{"id":1757,"date":"2021-06-15T11:00:54","date_gmt":"2021-06-15T11:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/horizon.peachpuff-wolverine-566518.hostingersite.com\/?p=1757"},"modified":"2021-06-15T11:00:54","modified_gmt":"2021-06-15T11:00:54","slug":"farmers-urgently-need-to-diversify-but-they-cannot-do-it-alone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1757\/farmers-urgently-need-to-diversify-but-they-cannot-do-it-alone\/","title":{"rendered":"Farmers urgently need to diversify, but they cannot do it alone"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Boosting biodiversity on farms is crucial to make them more resilient to climate change and protect future food security, but it will not happen without change across the food supply chain from seed producer to consumer, agronomists say.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Many solutions exist for ways to increase the diversity of plants grown on farms \u2013 from planting different varieties of the same crop, and different crops on the same land, to combining trees, crops and livestock on the same farm.<\/p>\n

But these are often not used by farmers, despite mounting\u00a0knowledge<\/a>\u00a0of their economic and environmental benefits.<\/p>\n

Rotating crops, or planting different crops together on the same land, can boost\u00a0soil health<\/a>, making farms less reliant on chemical fertilisers.<\/p>\n

Plant diversity helps pollinators stay healthy. \u2018Losing biodiversity on farms means that we lose the pollinators, and without pollination, there will be \u2026 no food in the end from\u00a0(many)\u00a0crops,\u2019 said Dr Bea Maas, an ecologist at the University of Vienna.<\/p>\n

About\u00a075%<\/a>\u00a0of the world’s food crops depend on pollinators, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).<\/p>\n

Adding diversity to farms also provides a buffer against pests. Some plants can be used to attract pests away from food crops, and diversity provides habitats for natural enemies of pests, says Dr Maas.<\/p>\n

One of the most important forms of biodiversity is having a mixture of structures on the farm \u2013 trees, bushes, hedgerows, crops. \u2018The (expansion, intensification and) simplification of our agricultural landscapes is the main factor of biodiversity loss globally,\u2019 said Dr Maas.<\/p>\n

Generally, agricultural scientists see farm biodiversity and its ecosystem functions as more important than farmers do, according to a\u00a0recent survey<\/a>\u00a0of 208 farmers and 98 agricultural scientists in Germany and Austria.<\/p>\n

\u2018You have this huge gap between science and practice \u2026 not surprisingly, because most scientific publications are in English, and are behind paywalls,\u2019 said Dr Maas.<\/p>\n

Farmers most interested in promoting biodiversity tend to be highly-educated organic farmers \u2013 often women \u2013 the survey found.<\/p>\n

Seeds<\/strong><\/p>\n

About two-thirds of global crop production comes from just\u00a0nine plant species<\/a>\u00a0out of the 6,000 which have been cultivated for food, according to the FAO.<\/p>\n

A major challenge for farmers \u2013 especially organic farmers \u2013 wanting to grow a greater mix of species or crop varieties, is the lack of seeds available commercially.<\/p>\n

Much of the crop diversity exists only in seed banks, says Matteo Petitti, an agronomist at Italy\u2019s Rete Semi Rurali, an umbrella organisation of farmers\u2019 associations and other NGOs working on biodiversity and sustainable agriculture.<\/p>\n

Rete Semi Rurali was part of an EU-wide project called\u00a0DIVERSIFOOD<\/a>\u00a0which tested, renewed and promoted so-called underutilised plant species and varieties.<\/p>\n

\u2018Seed companies \u2026 have no interest in taking on a very niche market,\u2019 said Petitti.<\/p>\n

So farmers often have to produce their own seeds. \u2018It can be done \u2026 but it requires special attention and the crop that will be set aside for seed will, from the start, have to be managed differently and harvested differently and cleaned and monitored for diseases,\u2019 said Petitti.<\/p>\n

\u2018If you don’t get this part of the equation right, you’re not going very far,\u2019 he added.<\/p>\n

Another challenge for the organic sector is the lack of plant breeding for different crop varieties. Even if farmers are able to produce their own seeds, they need genetic diversity from the varieties obtained through plant breeding to keep their crops healthy over time.<\/p>\n

Plant breeding<\/strong><\/p>\n

At present, there is virtually no plant breeding done for the organic or low input sector, but genetically diverse populations of crops can be used as a cost-effective breeding tool to fill this gap, says Petitti.<\/p>\n

