Hello!

We are from 4th group

1. Fath Ril Aulia
2. Fisinya Rindu
3. La Arlan
4. Siti Nurazizah
5. Yusniar Zurroh Asfiniya
 ‘Ecological
intensification’ swaps
pesticides for
biodiversity
 What is
‘ecological
intensification’ ?
Ecological intensification can
be formally defined as a knowledge
intensive process that requires
optimal management of ecological
function and natural biodiversity to
improve the performance of
agricultural systems, efficiency and
farmers livelihoods.
Semi-natural habitats such as a
flower strip along a winter
wheat field in the Netherlands
can attract insects to eat pests
or pollinate crops. While
farmers often turn to
pesticides and herbicides to
get as much produce as
possible from their land,
there’s something new on the https://horizon-magazine.eu/article/ecological-intensification-
swaps-pesticides-biodiversity.html
menu that could employ
nature’s own resources
instead.
• Intensive agriculture aims to achieve the highest yields
at the lowest possible cost. heavy resources can cause
loss of biodiversity, soil degradation, pollution of water
resources and high greenhouse gas emissions.
• Ecological intensification benefits farmers such as
inserting semi-natural habitats into agriculture to attract
insects whose organisms are often natural enemies of
pests that eat commercial crops or pollinators such as
bees that can increase crop yields.
• these organisms they are pollinator such as
bees that can increase yield
• researchs helped to establish wildflower
habitats on dutch blueberry farms to attract
pollinators and allow farmers to see for
themselves the benefits of ecological
intensification
• they feel can benefit economically from
higher yields
• But this technique isn't much use for those
who grow crops that dont need pollination
like wheat, corn, and root vegetable
Ecological intensification does not make sense because
it has practical costs and risks
Based on interviews with farmers about interest in
practices to improve pest control and pollination that
they are not interested in implementing these practices
they do not have pollinated crops
Dutch agriculture is very intensive because they are
often forced to farm in certain ways
The solution might lie in the use of other ecological
intensification practices for profit, such as precision
farming with drones, reducing the amount of piracy
This solution was explored by Oscar, a project funded
by the European Union
Prof. Maria finckh said team economists of OSCAR showed the
farmers that if they go to minimum tillage and use cover crops, the
farmers will have as much income, or even higher income than
before.
 
Tillage is ploughing farm land to mix up soil, bury the grass layer
and prepare a uniform bed for sowing, but in recent years this
approach has been proved to be detrimental to the soil ecosystems
and to long-term soil fertility.
 
many organisms will die if we plow and turn the soil, because there
are organisms that adapt to the air, it will cause the lower layers to
come into contact with the air which causes many organisms to die.
These microorganisms are part of an ecosystem that helps plants
control pests and fight diseases
 
To support reduced tillage, OSCAR has been
testing different species of cover crops. These are
types of plants, like clovers, legumes and grasses.

This is because they compete with weeds and

create ecosystems where earthworms, bacteria and
fungi can thrive and help create soil organic matter.
It also stops soil erosion and can lock in extra
carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
 “
Thanks!
Any questions ?
Farmers quite often don’t have a
lot of choices ... they are often
forced to farm in a certain way.
Professor David Kleijn, Wageningen University, the Netherlands