Institute contributor Andrew Flachs has recently been featured on Voices for Biodiversity. In this article, he recounts his observations on the use of organic and GM cotton adoption in India.
A biodiverse landscape is very different from a monoculture, and eliminates many of the problems monocultures face. Biodiverse fields take up and replenish a variety of nutrients, and attract a set of plants and animals that don’t need chemical help to sustain themselves over the years. Under the right conditions, diversity of plants in an agricultural space helps to prevent soil erosion, attract predators who feed on agricultural pests, supplement food security and provide a reservoir of plant life to spread out the risk of over-relying on a single crop for one’s livelihood.
Have a read for yourself here: Biodiversity on Organic Farms in Telangana, India.