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Organic farming benefits wildlife over conventional agriculture says study British Trust for Ornithology release August 3, 2005 In the largest and most comprehensive study* of organic farming to date, published today in the Royal Society Journal, Biology Letters, scientists from leading UK institutions show conclusively that organic farms provide greater benefits for a range of wildlife including wild flowers, beetles, spiders, birds and bats than their conventional counterparts The study showed that organic farming systems provide greater potential for biodiversity than their conventional counterparts, as a result of greater variability in habitats and more wildlife-friendly management practices, which resulted in real biodiversity benefits, particularly for plants. A huge amount of fieldwork was involved in the study hedges were measured, beetles, spiders, birds and wildflowers were counted, farmers were questioned and bats were detected. Some of the significant results are:
Many previous studies that claim to demonstrate that organic farming benefits biodiversity are poorly designed, limited to one group of animals or plants, or local in scale. In this integrated study, covering 160 farms from Cornwall to Cumbria, the authors have shown that the organic farms supported higher numbers of species and overall abundance across most groups of plants and animals. Dr Lisa Norton of the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (note 3), who carried out the work on plants and interviewed a large number of the farmers involved in the study, said; "Organic farmers try to work with natural processes to increase productivity, using sustainable farming practices. Increased biodiversity is a happy by-product of this approach. For example, hedges on organic farms are kept in good stock-proof condition, as livestock are often an important part of the organic farming system. Typically, these stock-proof hedges are full of native, berry-producing shrubs, which are great for insects and the birds and bats that feed on them." *NOTE: The full title of the paper is "Benefits of organic farming to biodiversity vary among taxa". The authors are: R.J. Fuller, L.R. Norton, R.E. Feber, P.J. Johnson, D.E. Chamberlain, A.C. Joys, F. Mathews, R.C. Stuart, M.C. Townsend, W.J. Manley, M.S. Wolfe, D.W. Macdonald and L.G. Firbank. It is published in Biology Letters on 03 August 2005. The original release is available at the British Trust for Ornithology
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