Benefits of Organic Farming for States

Abstract

Among the main emerging threats to global biodiversity is the intensification and expansion of industrial agriculture. Dramatic declines in both the range and abundance of many farmland-related species have been recorded in Europe during the last quarter of the 20th century, leading to rising concern about the sustainability of current intensive farming practices. Sustainable agricultural methods, such as organic farming, are now seen by many as a possible response to this continuing loss of biodiversity and are receiving considerable funding in the form of subsidy payments.This paper assesses the effect of organic farming on biodiversity relative to traditional farming, through a study of comparative studies of the two methods, in order to decide whether its advocates argue that biodiversity can be beneficial. It identifies a broad range of taxa that benefit from organic management through increases in abundance and/or species richness, including birds and mammals, invertebrates and arable flora.