Eating Biodiversity:

1
Eating Biodiversity

• An Investigation of the Links between Quality
  Food Productionand Biodiversity Protection
• Henry Buller
• Department of Geography
• University of Exeter
• H.Buller_at_exeter.ac.uk

2
The Idea

• Modern farming is largely thought of as
  detrimental to biodiversity protection and
  enhancement
• Biodiversity is often seen as external to the
  processes of food production
• However . . .
• Biodiversity can also be seen as an input to the
  food chain rather than the result of managed
  restraint
• Biodiversity-rich pasture can be an element of
  food distinctiveness, quality and, thereby, value
  to farm businesses and the rural economy

3
The Research Question

• How can biodiversity be integrated into food
  chains as an explicit means of generating
  distinctiveness and adding value ?
• What are the opportunities for a win-win
  situation where higher food quality and value is
  directly linked to maintaining and improving the
  biodiversity within production systems, and where
  this will have positive effects for farm
  businesses, rural economies and human health ?

Biodiversity as input
Grassland quality
Meat quality
Product value
Farm viability
Rural development
Consumer choice
4
The Research Objectives

• To examine a sample of food products and
  production practices (and a control sample),
  where biodiversity in forage resources is an
  important input in food production
• To determine the nature (and the perception) of
  the quality of food products derived specifically
  from animals fed on inputs from high biodiversity
  sources
• To assess the role of such food products in the
  food chain and in rural development
• To identify examples of good practice for the
  integration of biodiversity as an element of
  product value.

5
The Approach

• This research is providing evidence and analysis
  of the relationship between food quality (defined
  according to both scientific criteria and
  consumer perception), animal diet (analysed in
  terms of feed inputs) and natural biodiversity
  (considered in terms of species diversity) and is
  relating this to implications for land use
  management, farm practice and processes of rural
  socio-economic development.
• Interdisciplinary
• Field-work and laboratory based
• Emphasis on good practice
• Consumer focus groups
• Stakeholder involvement
• Multivariate and Multi-actor

6
The Research
Lamb
Beef
Cheese

• Farmer interviews
• Grassland surveys
• Product acquisition
• Product testing in laboratory
• Product assessment via consumer focus groups and
  tasting panels
• Land manager interviews
• Local food chain actors

7
The Lamb Survey
8
Preliminary Results

• Clear impacts on grassland quality, meat quality
  and farm business
• Some evidence of positive broader rural
  development impacts
• Implications for land-use and biodiversity
  management
• Complex dynamics of change and innovation
• The challenge of selling need for alternative
  markets
• Implications for forms of farm support