Ecological Focus Areas Calculator

Abstract

The EFA software is a prototype tool that has been designed to perform two key functions: (1) provide a facility to describe and declare features on the farm as Ecological Focus Areas (EFAs); and (2) Assess the impact of features on the farm with respect their potential effects on ecosystem services, biodiversity and farm management. The first function allows users to enter data about features (in the Land and Feature Manager), such as dimensions, and then an EFA assessment will allow user to declare these features as EFAs. This EFA assessment will check the rules and determine if the features selected are eligible to be EFA. If the features are eligible, then the EFA assessment will track progress towards the 5% EFA target and, if the target has not been met, make suggestions on what could be implemented on the farm to reach the 5% target. The second function provides users with feedback on the potential impact of the features on the farm on ecosystem services, biodiversity and farm management. These are just suggestions on potential impacts, as such they are not quantified with numbers. Instead indicator bars and icons are used as a means to communicate potential impacts. This impact data can also be used when considering what new features to implement, e.g. in the event that the 5% EFA target is not met with existing features. A ranking tool with the software allows users to rank features based on their potential impact for a range of criteria (these can be the top level criteria of ecosystem services, biodiversity and management or they can be bespoke/specific impacts selected by the user). In so doing, this helps steer users towards implementing features that will increase the potential positive impact of the farm on ecosystem services, biodiversity and management.