Long-term trends in functional crop diversity across Swedish farms

Abstract

The diversity of cultivated crops is relevant on various spatial scales, from the field and farm to the landscape. We apply a decomposition of the Shannon diversity index that allows the differentiation of functional diversity of production. The decomposition separates diversity of functional crop groups from related diversity, which shows the species diversity within the crop groups. Using population-based field and farm-level data from Sweden 2001–2018, we are able to study the development of overall (Shannon), functional and related crop diversity among a total of 83770 farms. Crop diversity indices are calculated by farm and year based on the Swedish Land Parcel Identification system (LPIS). We find that functional crop diversity has declined among Swedish farms over the period. Related crop diversity has declined but regained in recent years. Accounting for farm size and pedoclimatic conditions, organic farms have a higher functional diversity, and the uptake of organic practices leads to an increase in functional crop diversity over the period.