Behavioural, Ecological and Socio-economic
Tools for Modelling Agricultural Policy

South Moravia, a prominent agricultural region in the heart of Czechia, stands out for its flourishing agricultural landscape. Its selection as a key agricultural hub is attributed to its flat terrain, graced by fertile soils and a rich mosaic of environmental conditions. This intricate blend of landscapes and farming practices has contributed to fostering the region's agricultural affluence. Over the years, the region has undergone significant transformations, modeled by the postwar era...

BESTMAP took part at the 52nd Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland (GfÖ Annual Meeting 2023), which took place in Leipzig, Germany from September 12 to 16, 2023. The event was generously hosted by the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, under the theme, "The Future of Biodiversity – overcoming barriers of taxa, realms, and scales." The gathering attracted a remarkable turnout, with...

The BESTMAP project made a stop at the 9th European Conference on Ecological Modelling (ECEM 2023), a dynamic gathering held between 4-8 September in Leipzig, Germany. The conference attracted an impressive assembly of nearly 350 participants from across Europe, all converging to explore a range of topics central to ecological modeling. These discussions spanned a wide spectrum, encompassing areas such as the representation of response mechanisms, multi-criteria model evaluation, model-data...

Situated in the northeastern part of England, the Humber region plays a significant role in the convergence of culture, agriculture, and nature. Agriculture dominates a substantial portion of its expansive land, accounting for roughly 80% of the region. The Humber region features varied topography, including flat peatlands and rolling terrains. This topographic diversity influences a wide array of agricultural practices, fostering distinct ecosystems and farming methods. Livestock,...

  A recent study conducted in five BESTMAP case study regions sheds light on farmers' views on agricultural policy instruments. The study, encompassing Humber region in UK, Catalonia in Spain, the Mulde region in Germany, South Moravia in the Czech Republic and Bačka region in Serbia, aimed to understand farmers' perspectives across various policy landscapes. One noteworthy aspect of the study is its inclusion of Serbia, a country that is not yet an EU member. In Serbia,...

In a recent publication in the People and Nature journal, the latest BESTMAP paper presents fresh insights from a research project titled "Adoption and Potеntial of Agri-Enviornmental Schemes in Europe: Cross-Regional Evidence from Interviews with Farmers." This study presents a collaborative effort involving members of the BESTMAP consortium, inlcuding the University of Leeds, Palacký University Olomouc, CREAF, BioSense Institute, UFZ and  Technical University...

BESTMAP Project Partners - Stephanie Roilo, Anne Paulus, Michael Beckmann and Anna F. Cord have recently published a research article, called "Farm structure and environmental context drive farmers' decisions on the spatial distribution of ecological focus areas in Germany" in the journal Landscape Ecology. The paper explores Ecological Focus Areas (EFAs) and their role in conserving biodiversity and improving soil quality in European farmland. EFAs are an important part...

Check out our latest BESTMAP newsletter. Issue 7 is now live! Access it here or visit our dedicated newsletter section and find out the recent news from BESTMAP and the AGRIMODELS Cluster. From event participation, through recent publications to two social media campaign, these and a lot more you will find in the latest issue.  Curious for what comes next? Stay in the loop by subscribing for future newsletter editions!

BESTMAP was represented at the IALE 2023 World Congress organised every four years by the International Association for Landscape Ecology. Tomáš Václavík from Palacký University Olomouc (UPOL) attended this year’s conference which took place between 10-15 July 2023 in Nairoibi, Kenya, first time in the history of IALE conferences organised on the African continent. Tomáš presented a talk entitled "The impact...

MIND STEP, one of the BESTMAP sister projects has just recently published the 7th issue of their electronic news bulletin.  Sheding light on recent and upcoming advancements within the project, MIND STEP has featured BESTMAP, along with AGRICORE, with which the three projects form the Agrimodels Cluster. Explore the MIND STEP June 2023 newsletter here. 

BESTMAP wraps up the #BESTMAP_Research social media campaign. Over the course of the campaign, which spanned nine publications, the last one concluding in June, we delved into the environmental impacts of agricultural policies in European farmlands. Our focus extended to measures such as organic farming and agri-environmental schemes (AES). Throughout the campaign, we strived to foster transparency regarding the project, sharing scientific insights and approaches that address the...

The 2023 IALE World Congress will take place in Nairobi, Kenya, from 10th – 15th, July 2023. The IALE World Congress occurs every four years and is the premier event for landscape ecologists worldwide to address topics in landscape ecology that range from local to global in scale. During the World Congress, landscape ecologists from public, private, and non-profit sectors will address a broad spectrum of environmental challenges and their potential solutions. The 2023 World Congress...

Dr Tomás Václavík of UPOL, Czech Republic represented BESTMAP at the 6th International Research Workshop on Archetype Analysis in Sustainability Research on 7-9 June in Lund, Sweden. He participated with a workshop on "Farming System Archetypes for modelling impacts of agricultural policies". The conference abstract with which Dr. Václavík participated can be found here.

One of our social media campaigns has concluded. Through our campaign #BESTMAPconsortium,which ran from November to April, we have showcased interesting facts about each and every one of our 13 partnering institutions, from 8 European Countries. The 13 institutions featured in the #BESTMAPconsortium campaign are: University of Leeds Helmholtz-Zentrum fur Umweltforschung GMBH (UFZ) Univerzita Palackeho v Olomouci (UPOL)  Institut fuer Weltwirtschaft (IfW)...

Between 27 and 29 March 2023, the 97th Annual Conference of the Agricultural Economics Society (AES) took place at the University of Warwick, UK. The three-day event showcased various presentations from leading experts, poster presentations, as well as workshops on bio-economic modelling, the Green Revolution, uptake of low-carbon practices by farmers and more.  Dr. Alena Schmidt at the AES Conference Amongst the participants was BESTMAP's partner Dr. Alena Schmidt...

In order to evaluate the efficacy of agricultural policies in European farmlands, it is essential to comprehend the environmental effects of these policies, particularly those of measures like organic farming or agri-environmental schemes (AES). Against this background, we are happy to announce the launch of our latest social media campaign #BESTMAP_Research. The campaign will aim at creating transparency towards the project, as well as to inform on our scientific results and approaches to...

While we are eagerly looking forward to all of the results we have on our 2023 agenda, we would like to take a moment and look back at the BESTMAP most prominent achievements from 2022.  Are you curious to know what BESTMAP has achieved in the past year? Take a look at our 2022 highlights video, where you will find some of our greater accomplishments.  

Between 21 and 25 of November 2022 a joint meeting titled "Ecology and Evolution: New perspectives and societal challenges" was held in Metz, France, where BESTMAP’s partner Dr. Michael Beckmann of the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) participated. The event was organised by the The Interdisciplinary Laboratory for Continental Environments (LIEC), University of Lorraine, CNRS and other labs in northeastern France working in the fields of ecology and evolution....

On 14 November 2022, BESTMAP’s partners at the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food of Catalonia (DARP) organised a dedicated workshop aiming to create a forum for interested parties from the Department to take action in the participation and management of various European projects, to get a better overview of the project’s ecosystem and the existing funding and cooperation possibilities. DARP is actively involved in a large number of European projects, among...