Multifunctional and stakeholder-informed agricultural : Landscape redesign in the north China plain

Agricultural landscapes support the provisioning of ecosystem services (ESs), such as food production, pest control, and nutrient cycling, while agricultural land use also generates disservices, including biodiversity loss, nutrient runoff, and greenhouse gas emissions. In the simplified landscapes of the North China Plain (NCP), intensive double cropping of winter wheat and summer maize sustains a high production of cereal grains, but the system relies heavily on artificial fertilizer and groundwater, leading to environmental degradation and reduced regulating and supporting services. Landscape diversification—through diverse cropping systems and semi-natural habitats—has been proposed as a means to better balance agricultural productivity with the provisioning of ESs and to achieve improved multifunctionality. However, little information is available on the perspective of stakeholders with regard to ESs.In this thesis, I describe a case study on Quzhou County, a typical county in the NCP and a demonstration area for China’s National Agriculture Green Development Strategy. The study pursues three main objectives: (1) assessing the current state and trends of ESs and disservices, (2) integrating stakeholder perspectives in the prioritization of ESs, and (3) redesigning agricultural landscapes to enhance multifunctionality.Stakeholders perceived provisioning services as high, while regulating and supporting services were considered scarce, with low scores for natural enemies, earthworms, and semi-natural habitats. Despite documented evidence, most farmers did not recognize agricultural disservices. Differences in perception among villages with different socio-economic and biophysical conditions suggest room for locally adapted policies.I used Q methodology to analyze the priorities of seven different stakeholder groups, including farmers, companies, citizens, academics, and government officials, for different ESs. The analysis revealed 2–3 distinct perspectives on 20 ESs within each stakeholder group. Across all perspectives, most prioritize provisioning services, while the least prioritize supporting services. Academics attached high priority to regulating and supporting services, whereas companies primarily valued provisioning services. Farmers’ perspectives varied by age and education, with older farmers prioritizing provisioning services and younger generations showing greater preference for non-provisioning services.Building on the stakeholder insights, a multi-objective optimization model (Landscape IMAGES) was adapted to explore diversified agricultural landscapes that balance multiple ESs while considering stakeholder priorities. The model was applied to two landscapes in Quzhou County, each consisting of five villages with different land-use intensity. Results showed strong trade-offs between crop production-derived income and non-provisioning ESs, reflecting a trade-off between private and public benefits. The model generated landscapes tailored to stakeholders with different perspectives. A profit-oriented scenario included more wheat-millet and vegetable production, while an environment-oriented scenario resulted in the inclusion of more tuber and oil crops. No single landscape can simultaneously maximize all ESs or meet the preferences of all stakeholders.Overall, the thesis presents an integrated methodological framework that links perception-based surveys, Q-sorting, crop and soil databases, and multi-objective optimization models to guide the redesign of agricultural landscapes. The integrated framework has the potential to be broadly applicable to other intensively cultivated landscapes and supports more effective decision-making in future landscape co-design efforts.