Joint environmental and social benefits from diversified agriculture

Abstract

Agricultural simplification continues to expand at the expense of more diverse forms of agriculture. This simplification, for example, in the form of intensively managed monocultures, poses a risk to keeping the world within safe and just Earth system boundaries. Here, we estimated how agricultural diversification simultaneously affects social and environmental outcomes. Drawing from 24 studies in 11 countries across 2655 farms, we show how five diversification strategies focusing on livestock, crops, soils, noncrop plantings, and water conservation benefit social (e.g., human well-being, yields, and food security) and environmental (e.g., biodiversity, ecosystem services, and reduced environmental externalities) outcomes. We found that applying multiple diversification strategies creates more positive outcomes than individual management strategies alone. To realize these benefits, well-designed policies are needed to incentivize the adoption of multiple diversification strategies in unison.

A belowground perspective on the nexus between biodiversity change, climate change, and human well‐being

“…Here, the development of large-scale trials and continuous monitoring may be crucial to shed light on potential joint environmental and social benefits of sustainable land management. For instance, a recent meta-study across 2,655 farms worldwide showed that applying multiple diversification strategies creates more positive outcomes than individual management strategies alone (Rasmussen et al, 2024). et al, 2016) and volatile (Eisenhauer & Weigelt, 2021;Werner et al, 2021) emissions as well as erosion processes (Tegen & Schepanski, 2009).…”

Effect of Flowering Strips in Associated Broccoli and Lettuce Crops on Increasing Land Use Efficiency

“…Given that agroecological practices, such as diversification, are associated more frequently with positive socioeconomics outputs [24][25][26], we also compared the economic performance of diversified crop arrangements compared to pure stand crops. Some studies highlight that applying multiple diversification strategies creates more positive outcomes than individual management strategies [27]. We hypothesised that combining intercropping and flower strips on the edges enhances the efficiency of land use, increasing LER (land equivalent ratio), which in turn enhances the profitability of crops.…”