Fig. 1. Geographic distribution of 24 datasets spanning five continents and a wide range of landscapes: Our analysis of agricultural diversification strategies covers 2655 farms across five continents. Insets depict satellite images of agricultural systems (left to right: leafy greens in the US West Coast, mixed farming in Brazil, smallholder maize in Malawi, and oil palm plantations in Indonesia). Colored dots indicate farm locations within each study. The commonly used 2-ha threshold for differentiating smallholder farming from farming that is less reliant on subsistence was applied.
Abstract
Agricultural simplification continues to expand at the expense of more diverse forms of agriculture. This simplification, for example, in the form of intensively managed monocultures, poses a risk to keeping the world within safe and just Earth system boundaries. Here, we estimated how agricultural diversification simultaneously affects social and environmental outcomes. Drawing from 24 studies in 11 countries across 2655 farms, we show how five diversification strategies focusing on livestock, crops, soils, noncrop plantings, and water conservation benefit social (e.g., human well-being, yields, and food security) and environmental (e.g., biodiversity, ecosystem services, and reduced environmental externalities) outcomes. We found that applying multiple diversification strategies creates more positive outcomes than individual management strategies alone. To realize these benefits, well-designed policies are needed to incentivize the adoption of multiple diversification strategies in unison.