Crop biodiversity, risk management and the implications of agricultural assistance

This paper presents a theoretical and empirical analysis of the impact of financial assistance to farms on crop biodiversity in an uncertain setting. The findings reveal that risk aversion is an important driving force for crop biodiversity conservation. Risk-averse farmers can hedge against the uncertainty they face by allocating land to different crop species. However, policies intended to stabilize revenues by supporting particular species may alter this link by delinking crop biodiversity from the management of revenues risk.