Conservation and restoration in an agricultural landscape: An eco-label focused approach

Eco-labelling of agricultural products has emerged as a promising way of increasing consumer choice while also providing financial incentives for environmentally-friendly farming practices. This project is marshalling scientific support for the ecosystem component of an eco-label marketing program for potatoes in central Wisconsin. Farms certified to sell potatoes under the Healthy-Grown© label are required to conform to a set of in-field standards designed to minimize the use of pesticides and fertilizers following IPM procedures. Certification standards have recently been expanded to include an ecosystem component that requires growers to take actions on non-crop lands to preserve and restore functionally meaningful biodiversity while meeting regional conservation objectives. Our study is characterizing biodiversity of upland non-crop habitats by collecting data on three groups – plants, insects, and birds in three types of adjacent upland habitat: pine plantation, oak woodland/forest, and weed/non-native meadow and along transects that cross the non-crop/crop boundary. We have also assessed species assemblages in habitats restored by thinning and burning. Our data show that a substantial portion of the biodiversity is present in the remnants despite their small size and history of past disturbance. As expected, we found sharp discontinuities in species assemblages for all groups at the field/non-crop boundaries. We also have evidence that relatively simple management actions that move the vegetation towards its original condition of open oak-pine barrens will further increase the number of native species present. Our project, which includes an outreach component, has been well-received by the grower community, but the challenge remains how to use our detailed ecological information so that the ecological certification standard is practical, effective, and scientifically valid.