Workpackage 6

Task 6 proposes an assessment of the economic and agro-ecologic performances of production systems (eco-efficiency frontier). The evaluation of various scenarios of agricultural land use will be based on interdisciplinary modeling, encompassing agronomic, ecological and economic features. The two economic dimensions described above (i.e., macro and micro-economic levels) will be accounted for. First, we shall build production possibility frontiers, and measure the efficiency of given landscapes. Second, we shall consider given public policies, their efficiency in achieving the ecological objectives, and their viability. A special emphasize will be put on the articulation of collective strategies (the macro-economic objective representing social choice) and private strategies in the design of territorialized public policies. This will requires considering the coordination of several actors to reach a given land-use pattern. We will examine the cost of reaching a desired state for the territorial system, and the viability of the proposed solutions, including the farmers' incentives cost (micro-economic cost at the regulation agency level). The temporal viability of the proposed policy instrument will be assessed in a global economic context of increasing and fluctuating (uncertain) prices of agricultural commodities in a changing world.