...in our new article "Beyond organic farming–harnessing biodiversity-friendly landscapes" that just came out in Trends in Ecology and Evolution.
We challenge the widespread appraisal that organic farming is the fundamental alternative to conventional farming to protect biodiversity in agricultural landscapes. Certification of organic production bans the use of synthetic agrochemicals, which provides limited benefits for biodiversity but high yield losses. In contrast, diversifying cropland and reducing field size can be beneficial measures to multiply biodiversity and at least sustain high yields in both conventional and organic systems. These points needs to be urgently acknowledged by policy makers and in a landscape context for an agricultural paradigm shift.
The work is led by Teja Tscharntke and done in collaboration with Catrin Westphal, Ingo Grass, and Peter Batary.
