Comparisons of Cropping Systems
The general trend noticed by the analysis of biodiversity present in different cropping systems (e.g., industrial agriculture and organic farming) was that a greater the diversity of crops (temporally and spacially) resulted in a greater overall biodiversity of the agroecosystem, though this is not always the case. A meta-analysis of studies comparing biodiversity noted that, when compared to organic cropping systems, conventional systems had significantly lower species richness and abundance (30% greater richness and 50% greater abundance in organic systems, on average), though 16% of studies did find a greater level of species richness in conventional systems. Another study found that cropping systems that required heavy use of chemical amendments (e.g., the widespread broadcasting of pesticides and glyphosate, a practice ubiquitously found throughout the United States and Canada) had significantly greater levels of pollination deficits, whereas organic fields of the same crop (Canola) witnessed no pollination deficits. Other cropping systems like permaculture have undergone little study to determine relative levels of biodiversity compared to other cropping systems, but because they continue to reinforce the goals of increasing overall crop biodiversity, it can be extrapolated that an even greater level of biodiversity would be observed.
Read more about this topic: Agricultural Biodiversity
Famous quotes containing the words comparisons and/or systems:
“The surest route to breeding jealousy is to compare. Since jealousy comes from feeling less than another, comparisons only fan the fires.”
—Dorothy Corkville Briggs (20th century)
“People stress the violence. Thats the smallest part of it. Football is brutal only from a distance. In the middle of it theres a calm, a tranquility. The players accept pain. Theres a sense of order even at the end of a running play with bodies stewn everywhere. When the systems interlock, theres a satisfaction to the game that cant be duplicated. Theres a harmony.”
—Don Delillo (b. 1926)