Diversity of high-latitude agricultural landscapes and crop rotations: Increased, decreased or back and forth?

Land use change is a continuously on-going process that has many impacts on the environmental footprint of agriculture and especially on the biodiversity of agricultural landscapes. This study used field scale data from 1995 to 2011 (165,760 field parcels) on a study region that represents the prime crop production area of Finland, to assess how agricultural land use has changed since the launching of the EU Common Agricultural Policy. Six five-year crop rotation types were identified: cereal species monoculture, cereal monoculture, rotation with a break-crop, diverse crop rotation, perennial, non-permanent grassland rotation and environmental fallow rotation. Shifts in the frequencies of different crop rotation types and composition of their crop species were monitored. Furthermore, the contribution of different field characteristics, on a farmer's land allocation to different rotation types, was assessed. The ultimate goal was to understand whether land use changes, in general, have contributed to any increase in heterogeneity of landscapes and whether they have impacted diversity of crop rotation types. We found that different crop rotation types were applied on a farm, but that farmers have quite consistent drivers for land allocation to different rotation types; although, economic incentives influence the introduction, expansion and/or withdrawal of crops from rotations. The farmers' readiness to implement land use changes was dependent on farm size. There has been a shift towards lower shares of cereal species.monocultures, grassland rotations and diverse crop rotations, while environmental fallow rotations have increased. According to the five-year rotation plans shared by 16 interviewed farmers, there was a noted desire for more diverse rotation types originating from adverse experiences with cereal monocultures and soil degradation; however, they were keen on reducing the number of environmental fallows and concentrating on food production. It is important to carry out follow-up studies to understand the impacts of the demonstrated and anticipated land use changes on biodiversity. Future policy development should benefit from a gained understanding of the drivers of farmers' decisions for facilitating unimpeded implementation. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.