Natural insurance based on the provision of ecosystem services is a promising tool for the future of agriculture. However, empirical evidence of the role it can play is lacking, and its integration into standard insurance strategies – for example, the use of pesticides or market-based insurance – has been understudied. To begin to fill this gap, this study developed an original conceptual framework to estimate the insurance value provided by semi-natural habitats in a crop production context. The framework was then applied to a case study in western France, focusing on the value of natural pest control provided by grassland areas in the context of oilseed rape production. We evaluated the insurance role of grasslands for pest control and estimated this at a value of €50 per hectare. However, this estimation varied greatly according to the farmer's risk-mitigation strategies considered. We found that omitting agricultural inputs (e.g. risk-mitigating inputs such as pesticides) overestimated the insurance value of grassland areas due to the substitution effect between different types of insurance tools. Despite this variation, the findings show that it is nonetheless always optimal for farmers to maintain grassland areas to manage risk. This study provides empirical evidence of the insurance role of semi-natural habitats in an agricultural production context and offers new arguments for the ecological intensification of agriculture.

中文翻译：

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自然保险是农民的绿色替代品？半自然栖息地的经验证据和方法论偏倚


基于生态系统服务提供的自然保险是农业未来的一个有前途的工具。然而，缺乏关于它可以发挥的作用的经验证据，并且将其整合到标准保险策略（例如，使用杀虫剂或市场化保险）中的研究不足。为了开始填补这一空白，本研究开发了一个原始的概念框架来估计半自然栖息地在作物生产环境中提供的保险价值。然后将该框架应用于法国西部的一个案例研究，重点关注草原地区在油菜生产背景下提供的自然害虫防治的价值。我们评估了草原在害虫防治方面的保险作用，估计每公顷价值 50 欧元。然而，根据农民所考虑的风险缓解策略，这一估计差异很大。我们发现，由于不同类型保险工具之间的替代效应，遗漏农业投入物（例如农药等降低风险的投入物）高估了草原面积的保险价值。尽管存在这种差异，但研究结果表明，农民维护草原区域以管理风险始终是最佳的。本研究为半自然栖息地在农业生产环境中的保险作用提供了实证证据，并为农业的生态集约化提供了新的论点。