Modifying cropping resources and practices to conserve biodiversity can have significant economic impacts at the farm level. Using an interdisciplinary approach (agronomy, economics and ecology) and the Farm Simulation Model, we studied production and economic changes due to conservation measures on selected farms in the Ljubljana marshes. Five typical cattle farms were analyzed using two scenario. The “Existing scenario” and the “Natura conservation scenario”. In the Natura scenario, the farms dedicated part of their land to biodiversity protection, which led to a reduction in production and quality of forage, as well as a reduction in herd size. The largest changes in gross margin (GM) occur in the two large and more intensive farms - the large farm with suckler cows (GM - 41%) and the large farm with beef cattle (GM - 17%). A medium-sized dairy farm (GM - 2%) and a medium-sized beef farm (GM - 5%) are negatively, but less affected. However, the small cattle farm, which has a barely positive GM in the Exsisting scenario, has slightly improved its economic outcome (GM + 46%). The implementation of conservation measuers requires a holistic approach. For some farms this leads to minor changes in technology, but for intensive farms, this can have serious negative impact on profitability economics.
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