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Joint environmental and social benefits from diversified agriculture
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Joint environmental and social benefits from diversified agriculture

Laura Vang Rasmussen, Ingo Grass, Zia Mehrabi, Olivia Smith, Rachel Bezner Kerr, Jennifer Blesh, Lucas Garibaldi, Marney Isaac, Christina Kennedy, Hannah Wittman, …
Dryad
12/04/2023
url
https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.1zcrjdfxwView
Open

Abstract

Agricultural Diversification Environmental outcomes FOS: Other social sciences Social outcomes
Agricultural simplification continues to expand at the expense of more diverse forms of agriculture. This simplification in the form of, for example, intensively-managed monocultures, poses a risk to keeping the world within safe and just Earth system boundaries. Here, we estimate how agricultural diversification simultaneously affects social and environmental outcomes. Drawing from 24 studies in 11 countries across 2,655 farms, we show how five diversification strategies focusing on livestock, crops, soils, non-crop plantings, and water conservation benefit social (human well-being, yields, food security) and environmental (biodiversity, ecosystem services, reduced environmental externalities) outcomes. We find 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.

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