Ecologically-oriented business strategy for a small-size rice farm: Integrated wetland management for the improvement of environmental benefits and economic feasibility

Abstract

The Italian rice agroecosystem plays a key role in the European production and provides a unique range of rice varieties. As productive man-made wetlands, rice paddies are strategic and economic components in the habitat provision for migratory wildlife at the European scale. However, the characteristic of being a "temporary wetland" causes the creation of an ecological trap for a number of living organisms. For this reason, agricultural practices adopted for the management of rice paddies are essential to move towards more sustainable cultivations capable of promoting biodiversity and to minimising negative environmental impacts. This study proposes an ecologically-oriented strategy to implement a circular and self-regulating farming system designed considering the role of constructed wetlands in providing ecosystem services in rice agroecosystems. It demonstrates the economic feasibility and benefits provided by a self-regulating biosystem based on an integrated wetland for a small-size rice farm of the Vercelli province (Piedmont Region, Italy). The study was conducted in collaboration with the rice farm, which already experiments with organic farming techniques. The investigation focuses on the current management structure of the farm and develops an ecologically-oriented business strategy to sustain local biodiversity. This strategy rediscovers and improves the traditional co-culture technique through the development of a permanent pond. It explores the potential benefits generated by the approach, in terms of biodiversity conservation, biological control of pests and weeds and habitat provision for wildlife. The study presents a real case study of economic sustainability of the business strategy through financial analysis. The findings highlight promising economic outcomes compared to the conventional rice cultivation systems. The diversification of marketing strategy and the reduction of operating costs are key factors in the success of the strategy. The ecologically-oriented design methodology presented in this article can easily be applied to other small-scale farms in the agrifood sector.

Keywords: Biocultural diversity; Co-culture farming; Ecological-oriented design; Economic sustainability; Ecosystem services; Wetland agriculture.