How landscape factors relate to biodiversity-economic performance in an Estonian grassland-rich region

Halting biodiversity loss on semi-natural grassland has become a key priority of agri-environmental policies in Estonia. However, to what extent current schemes are sufficient to achieve biodiversity targets and the role of landscape factors is still insufficiently understood in this context. This study explored trade-offs between profitability and biodiversity conservation across heterogeneous Estonian agricultural landscapes to support the development of economically effective grassland conservation schemes. To this end, we selected twelve 'landscape windows' in a grassland-rich region that represent a gradient of several biodiversity-related landscape factors (semi-natural grassland share, yield potential and landscape complexity). Profitability was assessed using total gross margins derived from a bio-economic model, while biodiversity was evaluated through habitat values for different bird species, based on model outputs. We found that landscapes with higher complexity, which currently maintain higher biodiversity levels, had a corresponding lower farm profitability. In particular, landscape windows dominated by semi-natural grasslands with low grass yields showed the lowest profitability, largely due to limited capacity for feeding beef cattle. In contrast, arable land-dominated landscapes (i.e. those with higher yield potential) demonstrated considerable potential for enhancing biodiversity outcomes while minimising profitability losses. Therefore, conservation policy faces two main challenges: 1. preserving landscapes with high biodiversity value against further decline in profitability, 2. highlighting the need to explore and design biodiversity measures in arable-dominated landscapes that could improve biodiversity outcomes while limiting impacts on farm profitability. This study illustrates that landscape factors deserve greater attention in conservation planning.