Biodiversity has been drastically affected by intensive agricultural production, resulting in the loss of public goods, such as iconic wildlife and cultural landscapes. The SHOWCASE project is dedicated to stopping this decline in biodiversity by promoting sustainable farming, which includes practices, such as the use of seed mixtures increasing biodiversity. 

To better understand what the use of more diverse seed mixes implies for land managers in terms of costs, the latest newsletter from the European Commission’s news alert service Science for Environment Policy included an article, examining the prices of more diverse grassland seed mixtures. 

Researchers studied the cost of increasing the number of species in managed and semi-natural grasslands by sowing commercial seed mixes. They found that there was a strong relationship between species diversity and seed-mixture price – on average, mixes with 30 species cost four times more than single-species products. The price also went up when rarer species were involved or when the products were aimed at permanent grassland. Finally, prices were significantly higher (75% more) when native and regionally sourced seeds were used, which is the recommended practice for restoration purposes. 

These high costs of diverse seed mixtures may affect agri-environmental schemes and limit the efforts to increase plant diversity and restore semi-natural grasslands. Thus, their price should be considered when making recommendations to implement them. Reducing their prices could be an effective measure for conserving existing semi-natural grasslands and promoting plant diversity, which should be a priority, researchers say.

You can read the full article here.

Photo: Open palms holding grain.