Supporting On-Farm Biodiversity – Protecting and Enhancing Ecosystem Services

Posted on Tuesday, 2 February 2021 under Farmer Story Series

Plants and animals work symbiotically to balance the earth’s ecosystems, providing necessary services and environments to produce food. Ecosystem services refer to any positive benefit that nature provides to people. Protecting ecosystem services builds resilience and can lead to greater on-farm productivity. Farms mimic natural ecosystems, as well as increase and protect biodiversity. This is an important part of reducing emissions to mitigate climate change. Healthy ecosystems absorb more carbon and have greater resilience to climate shocks. By enhancing on-farm biodiversity, we protect the ecosystem services that produce our food. BC farmers are enhancing and protecting biodiversity in several ways, including; maintaining wetlands, grasslands, forests, and waterways; protecting riparian areas, specifically around salmon-bearing streams; and introducing animals and inviting wildlife onto farms.

Strengthening farmland biodiversity and ecosystems can improve water management, provide greater habitat for wildlife, increase carbon sequestration, and ultimately lead to greater on-farm productivity. Sean Smukler is an associate professor and chair of Agriculture and Environment at UBC. Smukler provides farmers in BC with actionable research on how to better address their environmental impacts and adapt to climate change.

It is important to recognize the ecosystem services that we rely on for food production. Smukler says, “For a long time, we’ve been pretty singular in the expectations of our cultural landscape to provide [food], with this intense focus on yield and calories. Now, we need to really think about water quality and climate regulation, and the services that other organisms provide, like pollination.” It is not just about food production, “We’re sharing this space with other organisms. They deserve services too,” says Smukler. Managing soil is one way to enhance and protect ecosystem services. Smukler suggests farmers adopt a long-term plan to utilize areas that are out of production. “There are spaces that could be enhanced so that they are providing habitat for these other organisms and the services they provide,” says Smukler. His lab researches on-farm edge habitat enhancements like hedgerows, riparian buffers, and grass margins. Smukler suggests these are all things farmers could implement to increase biodiversity.

Overall, enhancing biodiversity improves things such as nutrient cycles, pollinator habitat, and crop productivity. Ecosystem services must be protected. “These are common goods, these are goods and services that we all should be investing in. We all have to see them as integral to the health of our communities and ecosystems,” says Smukler.

Strengthening farmland biodiversity and ecosystems can improve water management, provide greater habitat for wildlife, increase carbon sequestration, and ultimately lead to greater on-farm productivity #FFCFClimateAction Click To Tweet

There are a number of potential ways governments and consumers can incentivize farmers to protect these services. Smukler says, “I think that farmers are already expected to do too much and get too little for what they do. So adding the additional burden of trying to manage all the ecosystem services that we need is not fair unless we’re paying for it.” He recommends supporting extension and education services for farmers to demonstrate the long-term benefits of increasing on-farm biodiversity.

“You just have to look to nature when you farm. The simplest thing is the easiest thing, put an animal on the land. It’s what nature has been doing for years. – AJ Hay”

The 2019 National Farmers Union report, Tackling the Farm Crisis and the Climate Crisis suggests, “All sustainable natural ecosystems include animals—diverse, interconnected webs of animals and plants” and, that “Many of Earth’s plants and ecosystems evolved in a symbiotic relationship with grazing animals.” AJ Hay and Alicia Arding at Hardy Hills Farm understand the importance of this symbiosis. Hay says, “You just have to look to nature when you farm. The simplest thing is the easiest thing, put an animal on the land. It’s what nature has been doing for years.” At Hardy Hills, plants and animals work together in a silvopasture system. Riparian buffers surround the farm, providing space and protected habitat for several species of wildlife.

Agroforestry preserves and mimics natural forest systems. Intentionally planting trees and protecting surrounding forested areas on a farm can preserve ecosystems and mitigate climate change. FarmFolk CityFolk’s 2019 report on Climate Change Mitigation Opportunities suggests this practice, “Supports biodiversity by providing habitat and corridors between fragmented ecosystems.” The agricultural landscape Marcel Sachse and Nadia Moritz at Pinsch of Soil Farm have created, adheres to this philosophy. Sasche says, “We are incorporating ecosystem principles into our farm by planting trees, perennial food plants, flowers and other shrubs, to make it welcome to other insects and bird species.” Pinsch of Soil dedicates part of their land to crop production, leaving the remainder as a forested area. They continue to plant trees and support an existing forest, as well as work with local organizations to protect the salmon-bearing stream running through their property.

A healthy ecosystem supports farmers in their efforts to mitigate climate change through benefits such as water retention and carbon sequestration. Supporting farm health is beneficial to both humans and other living organisms who require ecosystem services. Smukler says, “Farmers and other people in the landscape can work together to manage lands for more than just food production.” We can grow food in ways in which “our terrestrial landscape provides all that we need to survive as a species and leaves some room for the other species as well.” After all, “Farmers are the stewards of the global landscape,” says Smukler.  Adopting farming practices that support biological diversity will benefit the land and other living organisms it supports.