Increasing the Share of Organic Farming Leads to Healthier, More Diverse Soils, International Study Finds
An international team led by University of Alicante (UA) scientists has found that increasing the share of organic farming may improve crop yields and help maintain soil health and biodiversity. Published in the journal Nature Sustainability, the study concludes that landscapes with at least 50% organic farming optimize crop yields, soil biodiversity and key ecosystem functions such as carbon storage, nutrient cycling and water regulation.
The study, carried out in the framework of the project SOILGUARD (Horizon 2020), analyzes 179 croplands—mostly for grain production—in eight countries from Europe, Africa, Asia and South America, covering a wide range of climate conditions and soil degradation levels. While the authors have observed that ecological management can reduce crop yields on average, the results show that high crop yields do not necessarily trade off against soil biodiversity and functioning at farm level.