Sustainable Agriculture Literature Review - Boulder County

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As highlighted by the International Bee Research Association: 690
“The effects of colony losses in general and CCD specifically in the U.S. are
significant, especially considering the increasing demand for pollination in
agriculture. The value of honey bees to U.S. agriculture has been estimated to be
[greater than] $US14 billion, 691 principally through pollination of many of the
nation’s crops. Consequently, large scale research efforts have begun in the U.S.
to determine the underlying cause(s) of colony losses, including CCD, in an
attempt to mitigate or slow the rate of losses.”
Methods of pest management that help to decrease the use of chemical pesticides while
increasing biodiversity rely heavily on integrated pest management systems. By using
biologic methods, and chemical pesticides only as a last resort, IPM approaches have
been able to keep destructive insects under control. For example, creating habitats such
as edge zones, hedgerows, and permanent grass strips and preserving natural small
refuge biotopes among the cultivated fields can favor natural insect predators. 692
Additionally, methods that disrupt pest cycles, like crop rotations and intercropping, and
plant varieties that have high resistance to pests help to limit decreases in biodiversity
from chemical pesticides. 693 For a further discussion on managing pests and IPM please
see 4.1 Integrated Pest Management.
Production Methods Affecting Biodiversity
Many factors influence the biodiversity in an agricultural landscape, of which only some
are clearly related to the organic farming system. To a great extent, these factors are
under the control of individual farmers allowing land to be managed to increase the
abundance of beneficial organism groups regardless of the type of agriculture. A
comprehensive assessment of how organic agricultural methods effect biodiversity
compared to conventional systems found that the majority of the 76 studies reviewed
demonstrated that species abundance and richness across a wide range of taxa tend to
be higher on organic farms than on locally representative conventional farms (Figure
33)- 694
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Figure 33: Summary of the Effects of Organic Farming on Individual Taxon, in
Comparison to Conventional
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