A major new global assessment published in the prestigious journal Nature Sustainability shows that more than 29% of farms worldwide are incorporating some forms of sustainable intensification on 453 million hectares of agricultural land.
The new research paper titled ‘Global Assessment of Agricultural System Redesign for Sustainable Intensification’, involved leading authors from the UK, USA, Sweden, Ethiopia and New Zealand.
Significantly, the study shows that developing countries such as West Africa, India and Bangladesh are more willing to redesign their systems to adopt sustainable agriculture practices.
A worldwide example of redesign is organic agriculture, which is showing a rapid increase globally.
The largest number of organic farmers are in India, Ethiopia, Mexico and Uganda; while the largest organically farmed areas are in Australia and Argentina.
The UK too has seen a 6% growth in the organic market with dairy products and meat the strongest performing.
Playing catch-up
Prof. Nic Lampkin, chief executive of the Organic Research Centre, one of the authors of the report, said agriculture had reached a “tipping point”.
“It is evident that we need urgent change to protect our environment as well as providing healthy, nutritious food but Government needs to give farmers the right tools to implement change,” he said.
Our research identified that the organic sector is showing positive global growth. It now occupies 58 million hectares worldwide, representing a 55% increase in the number of organic producers, to 2.7 million, and a doubling of the organic area in the last decade.
“Although many UK farmers are now investing in some form of sustainable intensification to improve their soil, protect precious water resources, boost biodiversity and improve production, this study highlights that the UK needs to catch up with developing countries in terms of introducing more sustainable agricultural practices.
“If we are to remain competitive with the rest of the world, we need urgent action from Government to give farmers the courage to innovate and feel confident that policies are in place to train, support and fund the redesign of agricultural systems.”
The research assessed global progress towards sustainable intensification in areas such as integrated pest management, conservation agriculture, integrated crop and biodiversity, pasture and forage systems, trees and agroforestry, irrigation management and small patch systems such as allotments.
Prof. Lampkin added: “The global agricultural challenge is significant: World population will continue to grow from 7.6 billion to 10 billion by 2050.
“Consumption patterns are converging on those typical in affluent countries for some sections of populations, yet still leaving some 800 million people hungry worldwide.
“The big question centres on scale, and whether agriculture can still provide sufficient nutritious food whilst improving natural capital without compromising other aspects of well-being.”
