The simultaneous deployment of crop rotation, soil nutrient conservation, and other strategies to “diversify” agriculture can benefit both the environment and people, including increasing yields and improving food security for entire communities. It can bring big profits.
That’s the message from a groundbreaking new study that includes data from researchers in more than 15 countries and 2,655 farms on five continents. The research team published their findings in the journal Science on April 4th.
“This is proof that this actually works. We can imagine agricultural systems that are more diverse and serve humans and nature at the same time,” said Jia, co-author of the new study and assistant professor of environmental studies.・Mehrabi said. University of Colorado Boulder.
The study comes as many farms around the world increasingly grow only one type of crop or raise one type of animal. This is a shift to “monoculture” farming, which can carry a wide range of risks, including loss of soil nutrients. And the pest outbreak will spread. The number of farms in the United States in 2022 fell to its lowest level since before the outbreak of the Civil War, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The remaining farms are only getting bigger and simpler.
The study carries a stark message, said Laura van Rasmussen of the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, who was lead author of the study along with Ingo Grass of the University of Hohenheim in Germany.
“If we diversify the way we farm, moving away from monoculture and industrial thinking, we will see results,” Rasmussen said.
A new take on a hot topic
This study takes a new approach to investigating agricultural diversification, a hot topic in many environmental circles.
The term refers to a wide range of strategies for growing more than a single crop each year on a single farm. In some cases, farmers may rotate fields by sowing corn one year, beans the next, and okra the following year. In other areas, cover crops may be planted in the off-season to keep soil from washing away or to encourage healthy populations of underground earthworms.
Previous research has tended to evaluate these strategies separately, with mixed results, said Mehravi, who heads the Better Planet Institute.
In the new study, he and colleagues tried a different approach. Using a combination of participatory methods and statistical tools, we thoroughly examined data from 24 research systems. Their results captured everything from large-scale strawberry farms in the United States to small-scale corn fields in Malawi to palm orchards in Indonesia. The study stems from a large-scale research effort led by Merabi and Claire Klemen from the University of British Columbia in Canada.
“It was a huge undertaking,” Merabi said.
The group found that farmers and ranchers can achieve greater profits when using multiple farming solutions in parallel, rather than just one at a time. For Mehrabi, this research has revealed a new vision for food around the world. It’s a vision in which farms and pastures work less like calorie-producing factories and more like healthy natural ecosystems.
“When you look at how ecosystems work, it’s not just plants growing alone. It’s not just animals and soil,” he said. “All of these things work together.”
Farming becomes complicated again
To explore that idea, the group brought together researchers from around the world to share their experiences working with real farmers.
Researchers have discovered that the elusive “win-win” in agriculture may be possible. Consider livestock diversification. Farmers may raise cows and chickens on the same farm as their crops. The researchers’ analysis shows that this approach can increase the amount of food that farms produce while reducing soil damage and environmental pollution. However, the study also found that the benefits of livestock diversification increase and the downsides decrease when farmers combine it with other diversification strategies.
Meheravi said more diverse farms could bring additional benefits, as diverse farms are often better able to weather natural disasters such as droughts and heat waves. In other cases, the positives are more subtle. For example, if smallholders grow fruit trees along with their crops, they can eat those bananas and papayas themselves while selling the rest of their harvest.
“Surprisingly, the positive effects of adding multiple diversification practices hold true even in very different contexts,” he said. “Used on industrial farms in the United States and small-scale corn farms in Malawi.”
remove barriers to change
He and his colleagues acknowledge that finances can be a barrier to transitioning to diversified agriculture. A farmer may need to buy one set of machinery for harvesting corn and another set for harvesting fruit.
But the government is already spending huge sums of money to buffer the agricultural industry. For example, some countries subsidize farmers to grow water-intensive crops in areas with little rainfall. That money might be better spent helping farmers diversify, Merabi says.
Ultimately, he hopes this research will help people realize that a different future for the world’s food may be possible.
“We hope this will inspire people’s creativity and push the boundaries of what humanity can achieve.”
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