Resident and stakeholder perceptions of ecosystem services associated with agricultural landscapes in New Hampshire

Abstract Converting non-agricultural land to agricultural uses can result in trade-offs in ecosystem services. As provisioning services increase on new agricultural land, supporting, regulating, and cultural services may decrease. An improved understanding of how stakeholders value different land use types in terms of their perceived ecosystem services, as well as the relative visual appeal of different agricultural landscape features, could assist policymakers and land use planners in decision-making related to agricultural land use in New England, USA. We surveyed two survey samples in New Hampshire, food system stakeholders (e.g., farmers, public health professionals, and technical assistance providers) and the general population, to explore how perception of the visual appeal of specific farmland use types and importance of ecosystem services specifically related to agricultural land might differ between survey samples. Our objectives were to (1) explore how New Hampshire residents perceive the importance of seven ecosystem services, (2) evaluate how two groups of New Hampshire residents—the general public and those who indicated working with or in a food systems sector (food system stakeholders)—perceive these ecosystem services provided by specific agricultural landscapes and determine how those perceptions relate to the visual appeal of each landscape, and (3) assess how eight socio-economic factors may account for the differences between each survey sample in terms of their landscape perception and preference. Roughly 600 New Hampshire residents completed the survey, including 494 individuals from the public and 103 food system stakeholders. From a list of seven ecosystem services, clean water was ranked as the most important across both survey samples, with no significant difference between samples, while food production was ranked significantly higher by the food system stakeholders (p ≤ 0.001). Likewise, on a scale of most (4) to least (1) appealing, food system stakeholders ranked photorealistic visualizations of cropland higher than the public (p ≤ 0.001). Additionally, food system stakeholders ranked the appeal of forestland lower than the public (p = 0.007). Our findings suggest that there are differences in landscape preferences and perception of ecosystem service benefits between the general public and those who work with or in the food system. Future research is needed to determine how these differences in perception might affect land use planning and policymaking related to agricultural expansion and forestland preservation.