For applications in agricultural economics, complex ecological systems are often oversimplified to the extent that ecologists rarely consider model results valid. Recursive optimization of complex systems represents an alternative, but requires strong assumptions regarding time preference and...

About 30 percent of the world’s soil carbon is stored in peat soils. Peatland’s functional principle of carbon storage greatly depends on management strategies. Therefore agricultural peatland use becomes a focal point of interest in the current debate on climate protection. Agricultural...

Agriculture provides commodities and has an influence on the environment. However, even if the value of agricultural production is easy to evaluate, it is difficult to estimate the efficiency of agricultural production at site level. Furthermore, the valuation of environmental impact is complex....

Agricultural land use does not only concern farmers, but is of high relevance for the environment. Agri-environmental programmes aim to foster the environmental soundness of agricultural production. The aim of this study is to analyse the impact of agri-environmental programmes on the economic...

In comparison to large-scale natural landscapes separated from extensively used agricultural production landscapes in North America or Australia, German and Central Europe landscapes are all charac-terised by predominantly agricultural landscapes with few "rests of nature". Due to the high...

Because of high population density in Europe agriculture cannot define its aims on its own but has to take account of quite a number of demands from different actors. For instance, agriculture is expected to produce food and at the same time to contribute to the protection of cultural landscapes...

The CAP reform of 2003 will change farmer's business environment in Europe. This paper analyses the impact of the reform on the land use in southern German grassland regions. The assessment will be based on model calculations for two typical grassland regions. Each study area represents one...

Savannas cover the greater part of Africa and Australia and almost half of South America and contribute to the livelihoods of more than 350 million people. With the intensification of land use during the second half of the 20th century, savannas have become increasingly degraded through bush...