Ecological intensification: using wildlife-friendly farming to increases crop yield

Abstract

Ecologically intensifying arable agricultural systems by manipulating underlying ecosystem services represents a fundamental requirement to reducing the environmental footprint of agriculture. While there is considerable evidence for the role played by service providing taxa (e.g. insect pollinators and natural pest control), there is little direct evidence of yield benefits at scales that have direct relevance to farms growing commercial important globally foodstuffs, e.g. grains, oilseeds, pulses. Using a semi-landscape scale replicated experimental design (50-60 ha plots), we tested the value of two treatments that removed 3% or 8% of land at the field edge from production to create wildlife friendly habitats. This was undertaken on a 900 ha commercial UK arable farm. This was compared to a business as usual control representing normal agricultural management where no land was removed from production. By taking 3% or 8% of land out of production to create wildlife friendly habitat we were able to demonstrate yield increases in the cropped areas of the fields which became more pronounced over a six year period. The tendency of yields to increase over time suggested that populations of beneficial invertebrates need time to become established on wildlife friendly habitats before they can provide ecosystem services at economically important levels. Despite the loss of cropland yields were either maintained or enhanced depending on crop. Importantly, over a 5 year crop rotation there would be no negative impact on overall yield in terms of either monetary value or nutritional energy resulting from the loss of land for wildlife friendly habitats, while in some case there are yield gains. This study provides a demonstration that wildlife friendly management supporting ecosystem services is compatible with conventional arable systems.