The intensification and expansion of modern agriculture is amongst the greatest current threats to worldwide biodiversity. Over
the last quarter of the 20th century, dramatic declines in both range and abundance of many species associated with farmland have
been reported in Europe, leading to growing concern over the sustainability of current intensive farming practices. Purportedly sustainable
farming systems such as organic farming are now seen by many as a potential solution to this continued loss of biodiversity
and receive substantial support in the form of subsidy payments through EU and national government legislation.
This paper assesses the impacts on biodiversity of organic farming, relative to conventional agriculture, through a review of comparative
studies of the two systems, in order to determine whether it can deliver on the biodiversity benefits its proponents claim. It
identifies a wide range of taxa, including birds and mammals, invertebrates and arable flora, that benefit from organic management
through increases in abundance and/or species richness. It also highlights three broad management practices (prohibition/reduced
use of chemical pesticides and inorganic fertilisers; sympathetic management of non-cropped habitats; and preservation of mixed
farming) that are largely intrinsic (but not exclusive) to organic farming, and that are particularly beneficial for farmland wildlife.
However, the review also draws attention to four key issues: (1) It remains unclear whether a holistic whole-farm approach (i.e.
organic) provides greater benefits to biodiversity than carefully targeted prescriptions applied to relatively small areas of cropped
and/or non-cropped habitats within conventional agriculture (i.e. agri-environment schemes); (2) Many comparative studies encounter
methodological problems, limiting their ability to draw quantitative conclusions; (3) Our knowledge of the impacts of organic
farming in pastoral and upland agriculture is limited; (4) There remains a pressing need for longitudinal, system-level studies in
order to address these issues and to fill in the gaps in our knowledge of the impacts of organic farming, before a full appraisal
of its potential role in biodiversity conservation in agroecosystems can be made.