Rethinking Agriculture

From the perspective of biodiversity, our food system is broken. Where once biologically rich landscape mosaics of small farms, woodland patches, and natural grasslands burst with biodiversity, we now encounter highly productive but biologically depauperate cropping systems. Where once natural habitats abounded with life, now stand large fields unencumbered by hedgerows or marginal semi-natural edges. Almost all available space is assigned single-mindedly to the imperative of food production. What little biodiversity persists is further assailed by a barrage of pesticides and herbicides.

This pattern of production, long contested by conservationists, is now also beginning to be questioned by corporations, policy makers, and farmers themselves. There is talk of transforming agricultural systems to take account of the triple-challenge of biodiversity recovery, climate change, and food production. New policies to support this include the EU’s Green Deal, which has been likened to Europe’s “man on the moon moment, ... to reconcile the economy with our planet”¹. The European Commission’s ambitious “Farm to Fork” (F2F) sustainable food strategy has bold targets for climate change mitigation, and for improving agricultural resilience and biodiversity². Organic farming is being widely promoted, alongside a push for substantial reductions in pesticide and herbicide use across the EU.

Environmentalists argue that these reforms do not go far enough, but transforming global food systems will be complex, challenging, and certainly contentious, and we must tread carefully. Finding feasible solutions requires environmentalists and scientists to work alongside farmers, corporations, and policy makers. New approaches that encourage biodiversity and semi-natural habitats in farming systems run counter to several generations of agricultural practice, and will require cultural change among farmers. If farmers are to become both producers of healthy food and stewards of the environment, they need to be convinced that such new approaches offer viable and rewarding livelihoods for themselves and their families.

The role of science and technology

Science can play a substantial role in enabling the transformation of agriculture and in providing farmers with the security and confidence to make the transition. Ecological science has shown us how to work with biodiversity, and how to use natural processes to maintain soil and crop health. Advances in biotechnology can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and make agricultural production more resilient to climate change³. New technologies using sensors, satellites, and drones can optimize production, while identifying areas that can be most appropriately converted back to natural habitats at least cost to production. Better data acquisition and analysis, with information communicated through open data platforms to inform decision-making at farm and landscape scales, can improve crop and environmental outcomes.

The allure of technology should not, however, detract from the basic need to restore semi-natural habitats and encourage biodiversity. Options available to farmers include crop diversification, cover crops, prairie strips, rotational farming soil health management, inclusion of hedgerows, retention of semi-natural patches and riparian woodlands, and agroforestry, among others. Yet these environmental measures need to be embedded within credible business models. Change will only happen when farmers are convinced of the financial validity of the measures. Habitat creation and biodiversity enhancement measures can be coupled to payments to foster such change. The UK is exploring options for paying farmers to deliver public goods, including biodiversity. Technology can help enable this: ‘smart contracting’ algorithms improve transaction efficiencies by directly linking payments to remotely sensed environmental outcomes, thereby opening up new income streams to even the smallest farmers.

Shared understandings

Above all, facilitating transformation in agriculture requires constructive dialogue across disciplinary perspectives. Sharing experiences and knowledge across science, policy, and practice communities will be essential in this regard. Our new project aims to do this. Enhancing Biodiversity and Resilience in Crop Production is a multi-agency collaboration launched in May 2021 that engages scientists with farmers and corporations to identify prospects for environmentally friendly farming systems, even in the most intensively managed agricultural systems. Led by ETH Zurich and IFPRI, and supported financially by Bayer AG, we will be exploring suitable ways to enhance biodiversity and resilience in cropping systems with European, Brazilian, and American farmers. Rather than looking up at the cosmos, Europe’s “man on the moon moment” is firmly rooted on Earth, with its aspiration to recover the beauty and diverse values of the lands and soils we cultivate. It is our intention to uncover the means by which we can deliver on this aspiration.