Making biodiverse agriculture part of a food-secure future

Policy makers should value environmental, health benefits of small-scale local farming, researcher argues
Is biodiverse agriculture an anachronism? Or is it a vital part of a food-secure future?

Given the need to feed an estimated 2.4 billion more people by the year 2050, the drive toward large-scale, single-crop farming around the world may seem inexorable.

But there's an important downside to this trend, argues Timothy Johns, Professor of Human Nutrition at McGill University in Montreal, in a paper to be presented Saturday, Feb. 15, at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Chicago.