Andrew Balmford
The environmental costs and benefits of high-yield farming
Balmford, Andrew; Amano, Tatsuya; Bartlett, Harriet; Chadwick, Dave; Collins, Adrian; Edwards, David; Field, Rob; Garnsworthy, Philip; Green, Rhys; Smith, Pete; Waters, Helen; Whitmore, Andrew; Broom, Donald M.; Chara, Julian; Finch, Tom; Garnett, Emma; Gathorne-Hardy, Alfred; Hernandez-Medrano, Juan; Herrero, Mario; Hua, Fangyuan; Latawiec, Agnieszka; Misselbrook, Tom; Phalan, Ben; Simmons, Benno; Takahashi, Taro; Vause, James; zu Ermgassen, Erasmus; Eisner, Rowan
Authors
Tatsuya Amano
Harriet Bartlett
Dave Chadwick
Adrian Collins
David Edwards
Rob Field
Philip Garnsworthy
Rhys Green
Pete Smith
Helen Waters
Andrew Whitmore
Donald M. Broom
Julian Chara
Tom Finch
Emma Garnett
Alfred Gathorne-Hardy
Juan Hernandez-Medrano
Mario Herrero
Fangyuan Hua
Agnieszka Latawiec
Tom Misselbrook
Ben Phalan
Benno Simmons
Taro Takahashi
James Vause
Erasmus zu Ermgassen
Rowan Eisner
Abstract
How we manage farming and food systems to meet rising demand is pivotal to the future of biodiversity. Extensive field data suggest that impacts on wild populations would be greatly reduced through boosting yields on existing farmland so as to spare remaining natural habitats. High-yield farming raises other concerns because expressed per unit area it can generate high levels of externalities such as greenhouse gas emissions and nutrient losses. However, such metrics underestimate the overall impacts of lower-yield systems. Here we develop a framework that instead compares externality and land costs per unit production. We apply this framework to diverse data sets that describe the externalities of four major farm sectors and reveal that, rather than involving trade-offs, the externality and land costs of alternative production systems can covary positively: per unit production, land-efficient systems often produce lower externalities. For greenhouse gas emissions, these associations become more strongly positive once forgone sequestration is included. Our conclusions are limited: remarkably few studies report externalities alongside yields; many important externalities and farming systems are inadequately measured; and realizing the environmental benefits of high-yield systems typically requires additional measures to limit farmland expansion. Nevertheless, our results suggest that trade-offs among key cost metrics are not as ubiquitous as sometimes perceived.
Citation
Balmford, A., Amano, T., Bartlett, H., Chadwick, D., Collins, A., Edwards, D., …Eisner, R. (2018). The environmental costs and benefits of high-yield farming. Nature Sustainability, 1(9), 477-485. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-018-0138-5
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Acceptance Date | Aug 10, 2018 |
Online Publication Date | Sep 14, 2018 |
Publication Date | Sep 14, 2018 |
Deposit Date | Aug 13, 2018 |
Publicly Available Date | Mar 15, 2019 |
Journal | Nature Sustainability |
Electronic ISSN | 2398-9629 |
Publisher | Springer Nature |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 1 |
Issue | 9 |
Pages | 477-485 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-018-0138-5 |
Public URL | https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1029195 |
Publisher URL | https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-018-0138-5 |
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Author Correction: The environmental costs and benefits of high-yield farming
(2019)
Journal Article
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