Win-win farming practices for biodiversity and yield
This project synthesizes multiple meta-analyses to assess how sustainable farming practices impact both biodiversity and agricultural productivity. The results show that such practices enhance biodiversity without significant yield losses, and biodiversity and yield gains are significantly correlated.
Project description
Among the biggest challenges of modern society are biodiversity conservation and food security. Food security requires the increase of agricultural yields, though land use intensification is one of the main drivers of biodiversity loss. Environmentally friendly farming practices, such as organic farming, have positive effects on biodiversity, but are accompanied by yield losses. Other practices, such as diversification, result in a simultaneous increase of biodiversity and yield. In this study, we quantitatively synthesize the results of multiple meta-analyses, to identify the impact of sustainable farming practices on the biodiversity-food nexus. Our results show that sustainable farming practices have a positive effect on biodiversity without compromising productivity. Notably, when we pooled all meta-analytic means, biodiversity and yield gains were significantly correlated. In conclusion, sustainable farming practices have a positive effect on both biodiversity without significant yield losses.
Funding
This project received funding from the Integration Platform as a Dynamic Platform Project (DPP) in 2024.