Ricciardi et al.: Smaller Farms Literature Review

The journal Nature Sustainability recently published Higher Yields and More Biodiversity on Smaller Farms by Vincent Ricciardi, Zia Mehrabi, Hannah Wittman, Dana James, and Navin Ramankutty (all affiliated with the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability at the University of British Columbia).

Higher Yields examines the relationship between farm size and six socioeconomic and environmental outcomes: yields, crop diversity, non-crop biodiversity at field and landscape levels, resource-use efficiency, greenhouse gas emissions, and profit.

The authors synthesize evidence from 118 studies in 51 different countries and find that smaller farms, on average, have higher yields and harbor greater crop and non-crop biodiversity than larger farms. The authors, however, found little conclusive evidence of differences in resource-use efficiency, greenhouse gas emission intensity, or profits.

A nice summary further highlighting this research and its potential policy implications is available here.

This digest was produced with significant contribution from Aurora Kenworthy, UNL Law Student.