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The planting of riparian margins is a policy option for pastoral farmers in response to land use induced environmental issues such as declining water quality, stream bank erosion, and loss of aquatic and terrestrial habitat. We elicited the views and experiences as to pros and cons of planting riparian margins from two sets of dairy farmers from Taranaki, New Zealand: those who are or have planted riparian margins, and those who have not yet done so. Those farmers who have planted riparian margins identified 21 positive aspects of riparian margin plantings and 11 negative aspects of riparian margin plantings. Perceived benefits identified by this group include water quality, increased biodiversity, the provision of cultural ecosystem services, immediate direct benefits to farm management and the farm system, and in some instances increased productivity on-farm. In contrast, those farmers that had fenced but not planted their riparian margins did not consider that riparian margin plantings could add further benefits to that which could be achieved by excluding stock from waterways, and associated only negative perceptions with riparian margin plantings. Planting riparian margins is not cost neutral and will not deliver anticipated environmental benefits in every situation. However, we argue that riparian margin plantings are an important ecological infrastructure investment that needs to be captured within a wider policy framework, the benefits of which extend beyond the mitigation of a single negative externality generated by land use practices, such as nutrient loss, and contribute to a multifunctional landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In New Zealand, 25% of the remaining indigenous vegetation cover is found on mixed livestock farms located predominantly in hill country. Despite evidence that adding natural capital stocks in the form of biodiversity enhancement is likely to increase the provision of ecosystem services on and off farmland, quantitative data are largely lacking. This research takes a case study approach to providing an evaluation of the implications of advancing a biodiversity enhancement programme on the financial and environmental performance of three mixed livestock farms across New Zealand. The research used a farm system optimisation model to quantify the effects of biodiversity enhancement on different aspects of the farm business. The three farms studied varied in size, geo-climatic zones, amount of indigenous vegetation and the size of the proposed biodiversity enhancement programme. Shifting even a small part of farmland from grazing to biodiversity enhancement affects farm system design, resulting in changes to the livestock policy, sale and purchase dates of livestock and the grazing management plan. These changes also affect farm revenue, Net Present Value and annuity, all of which declined by 3–9% across the three farms over the 10 years modelled. However, after implementation of the biodiversity enhancement programme, there was a small increase in the annuity per hectare grazed compared with the Base farm scenario for two of the three farms studied. The provision of other ecosystem services was quantified on one farm, and in sharp contrast, these increased, which included greenhouse gas regulation with additional C storage and decreased GHG emissions, and increased filtering and nutrient retention resulting in a reduction in N and P losses to water. Biodiversity enhancement on farm has the potential to improve aesthetics, increase sense of place, recreational and spiritual values and provision of other food products. The current study highlighted the fact that our current farm system models lack the capability to provide quantitative information on the provision of ecosystem services at the farm scale, and do not include all the natural resources across different areas of the farm. This should be a priority in the future. • In NZ, mixed livestock farms hold 25% of the remaining indigenous vegetation. • This case study investigates the implications of biodiversity enhancement on 3 farms. • Farm system optimisation was used to determine financial and environmental performance. • Biodiversity enhancement decreased profit NPV by 3–9% but increased profit/ha grazed. • Other ecosystem services increased including GHG regulation and nutrient retention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Ecosystem-based management (EBM) was integrated with geodesign framework. • Collaboration with the farmers was carried out to obtain farm information and co-design the landscapes. • Multifunctional farmed landscapes (MFC) can provide a wide range of ES and meet multiple demands. • Increasing landscape diversity and complexity is a key to achieving more sustainable MFC. • The integration of EBM and geodesign is an effective approach for sustainable MFC planning. An ecosystem-based management approach (EBM) is suggested as one solution to help to tackle environmental challenges facing worldwide farming systems whilst ensuring socio-economic demands are met. Despite its usefulness, the application of this approach at the farm-scale presents several implementation problems, including the difficulty of (a) incorporating the concept of ecosystem services (ES) into agricultural land use decision-making and (b) involving the farmer in the planning process. This study aims to propose a solution to overcome these challenges by utilising a geodesign framework and EBM approach to plan and design a sustainable multifunctional agricultural landscape at the farm scale. We demonstrate how the proposed approach can be applied to plan and design multifunctional agricultural landscapes that offer improved sustainability, using a New Zealand hill country farm as a case study. A geodesign framework is employed to generate future land use and management scenarios for the study area, visualize changes, and assess the impacts of future land use on landscape multifunctionality and the provision of associated ES and economic outcomes. In this framework, collaboration with the farmer was carried out to obtain farm information and co-design the farmed landscapes. The results from our study demonstrate that farmed landscapes where multiple land use/ land cover types co-exist can provide a wide range of ES and therefore, meet both economic and environmental demands. The assessment of impacts for different land use change scenarios demonstrates that land use change towards increasing landscape diversity and complexity is a key to achieving more sustainable multifunctional farmed landscapes. The integration of EBM and geodesign, is a transdisciplinary approach that can help farmers target land use and management decisions by considering the major ES that are, and could be, provided by the landscapes in which these farm systems are situated, therefore maximising the potential for beneficial outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multifunctionality can refer to the capacity of a landscape to provide a wide range of ecosystem services (ES). Maintaining or restoring multifunctionality in agricultural landscapes is considered an efficient solution to achieve sustainable agricultural production because multiple ES provided by a landscape can support both environmental protection and socio-economic benefits. Quantifying the provision of ES provides fundamental information to measure landscape multifunctionality and inform sustainable land management strategies. Although a large number of studies have been carried out to measure landscape multifunctionality and associated ES, comprehensive spatially explicit assessments at the farm scale are limited. This research applies a wide range of spatial models, tools, and methods to spatially quantify the provision of multiple ES as well as the pattern of landscape multifunctionality in farmed landscapes. To quantify the provision of multiple ES provided by the landscape, the bio-physical models provided by InVEST (e.g., Nutrient Delivery Ratio and Sediment Delivery Ratio models) and land use land cover-based assessments using spatial analysis tools in ArcGIS were employed. The Analytic Hierarchy Process was applied to calculate the landscape multifunctionality index which is an integration of multiple ES supply. Hot spot analysis using Getis Ord Gi* statistics was utilised to examine the spatial distribution of multiple ecosystem services. A hill country farm in New Zealand is chosen as a case study because it is a good example of a diverse landscape that is facing significant environmental issues due to intensive agricultural production. Our study reveals that the provision of ES and the pattern of landscape multifunctionality is highly variable across the farm. Both positive and negative relationships among ES are found and the interactions between them are mainly reflected in three ES bundles: the agricultural land, the indigenous forest and wetlands, and the mixed land uses. Furthermore, our study demonstrates that the quality of landscape is significantly dependent on the landscape management goals and preferences of the farmer so involving them into the process of ES and landscape multifunctionality assessment at a farm scale is essential step to obtain more comprehensive results. Results from this study enable important questions to be answered regarding the spatial variation of ES provision and how land use and land management goals relate to the value and quality of landscape multifunctionality. This can provide valuable information to design future multifunctional landscapes and inform decision making in relation to sustainable land use management. [Display omitted] • Spatially-explicit assessment of landscape multifunctionality and ecosystem services at farm scale were carried out. • The pattern of landscape multifunctionality and ecosystem services is highly variable across the farmed landscapes. • Interaction between ecosystem services is complex and strongly associated to levels of landscape simplification. • Landscape multifunctionality is dependent on the management goals and preferences of landowner. • Results from this study can provide important basis to design future multifunctional landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]