The amount of plant breeding for low input farming could also change with the European Commission\u2019s\u00a0Farm to Fork strategy<\/a>\u00a0to shift to a sustainable food system. It stipulates that at least 25% of agricultural land will be organic by 2030 \u2013 a rise from\u00a08.5% in 2019<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 and to cut the use of chemical pesticides by 50% in conventional farming.<\/p>\n

\u2018You need to have a massive amount of genetic diversity in the field that can adapt to the new (climate) conditions.\u2019<\/p>\n

Matteo Petitti, Rete Semi Rurali, Italy<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Big seed companies say that innovative technologies like Novel Genomic Techniques (NGTs) could be used to produce plant varieties optimised for low-input farming, and are\u00a0pushing for changes<\/a>\u00a0to current GMO (genetically modified organisms) legislation to allow these techniques.<\/p>\n

However, Petitti says that these technologies are not compatible with current rules of organic agriculture in Europe and in any case do not promote biodiversity. \u2018You’re still creating uniform crops,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n

The NGT crops would be highly specialised, bred for very specific conditions, and designed to be used as a single crop on a large farm.<\/p>\n

This is an issue when it comes to building climate change resilience on farms, since scientists do not know exactly how different locations will be affected in five or 10 years\u2019 time, says Petitti. Because weather patterns are changing from year to year, it is likely that an individual crop variety will produce a big harvest some years but very little in other years – therefore many different plants and crop varieties are needed, he says.<\/p>\n

\u2018You need to have a massive amount of genetic diversity in the field that can adapt to the new (climate) conditions,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n

Food supply chains<\/strong><\/p>\n

For Dr Maas, the most important way to encourage farmers to adopt biodiversity practices is through direct communication about their benefits.<\/p>\n

According to Dr Marion Casagrande, an agronomist and project officer at the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (INRAE), the implementation of these practices will require change all along the food supply chain.<\/p>\n

Farmers \u2013 and the food chains they supply \u2013 are often highly specialised, so diversifying plants on the farm also means changes to their supply chains and, ultimately, consumer habits, says Dr Casagrande.<\/p>\n

Growers supplying bread makers, for example, plant wheat with a high protein content which results in a strong dough. If this becomes mixed with a wheat variety with a lower protein content, the breadmaking process may need to adapt, and it could affect the bread\u2019s consistency.<\/p>\n

If farmers diversify their crops, they will need to find buyers for their new crops. \u2018This could be a lot of work, and is not always what farmers are used to doing \u2026 it’s not about farming,\u2019 said Dr Casagrande.<\/p>\n

And planting two crops together to curb weeds or protect crops from disease \u2013 peas and barley, for example \u2013 means the farmer, or the people they sell to, would need to invest in machinery which can separate the crops after harvesting. Or a product would need to be developed that uses the two crops combined.<\/p>\n

Consumers also need to change their expectations around what they eat, from denser bread, to \u2018imperfect\u2019 fruit and vegetables, and even changes in the colour of processed foods, says Dr Casagrande. For example, apple puree made from tree varieties suited to organic farming has a red hue, whereas consumers expect it to have a more neutral colour.<\/p>\n

Developing biodiversity-friendly practices for the farm is not enough if there is no outlet for the end product. \u2018It would get stuck at the farm gate,\u2019 said Dr Casagrande.<\/p>\n

\u2018There is a crucial need for innovation \u2026 all along the food chain,\u2019 she said.<\/p>\n

This story is part of a\u00a0<\/em>series<\/em><\/a>\u00a0in which we hear from the next generation of scientists and researchers who are working to tackle global challenges.<\/em><\/p>\n

A discussion on making biodiversity-rich farming systems will take place on 24 June as part of the European Commission\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>Research and Innovation Days conference<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Originally published on Horizon Magazine<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Boosting biodiversity on farms is crucial to make them more resilient to climate change and protect future food security, but it will not happen without change across the food supply chain from seed producer to consumer, agronomists say. Many solutions exist for ways to increase the diversity of plants grown on farms \u2013 from planting … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":298,"featured_media":1758,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[234,425,44],"class_list":["post-1757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-earth-energy-environment","tag-biodiversity","tag-farming","tag-food"],"yoast_head":"\nFarmers urgently need to diversify, but they cannot do it alone - Horizon Magazine Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1757\/farmers-urgently-need-to-diversify-but-they-cannot-do-it-alone\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Farmers urgently need to diversify, but they cannot do it alone\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Boosting biodiversity on farms is crucial to make them more resilient to climate change and protect future food security, but it will not happen without change across the food supply chain from seed producer to consumer, agronomists say. 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