PhD defence

The economic value of sustainable soil management

PhD candidate	dr.ir. MC (Maarten) Kik
Promotor	prof.dr.ir. MPM (Miranda) Meuwissen
Co-promotor	dr.ir. HW (Helmut) Saatkamp dr.ir. GDH (Frits) Claassen dr.ir. AB (Bert) Smit
Organisation	Wageningen University, Operations Research and Logistics Group, Business Economics, Wageningen School of Social Sciences (WASS)
Date	Fri 15 December 2023 16:00 to 17:30
Venue	Omnia, building number 105 Hoge Steeg 2 105 6708 PH Wageningen +31 (0) 317 - 484500
Room	Auditorium

Summary

Soil quality is a pivotal factor influencing crop productivity, farm resilience, and the overall environmental quality of arable farming systems. Consequently, there is a pressing need for the implementation of sustainable soil management. Despite its importance, the incorporation of sustainable soil management in economic models has been lacking.

In this thesis, we defined the economic value of sustainable soil management. We developed the bio-economic modelling approach FARManalytics that optimizes key production management decisions such as cropping plan decisions, crop rotation design, cover crops and manure- and fertilizer application. Soil quality is included as integral concept consisting of fifteen chemical, physical and biological indicators.

Based on application of FARManalytics on nine arable farms in the Netherlands we found that farm income can be increased with up to €700 ha-1 while meeting all soil quality targets, except for subsoil compaction. The FARManalytics model can be used to support decision making at farm-level as well as for policy impact analysis.