Provision of public goods by agriculture and forestry: Economics, policy and the way ahead

The provision of public goods by agriculture and forestry has taken increasing importance in the policy debate. The objective of this editorial is to set the scene for the special issue, to provide a summary of the main messages from the papers therein, highlight the most relevant lessons learnt for policy and generate insights for future research. The results highlight that there is a need to investigate further both the micro-mechanisms of decisionmaking, value creation and coordination among actors, including the micro-level issues in policy design, and to address the topic of public goods, taking a holistic view of how agriculture and forestry systems work. In order to meet these real-world requirements, different research approaches need to be better integrated, promoting crossfertilisation and synergies among different methodological perspectives, able to complement one another in meeting policy challenges.

Automated summary

The provision of public goods by agriculture and forestry has become increasingly important, and further research is needed to explore micro-level mechanisms such as decision-making, value creation, and coordination, while taking a holistic view of public goods in agriculture and forestry systems. To meet real-world requirements, different research approaches should be better integrated to address policy challenges effectively.