Does sustainable agriculture promote biodiversity and yield? A second-order meta-analysis.

Among the biggest challenges of modern society are biodiversity conservation and food security. Food security requires the increase of agricultural yields, though land use intensification is one of the main drivers of biodiversity loss. Environmentally friendly farming practices, such as organic farming, have positive effects on biodiversity, but are accompanied by yield losses. Other practices, such as diversification, result in a simultaneous increase of biodiversity and yield. In this study, we quantitatively synthesize the results of multiple meta-analyses, to identify the impact of sustainable farming practices on the biodiversity-food nexus. Our results show that sustainable farming practices have a positive effect on biodiversity without compromising productivity. Notably, when we pooled all meta-analytic means, biodiversity and yield gains were significantly correlated. In conclusion, sustainable farming practices have a positive effect on both biodiversity without significant yield losses.