查看文章

Several influential reports have suggested that one of the most appropriate responses to expected food shortages and ongoing environmental degradation is sustainable intensification, i.e. the increase of food production with at worst no increase in environmental harm, and ideally environmental benefit. Here we sought evidence of sustainable intensification among British farmers by selecting innovative arable, dairy, mixed and upland farms and analysing their own data on yields, inputs and land use and management for 2006 and 2011. The evidence was obtained by interview, and was interpreted in terms of the ecosystem services of food production (GJha⁻¹, where area took into account estimated area to grow any imported animal feeds), regulation of climate, air and water quality (modelled emissions of GHGs (CO₂eha⁻¹), ammonia (kgha⁻¹) and nitrate loss (kgha⁻¹)) and biodiversity (using an index based …