CNH-L: The Influence of Conflicting Policies and Supply-Chain Pressures on Farmers' Decisions and Tradeoffs with Respect to Biodiversity, Profitability, and Sustainability

21世纪的一项重大挑战是增加粮食产量以满足世界人民的需求，同时确保长期的经济和生态可持续性。侧重于支持生物多样性以产生基本生态系统服务的耕作方法可能在应对这一挑战方面发挥重要作用，同时减少严重依赖不可再生投入的集约化耕作方法的有害影响。研究人员将把他们的研究重点放在加州中部海岸种植生菜的农民身上，他们采用不同的做法来支持生物多样性，加州中部海岸是美国最多产的农业区之一。研究人员将对这些农民进行深入访谈和焦点小组讨论，以发现他们采取或不采取多样化做法的方式和原因。对这些农场的生态研究将评估鸟类和土壤微生物的生物多样性，并将量化这些生物提供的关键生态系统服务，包括维持土壤肥力、加强水资源保护和减少食源性病原体的传播。一系列社会经济方法，包括定量调查和农场层面的成本与回报研究，将研究生物多样性和生态系统服务如何影响农场利润、监管合规以及未来是否使用多样化实践的决定。这些数据将被整合，以构建一个自然-人类耦合系统的马尔可夫决策过程模型，并评估可能影响特定农业实践采用率的政策情景。尽管本研究的重点是加州中部海岸，在那里可以很容易地观察到历史上集约化农业生产的生态和社会成本，但通过本研究获得的发现和见解将对美国和其他国家面临与集约化农业生产相关的类似挑战的地区产生重要影响。本项目由美国国家科学基金会自然与人类系统耦合动力学（CNH）项目资助。这个跨学科研究项目将研究政策和市场对农民管理决策的影响，这些决策对农田生物多样性及其提供的生态系统服务的影响，以及这些生态系统服务如何影响农业生产力、盈利能力和可持续性。该项目将提供有关农业保护激励计划和供应链如何共同影响农民使用可增加生物多样性的耕作方式的能力和意愿的新信息和见解。该项目将确定这种耕作方式如何影响鸟类、土壤微生物及其提供的重要服务。基于社会经济和生态方法的研究结果将被整合到农民如何应对相互冲突的需求和确定其选择的后果的模型中。该项目将为博士后研究人员、研究生和本科生提供从事科学研究的教育和培训机会，其中许多人是科学、技术、工程和数学领域代表性不足的群体的成员。该项目还将制作信息图表和实况介绍，并为农民、消费者、决策者和公众举办社区活动、研讨会和其他形式的外联活动。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

A grand challenge of the 21st century is to increase food production to meet the needs of the world's people while ensuring long-term economic and ecological sustainability. Farming methods that focus on supporting biodiversity to produce essential ecosystem services may play an important role in addressing this challenge while lessening the harmful effects of intensive farming methods that rely heavily on non-renewable inputs. The investigators will focus their research on lettuce farmers who vary in their use of practices that support biodiversity along the central coast of California, one of the nation's most productive agricultural regions. The researchers will employ in-depth interviews and focus groups with these farmers to discover how and why they do or do not adopt diversification practices. Ecological studies of their farms will assess bird and soil microbial biodiversity and will quantify key ecosystem services provided by these organisms including the maintenance of soil fertility, enhancement of water conservation, and reduction of the spread of foodborne pathogens. A range of socioeconomic methods including a quantitative survey and a farm-level cost-and-return study will examine how biodiversity and ecosystem services affect farm profits, regulatory compliance, and decisions about whether to use diversification practices in the future. These data will be integrated to construct a Markov decision-process model of the coupled natural-human system and to assess policy scenarios that may influence adoption rates of specific farming practices. Although focused on the central coast of California, where the ecological and social costs of historically intensive agricultural production can be readily observed, findings and insights obtained through this research will have important implications in the U.S. and other nations for regions facing similar challenges related to intensive agricultural production. This project is supported by the NSF Dynamics of Coupled Natural and Human Systems (CNH) Program.This interdisciplinary research project will study the influence of policies and markets on farmers' management decisions, the effects of these decisions on farmland biodiversity and the ecosystem services it provides, and how these ecosystem services affect farm productivity, profitability, and sustainability. This project will provide new information and insights regarding how agricultural conservation incentive programs and supply chains jointly affect the ability and willingness of farmers to use farming practices that can increase biodiversity. The project will identify how such farming practices affect birds, soil microbes, and the vital services they provide. Findings based on socioeconomic and ecological approaches will be integrated to model how farmers navigate conflicting requirements and to identify the consequences of their choices. The project will provide education and training opportunities to engage in scientific research for post-doctoral researchers, graduate students, and undergraduate students, many of whom are members of groups underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The project also will develop infographics and fact sheets as well as conduct community events, workshops, and other forms of outreach for farmers, consumers, policy makers, and the public.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.