Conservation & Farming (AQA A Level Biology): Revision Note

Conservation & farming

• After the Second World War there was a massive change in how food was produced

• There was a need to produce more food, at a quicker rate and farmers needed to produce a higher yield

• It was then that modern farming practices began:

  • Farms became more specialised, so they grew only one crop or raised one type of livestock (monoculture)

  • There was a switch to growing cereal crops rather than vegetables

  • Fields were made bigger to accommodate machinery via the removal of hedgerows and stonewalls

  • More land was made arable by draining wetlands and filling in ponds

  • The use of pesticides and fertilisers increased

Modern farming practices & biodiversity

• Biodiversity looks at the range and variety of genes, species and habitats within a particular region

• Biodiversity of insect, animal and plant species is often measured and studied within a farming context

• Modern farming aims to maximise yield (e.g. crops, livestock), often using methods that reduce biodiversity

  • For example:

    • fast-growing grass is essential for raising healthy livestock, but this is limited in floral species, reducing species richness

    • sowing crops in the autumn instead of spring so the gap between harvesting and ploughing is very short - one or two weeks, reducing the time available for local birds to benefit from ploughing of fields

    • monoculture of crops reduces plant diversity for bumblebee habitats, contributing to the very rapid decline in bumblebee numbers in recent years (bumblebees are essential for the pollination of wildflowers and valued crops such as oilseed rape and peas

• These practices increase productivity but often destroy habitats, reduce species diversity, and disrupt ecosystem services (e.g. pollination, nutrient cycling).

• Conservationists have made strong efforts to try to maintain or improve biodiversity around farmlands

• Conservation of habitats and ecosystems is important because:

  • it maintains biodiversity, including wild species that may have future value (e.g. in medicine or agriculture)

  • ecosystem stability is supported

  • there are ethical, aesthetic, and cultural reasons to maintain biodiversity

  • it helps combat climate change through carbon storage (e.g. in woodland and peatland)

Conservation vs farming

• The aim is to maintain or improve biodiversity while still producing enough food

• Conservation measures may reduce short-term yield or increase costs to the farmer

• Farmers may be reluctant to adopt changes unless they receive financial or policy support

• Conservation efforts require education, subsidies, and long-term thinking from parties involved

• Examples of conservation strategies are shown below:

Biodiversity vs profit

• High yield and profit are essential for economic farming

• However, conservation-friendly practices can be costly, time-consuming, and may reduce yield

• For example, avoiding pesticides can boost bumblebee populations but also allow pests to thrive, lowering crop yield and profit

• Farmers may then need to raise prices

• Balancing farming and conservation is challenging, but EU grants help by subsidising environmentally friendly practices to offset losses