|
|
|||
|
Biodiversity and Organic: One of the most compelling arguments for organic farming is its encouragement of biodiversity. The UK has lost over 100 species since 1900, and natural habitats are disappearing rapidly - only 5% of the wildflower meadows of 1950 are still around. Hedgerows are cut down and many species are left isolated in small protected pockets. Genetic diversity, and hence evolution, is slowed down and can lead to extinction. Organic farmers, however, work with the environment rather than against it. Farmland birds - threatened with starvation by conventional agriculture - thrive on the worms and weeds organic farming throws up, and provide in return a free pest control system. Good management allows species-rich hedgerows to thrive as ecosystems, nurturing the diversity of animals and plants across the farm - although field boundaries have the highest levels of wildlife, growth peaks in the cropped areas. Several rare or declining species are found exclusively on organic farms. Organic methods, as well as management, are beneficial. Crop rotation and mixed sowing (as well as the lack of artificial herbicides and pesticides), according to a Soil Association report, reverse conventional trends which have caused a decline in biodiversity. The battle is far from over - organic farms currently account for only 3% of the UK's farmland (which itself covers over three quarters of the country). Any increase in this figure can only be good for the diversity of Britain's wildlife. Back to the archive |
|||
|
|||