The complexity of modelling farmers' provision of landscape goods in a multifunctional setting

Further development of interdisciplinary model systems that embrace the entire agricultural land use system is one of the main challenges for future research in land use management and multifunctionality. From an environmental economics perspective this particularly relates to policy instruments and incentives to farm structure, farm management and land use, to the outcomes and effects on land use and environment. Such modelling requires multidisciplinary knowledge of the systems and especially the connections and links within the system, e.g., the links between the chosen instruments and incentives and the resulting farm actions. These model systems can be used for analyses of a broad range of instruments and policies, and can be used to consider how economic instruments and incentives, as well as mandatory and planning approaches, can work cost-effectively. Furthermore, cost estimates can be used in conjunction with benefit assessments to obtain cost-benefit analyses of different land use and environmental policies. Frameworks for integrated models, and for conceptual analysis of the choice of instruments for land use management are outlined and discussed.