The benefits of organic agricultural practices for biodiversity are well established. By reducing reliance on synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, organic farms encourage a diversity of organisms that provide valuable services such as pest control and nutrient cycling. A recent meta-analysis suggests that these benefits may also help organic farms maintain competitive yields for crops that depend heavily on animal pollinators.

The authors found that the yield gap between organic and conventional agriculture became smaller as crops’ dependence on pollinators increased. For crops receiving more than half of their potential yield from animal pollination, organic and conventional systems produced comparable yields. 

Pollinator dependence describes how much a crop’s production declines when animal pollinators are absent. For example, crops such as wheat, rice, and corn have little or no dependence because they are primarily wind-pollinated or harvested for vegetative rather than flowering parts. Other crops, including apples, almonds, squash, and cocoa, depend more heavily on insects to produce fruits and seeds.

To analyze organic and conventional yield differences, researchers examined 199 studies covering 61 crop species. The dataset included crops with widely varying levels of pollinator dependence, from cereals and root vegetables that do not rely on animal pollination, to fruits, nuts, and seeds that require insect visits to maximize production. Their analysis revealed that though conventional yields were on average higher than organic yields for crops that didn’t rely on pollinators, once pollination contributed more than 50% of a crop’s potential production, the difference between organic and conventional yields was no longer statistically significant.

The researchers accounted for several factors that could have influenced the results, including whether crops were herbaceous or woody, whether they originated in temperate or tropical regions, and how closely the crop species were related. None of these factors explained the relationship between pollinator dependence and the yield gap. It’s also important to note that the analysis did not directly measure pollinator communities or pollination activity within each farming system, meaning enhanced pollination is a likely an explanation, rather than a mechanism, for the observed patterns.

By implementing practices like crops rotations, preserving natural habitat, and reducing or eliminating pesticide use, organic farming can support increased abundance and diversity of wild pollinators, ultimately offering a lower-impact approach to producing sustainable and economically valuable fruits, nuts, and seeds.

Photos by Marco De Gregorio and Saif Rahman on Unsplash