Future of farmland biodiversity monitoring - Perceptions of Finnish farmers and farm advisors

Agricultural practices create pressures on farmland biodiversity by reducing the habitats of species found in agricultural landscapes. Appropriate management of farmland landscapes is critical to meeting the European Union’s Biodiversity strategy for 2030 aim, which is to “put Europe’s biodiversity on a path to recovery by 2030”. Farmers and farm advisors are the central stakeholder groups to support in the conservation of farmland biodiversity, as the former makes decisions about agricultural fields and landscapes whilst the latter steers these decisions. This ongoing research will identify the Finnish farmers’ and farm advisors’ perceptions of farmland biodiversity, their views on novel biodiversity monitoring technologies and their potential usage in biodiversity conservation. Data are collected via multiple semistructured group interviews (focus groups) with two farmers and two farm advisors (4*5=20 participants). Development of the focus group discussion themes builds on prior knowledge via a literature review identifying how European farmers perceive farmland biodiversity. The aim of the focus groups is to identify participants’ perceptions of farmland biodiversity, their attitudes towards novel monitoring measures such as acoustic and optical technologies, and the development needs of current agricultural policies in relation to farmland biodiversity. The focus groups are first developed and carried out in Finland (Autumn 2023) and then conducted in Germany, Poland, Austria, Portugal, The United Kingdom and Bulgaria. The focus group data are coded according to interview themes and content analyzed. The results are expected to provide insight into farmers’ and farm advisors’ knowledge and perceptions about farmland biodiversity. Based on the extant literature, farmers and farm advisors are expected to be more able to identify some areas of farmland biodiversity, such as beneficial and adverse biodiversity and aboveground wildlife, compared to belowground biodiversity. It is also expected that farmers perceive themselves as important agricultural sector stakeholders for biodiversity conservation but that their attitudes toward adoption of novel technologies for biodiversity conservation will vary. This research will add to the knowledge base of how grassroots stakeholders – farmers and advisors – perceive novel farmland biodiversity monitoring methods, whether they be willing to engage in biodiversity monitoring themselves, and what kind of support they would need. This research contributes to the growing social science literature on social aspects for successful design and implementation of farmland biodiversity conservation strategies. By giving voice to the farmers and advisors and clarifying their perceptions towards farmland biodiversity, agricultural policies can be restructured to incorporate the stakeholders' views for more effective farmland biodiversity conservation.