Browsing by Subject "JustFood"

ABSTRACT Tiedekunta/Osasto - Fakultet/Sektion 3⁄4 Faculty Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry  Osasto - Sektion - Department Department of Agricultural Sciences Tekijä - Författare - Author Julia Virtanen Työn nimi - Arbetets titel - Title Farmers and biodiversity Oppiaine - Läroämne - Subject Agricultural sciences, agroecology Työn laji - Arbetets art - Level M.Sc. Thesis  Aika - Datum - Month and year February 2021  Sivumäärä 3⁄4 Sidoantal 3⁄4 Number of pages 45 pages Tiivistelmä - Referat - Abstract The aim of this study was to identify farmers' opinions about biodiversity and compare their opinions with the measured biodiversity data from their own fields. The goal was to find out what are the main reasons for biodiversity conservation and what kinds of farming activities were seen as most important tools to conserve farmland biodiversity. This study was executed as a commission to the Finnish Environment Institute as a part of JustFood -research project. There were 33 farmers representing both organic and conventional farming. The results showed that there wasn't statistically significant difference between the two farming types regarding farmers' appreciation of biodiversity. The biodiversity data and overall farmers' appreciation values included scattering between farming types and within both groups. The most of the farmers stressed the importance of ecosystem services as a reason to conserve biodiversity. A third of the farmers emphasized the intrinsic value of biodiversity. Altogether, farmers in this study were rather interested in conserving biodiversity in their own farms regardless of the farming type or cultivated crops. Avainsanat - Nyckelord - Keywords biodiversity, farmer perceptions, agroecosystems, biodiversity conservation, JustFood Säilytyspaikka - Förvaringsställe - Where deposited Master's Programme in Agricultural Sciences, Department of Agricultural Sciences Muita tietoja - Övriga uppgifter - Further information Mikko Kuussaari (SYKE), Marjaana Toivonen (SYKE and the University of Helsinki), Iryna Herzon (University of Helsinki) HELSINGIN YLIOPISTO - HELSINGFORS UNIVERSITET - UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI