ECONOMIC IMPACT OF BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION IN AGRICULTURE EXPLOATATION IN SOUTH OF ROMANIA

Abstract

Biodiversity, as variation of life form on Earth is the base of agriculture, in each of its fields, from the food to the services provided by ecosystems, the main streams and links of production. Standards or requirements that farmers must meet to be eligible for subsidies contribute to maintain biodiversity. The purpose of this paper is to estimate the costs needed to implement environmental standards and their implications for farm rentability. This study was made in farms with different size in the south part of Romania. Even if it can be seen a increase of production expenses which lead to a light decrease of farms profitability, the long-term benefit of biodiversity conservation is considerably.

Keywords

• biodiversity
• costs
• gross margin
• rentability
• standards or requirements