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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@gilanet.com>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] ORGANIC FARMING BOOSTS BIODIVERSITY
  • Date: Fri, 12 Nov 2004 08:52:20 -0700

ORGANIC FARMING BOOSTS BIODIVERSITY
By James Randerson, New Scientist
October 11, 2004

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996496

Organic farming increases biodiversity at every level of the food
chain all the way from lowly bacteria to mammals. This is the
conclusion of the largest review ever done of studies from around
the world comparing organic and conventional agriculture.

Previous studies have shown that organic farming methods can benefit
the wildlife around farms. But "the fact that the message is similar
all the way up the food chain is new information", says agricultural
scientist Martin Entz of the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg,
Canada.

The study reviewed data from Europe, Canada, New Zealand and the US.
Neither of the two groups of researchers who did the study -? one
from English Nature, a government agency which champions wildlife
conservation, and one from the Royal Society for the Protection of
Birds -? has a vested interest in organic farming.

"It's good to have independent people add their voice to the debate,"
says Nic Lampkin, director of the Organic Centre Wales, part of the
University of Wales Aberystwyth.

Typically, each of the 76 studies reviewed measured biodiversity in
groups of organisms ranging from bacteria and plants to earthworms,
beetles, mammals and birds. Of 99 separate comparisons of groups of
organisms, 66 found that organic farming benefited wildlife, eight
concluded it was detrimental and 25 produced mixed results or
suggested no difference between the farming methods.

Mixed Farming

According to the researchers, organic farming aids biodiversity by
using fewer pesticides and inorganic fertilisers, and by adopting
wildlife-friendly management of habitats where there are no crops,
including strategies such as not weeding close to hedges, and by
mixing arable and livestock farming.

Mixed farming particularly benefits some bird species. Lapwings, for
example, nest on spring-sown crops, but raise their chicks on
pasture. Intensive agriculture has been blamed for the 80% decline
in lapwing numbers in England and Wales since the 1960s. One of the
reviewed studies from the UK also points to benefits for bats.
Foraging activity was up 84% on organic farms and two species, the
greater and lesser horseshoe bats, were found only on organic farms.

The studies might even have underestimated the benefits to wildlife,
says Phillip Grice of English Nature. Some looked at farms shortly
after they turned organic, so wildlife numbers may just have started
increasing.

Some argue that farms that adopt a few organic practices, swapping
chemical weeding for mechanical, for example, may help wildlife
flourish just as much as completely organic farms. And it is
possible that farmers who switched to organic farming may have been
predisposed towards environmentally friendly methods. So the
biodiversity on their farms may have been higher than average before
conversion. The current studies are not detailed enough to answer
these questions.

Journal reference: Biological Conservation (vol 122, p 113)






  • [Livingontheland] ORGANIC FARMING BOOSTS BIODIVERSITY, Tradingpost, 11/12/2004

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