TV1: Cattle farming on extensive grassland

Background

To date, there have been few approaches to marketing biodiversity through food. Existing certification systems and labels often only consider biodiversity as a secondary aspect and not in its entirety. Producer associations that are set up with the aim of valorizing certain products from extensive production, such as Alb-Leisa, Kraichgaukorn, Weiderind, Heumilch, Lerchenbrot, etc., ultimately serve to promote biodiversity. However, they are not generally and explicitly dedicated to the promotion of biodiversity.

Aims of the subproject

The aim of the subproject is to develop a biodiversity indicator system for grassland and arable land that can be used reliably and transparently in a wide variety of natural areas and forms of use (arable land, grassland, orchards, etc.) throughout Baden-Württemberg. This should be usable for both conventional and organic farms in order to offer farmers a simple way to independently evaluate their production from a nature conservation perspective. This lays an important foundation for generating a large area effect with regard to the protection and development of biodiversity-rich habitats and also enables economic action for farm managers.

Procedure in the subproject

The indicators should be independently applicable for farmers and at the same time comprehensible for consumers. Based on existing grazing projects and demonstration projects in various landscapes in Baden-Württemberg (Black Forest, Swabian Alb, Allgäu and Gäulandschaften), basic data will be collected with regard to biodiversity, agricultural productivity and climate protection. The concept and the results are coordinated and validated with the project partners and stakeholders in three workshops.