Ecological Intensification: Bridging the Gap between Science and Practice
David Kleijn et al.
Ecological intensification aims to harness ecosystem services to sustain agricultural
production while minimising adverse effects on the environment.
Ecological intensification is championed by scientists as a nature-based alternative
to high-input agriculture but meets with little interest from growers.
Scientific evidence underlying ecological intensification is often unconvincing to
growers, as it is based on small-scale studies of ecological processes unlinked from
agricultural production.
Grower interest can be enhanced by evidence of the agronomic and economic benefits
most relevant to farmers and measured at the scales of operation of farm enterprises.
In addition to concrete benefits, concerns of the general public about adverse effects
of industrial farming can promote adoption of ecological intensification, both directly
and indirectly, by enhancing political will to use regulatory instruments.
There is worldwide concern about the environmental costs of conventional intensification
of agriculture. Growing evidence suggests that ecological intensification of mainstream
farming can safeguard food production, with accompanying environmental benefits; however,
the approach is rarely adopted by farmers. Our review of the evidence for replacing
external inputs with ecosystem services shows that scientists tend to focus on processes
(e.g., pollination) rather than outcomes (e.g., profits), and express benefits at
spatio-temporal scales that are not always relevant to farmers. This results in mismatches
in perceived benefits of ecological intensification between scientists and farmers,
which hinders its uptake. We provide recommendations for overcoming these mismatches
and highlight important additional factors driving uptake of nature-based management
practices, such as social acceptability of farming.
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