Using the organic system plan template as a policy lever for improving biodiversity on US organic farms
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SI: ORGANIC WORLD CONGRESS 2020
Using the organic system plan template as a policy lever for improving biodiversity on US organic farms Sam Sundius & Carolyn Dimitri
&
Juan Herrera
Received: 9 June 2020 / Accepted: 31 August 2020 # Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract In the USA, conservation and monitoring of biodiversity on organic farms have been poorly enforced, leading to the suggestion of explicitly addressing biodiversity through the organic system plan. We use primary data to examine the efficacy of this approach. We find that that farmers reporting using notill farming, cover crops, and buffer strips observed improved or maintained levels of pollinator and wild animal biodiversity on their farms. Those using biological pest management observed higher or constant levels of pollinators on their farms. Inclusion of questions about biodiversity on the certifier-provided template, used to guide development of the organic system plan, was determined to be positively and significantly related to the predicted probability of observing higher or constant levels of pollinator and wild animal biodiversity on their farms. Keywords Biodiversity . Certified organic . Organic system plan . Policy . Pollinators . Wild animals
Introduction Conservation of biodiversity is a core tenet of organic farming, due to its important contributions to agroecosystem functioning (CBD 2008). As such, S. Sundius : C. Dimitri (*) : J. Herrera Department of Nutrition and Food Studies, New York University, New York, NY, USA e-mail: [email protected]
conserving biodiversity is specifically mentioned in the US organic regulation 7 CFR § 205.2 (Organic regulation 2019) as well as the IFOAM principles of organic agriculture (IFOAM undated). The US organic regulation states “…producer must initiate practices to support biodiversity and avoid, to the extent practicable, any activities that would diminish it…” (USDA, NOP 2018), while IFOAM (undated) indicates that organic farms “…should protect and benefit the common environment including landscapes, climate, habitats, biodiversity, air and water.” The two statements allude to the multiple dimensions of biodiversity, which includes plants, animals, and microorganisms, at the genetic, species, and ecosystem levels (CBD 2008; Altieri and Rogé 2009). Despite the explicit inclusion of biodiversity in the US regulation and IFOAM’s principles of organic agriculture, evidence suggests that farmers and certifiers in the USA pay insufficient attention to the requirement (Dixon 2017). In the USA, most organic farmers consider the impacts of their practices on soil biodiversity, through the strong focus on soil health. Other dimensions of biodiversity, such as pollinators, wildlife protection, habitat protection, and water quality, are not as consistently considered. Yet, biodiversity in its many forms contributes to system resilience (Borron 2006). Farm practices, such as cover cropping, intercropping, and crop rotations, for example, support biodiversity on crop farms (Wild Farm Alliance 2016).
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