Citrus fruits, coffee, and avocados: in recent decades, the cuisine on our tables has gotten more variety. However, this development is not reflected in global agriculture. Monocultures are spreading around the globe, using more land than ever before. At the same time, many of the crops farmed rely on insect and other animal pollination. According to a team of researchers led by Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) and published in the journal Global Change Biology, this puts food security at risk. The researchers looked at worldwide agricultural trends over the last 50 years for their research.
Field crop cultivation data from the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) was analysed by the researchers. More and more land is being devoted to agriculture, but the variety of crops being farmed has decreased as well. The pollination of 16 of the 20 fastest-growing crops is dependent on insects or other animals. Professor Robert Paxton, an MLU biologist and one of the study's authors, says, "Just a few months ago, the World Biodiversity Council IPBES disclosed to the world that up to one million animal and plant species are threatened with extinction, including many pollinators." Honeybees, in particular, are under risk from viruses and pesticides, and wild bee numbers have been declining for decades all across the world.
Because there are fewer pollinators, yields may be lower or harvests may fail entirely. Risks, on the other hand, are not distributed evenly over the globe. The researchers utilised FAO data to build a map depicting crop failure risk around the globe. "Emerging and developing countries in South America, Africa, and Asia are the most affected," says the study's lead author, Professor Marcelo Aizen of Argentina's National Council for Scientific and Technological Research CONICET. This is not surprising, he continues, because it is in these areas that large monocultures for the worldwide market are grown. Many South American countries grow soy, which is then shipped to Europe as cattle feed. "Globally, soy production has increased by roughly 30% every decade. This is significant since soy farms have destroyed many natural and semi-natural habitats, including tropical and subtropical forests and meadows "Aizen argues.
Current events, according to the writers, have little to do with sustainable agriculture, which focuses on ensuring food security for a growing global population. And, while poorer portions of the world are the most vulnerable, crop failure would have global consequences: "Crops are predominantly grown in the affected areas for export to wealthy industrial nations. If the avocado crop in South America fails, for example, consumers in Germany and other industrialised countries may be unable to purchase them "Robert Paxton, a member of the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, sums up his findings.
The researchers urge for a trend reversal, arguing that global agriculture should be diversified and made more environmentally friendly. This means that farms in particularly vulnerable countries, for example, should plant a variety of crops. Farmers all around the world would also need to make their fields more natural, such as by planting flower strips or hedgerows next to their fields and providing nesting places on the field margins. This will ensure that insect habitats, which are necessary for sustainable and productive farming, are available.
