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TWN Info Service
on Sustainable Agriculture Dear Friends and Colleagues Study Shows the Many Long-term Benefits of Agricultural Diversification This study used a second-order meta-analysis to quantify the long-term effects of agricultural diversification practices on socioeconomic and ecological benefits, based on 120 years of data from 184 meta-analyses. The results provide strong evidence that agricultural diversification can help to achieve more sustainable and climate-resilient food production systems with financial profitability, biodiversity, pollination, soil fertility, nutrient cycling, and carbon sequestration being 22% to 110% higher after 20 years compared to non-temporal analysis results. Crop diversification significantly increased financial profitability: compared to monocultures and conventional agriculture, agricultural diversification can improve crop yield in short terms while increasing farmers’ income, improving soil nutrients, and capturing and storing carbon from the atmosphere in the long run. Trade-off analysis between yield and all services showed win-win outcomes during the first 40 years. With best wishes, Third World Network ______________________________________________________________________ LONG-TERM AGRICULTURAL DIVERSIFICATION INCREASES FINANCIAL PROFITABILITY, BIODIVERSITY, AND ECOSYSTEM SERVICES: A SECOND-ORDER META-ANALYSIS Estelle Raveloaritiana & Thomas Cherico Wanger Nature
Communications, Volume 17, Article number: 1016 (2026) https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-67757-7 26 January 2026 Sustainable agriculture in the 21st century requires the production of sufficient food, while reducing environmental impacts and safeguarding human livelihoods. Many studies have confirmed agricultural diversification with practices such as intercropping, organic farming, and soil inoculations, as suitable pathways to achieve these goals, but the long-term viability of socioeconomic and ecological benefits is uncertain. Here, we use a second-order meta-analysis to quantify long-term effects of agricultural diversification practices on socioeconomic and ecological benefits based on 120 years of data from 184 meta-analyses with 6741 effect sizes. Diversification increases financial profitability, biodiversity, pollination, soil quality, and carbon sequestration from 37 to 189% over 20 years, and we find no significant effects on crop yield, pest control, and climate regulation. Non-crop and crop diversification practices and use of organic amendments increase or maintain most of these benefits over time. Trade-off analysis between yield and all services shows win-win outcomes during the first 40 years. Our synthesis provides the urgently needed evidence for farmers and other decision-makers that diversification increases long-term financial profitability, biodiversity, soil quality, and climate change mitigation benefits. A large-scale implementation of agricultural diversification requires, however, careful consideration of factors that mediate these benefits. Then, agricultural diversification can be upscaled for long-term socioeconomic and nature-positive outcomes and, ultimately, for a global food system transformation.
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