Soil & Crop Sciences Section, School of Integrative Plant Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA.
The Nature Conservancy, Highland, NY, USA.
Nat Plants. 2022 Aug;8(8):897-905. doi: 10.1038/s41477-022-01191-1. Epub 2022 Jul 21.
Organic agriculture outperforms conventional agriculture across several sustainability metrics due, in part, to more widespread use of agroecological practices. However, increased entry of large-scale farms into the organic sector has prompted concerns about 'conventionalization' through input substitution, agroecosystem simplification and other changes. We examined this shift in organic agriculture by estimating the use of agroecological practices across farm size and comparing indicators of conventionalization. Results from our national survey of 542 organic fruit and vegetable farmers show that fewer agroecological practices were used on large farms, which also exhibited the greatest degree of conventionalization. Intercropping, insectary plantings and border plantings were at least 1.4 times more likely to be used on small (0.4-39 cropland ha) compared with large (≥405 cropland ha) farms, whereas reduced tillage was less likely and riparian buffers were more likely on small compared with medium (40-404 cropland ha) farms. Because decisions about management practices can drive environmental sustainability outcomes, policy should support small and medium farms that already use agroecological practices while encouraging increased use of agroecological practices on larger farms.
由于更广泛地采用了农业生态实践，有机农业在多个可持续性指标上优于传统农业。然而，大型农场越来越多地进入有机领域，这引发了人们对通过投入替代、农业生态系统简化和其他变化而“常规化”的担忧。我们通过估计农场规模的农业生态实践的使用情况，并比较常规化的指标，来研究有机农业的这种转变。我们对全国 542 名有机水果和蔬菜农民的调查结果表明，大型农场使用的农业生态实践较少，而且常规化程度也最高。间作、昆虫种植和边界种植在小农场（0.4-39 耕地公顷）上的使用至少是大农场（≥405 耕地公顷）的 1.4 倍，而小型农场（0.4-39 耕地公顷）上的减少耕作的可能性较小，而在小农场（0.4-39 耕地公顷）上的河岸缓冲区的可能性较大。由于管理实践的决策可以推动环境可持续性成果，因此政策应支持已经使用农业生态实践的小中型农场，同时鼓励在大型农场增加农业生态实践的使用。
