Global assessment of agricultural system redesign for sustainable intensification

Jules Pretty (), Tim G. Benton, Zareen Pervez Bharucha, Lynn V. Dicks, Cornelia Butler Flora, H. Charles J. Godfray, Dave Goulson, Sue Hartley, Nic Lampkin, Carol Morris, Gary Pierzynski, P. V. Vara Prasad, John Reganold, Johan Rockström, Pete Smith, Peter Thorne and Steve Wratten
Additional contact information
Jules Pretty: University of Essex
Tim G. Benton: University of Leeds
Zareen Pervez Bharucha: Anglia Ruskin University
Lynn V. Dicks: University of East Anglia
Cornelia Butler Flora: Iowa State University
H. Charles J. Godfray: University of Oxford
Dave Goulson: University of Sussex
Sue Hartley: University of York
Nic Lampkin: Organic Research Centre
Carol Morris: University of Nottingham
Gary Pierzynski: Kansas State University
P. V. Vara Prasad: Kansas State University
John Reganold: Washington State University
Johan Rockström: Stockholm Resilience Centre
Pete Smith: University of Aberdeen
Peter Thorne: Sustainable Livestock Systems, International Livestock Research Institute
Steve Wratten: Lincoln University

Nature Sustainability, 2018, vol. 1, issue 8, 441-446

Abstract: Abstract The sustainable intensification of agricultural systems offers synergistic opportunities for the co-production of agricultural and natural capital outcomes. Efficiency and substitution are steps towards sustainable intensification, but system redesign is essential to deliver optimum outcomes as ecological and economic conditions change. We show global progress towards sustainable intensification by farms and hectares, using seven sustainable intensification sub-types: integrated pest management, conservation agriculture, integrated crop and biodiversity, pasture and forage, trees, irrigation management and small or patch systems. From 47 sustainable intensification initiatives at scale (each >104 farms or hectares), we estimate 163 million farms (29% of all worldwide) have crossed a redesign threshold, practising forms of sustainable intensification on 453 Mha of agricultural land (9% of worldwide total). Key challenges include investment to integrate more forms of sustainable intensification in farming systems, creating agricultural knowledge economies and establishing policy measures to scale sustainable intensification further. We conclude that sustainable intensification may be approaching a tipping point where it could be transformative.

Date: 2018
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DOI: 10.1038/s41893-018-0114-0

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