparent that we must find more sustainable, environmentally favorable ways to feed a growing population or else we will continue to decrease biodiversity at an alarming rate. By considering economic, social, and environmental aspects of farming, this goal may be reach effectively.

Schuler J, Sattler C, Helmecke A, Zander P, Uthes S, Bachinger J, Stein-Bachinger K. 2012. The economic efficiency of conservation measures for amphibians in organic farming-- Results from bio-economic modelling. Journal of Environmental Management. 114: 404-413