Farmers who practice more intensive farming systems –– rather than organic methods –– offer the most effective way to meet future food production demands while protecting farmland wildlife and biodiversity, according to a recently concluded study by the University of Leeds (UK) Biological Science Department. Researchers at the university concluded that the benefits of organic production to wildlife and biodiversity were more limited than previously thought, while yields were much lower.
Published in the journal Ecology Letters, the study showed that the biodiversity benefits of organic farming averaged around 12 percent more than conventional.
However, organic yields were 55 percent lower, leading researchers to suggest that producing the same amount of food in the UK organically would need twice the amount of land for agriculture. This was further compounded with "hotspot" areas with a greater density of organic farming resulting in only a 9 percent increase in biodiversity.
CPA chief executive Dominic Dyer said: "This research dares to challenge the popular belief that organic farms must have much more biodiversity than productive farms," said Dominic Dyer, CEO of the UK 's Crop Protection Association. "The reality is that farmers have to balance the production of safe, high quality affordable food with the need to safeguard their environment," he added. "Pigeon-holing one type of farming as somehow being better than another just does not make sense."
Recognizing the importance of productive farming is critical, says Dyer. "Ensuring food production keeps pace with a growing world population in the face of the impacts of climate change, and the need to encourage biodiversity, will require access to the most advanced developments in agricultural science and technology, including modern crop protection tools. The sooner one section of agriculture stops demonizing the other, the better," he added.
.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress&fit=crop&h=167&q=70&w=250)
