Joint environmental and social benefits from diversified agriculture

Agricultural simplification continues to expand at the expense of more diverse forms of agriculture. This simplification in the form of, for example, intensively-managed monocultures, poses a risk to keeping the world within safe and just Earth system boundaries. Here, we estimate how agricultural diversification simultaneously affects social and environmental outcomes. Drawing from 24 studies in 11 countries across 2,655 farms, we show how five diversification strategies focusing on livestock, crops, soils, non-crop plantings, and water conservation benefit social (human well-being, yields, food security) and environmental (biodiversity, ecosystem services, reduced environmental externalities) outcomes. We find that applying multiple diversification strategies creates more positive outcomes than individual management strategies alone. To realize these benefits, well-designed policies are needed to incentivize the adoption of multiple diversification strategies in unison.