Farmers are being urged to return at least 10% of their land to natural systems to progressively build up the long-term value of their land, water and soil.

The clock is ticking on intensive farming systems worldwide which rely on chemicals to manage soil and crop fertility and pests, says Flinders University environmental scientist Dr Harpinder Sandhu.

Dr Sandhu is leading a United Nations effort to increase agro-ecology practices in all farming systems, not just to improve agricultural output but also to help feed an expected two billion more people in the world by 2050.

“High input costs, slim profit margins, environmental degradation and climate change are taking their toll on Australian farming systems, and the time is right to increase the use of more sustainable practices,” he says.

As a part of his investigation, a local study was conducted in the Northern and Yorke agricultural region in South Australia that examined the contribution of nature’s services or ecosystem services.

It concluded that these natural assets are of great significance and high economic value to local agriculture – and could improve yield at a time when productivity gains can be slow and costly.

“For example, contribution of pollinators to canola crop in this region accounts for up to $15 million annually,” he says.

“In the absence of pollinators, farmers will lose production value.

“There is a real need to create biodiversity islands in agricultural landscapes to attract wild and managed pollinators which are of high economic value to farming,” Dr Sandhu says.

The study also concluded that current farming impacts negatively on the soil health.

“There is great scope to enhance soil carbon by better soil management practices in the region,” he says.

“It will also decrease the impacts of climate change by reducing net emissions of greenhouse gases from agriculture.”

While the majority of the local farmers are already using no-till practices, there is greater need to enhance water and nutrient use efficiency by improving soil health by crop residue management and appropriate crop rotations.

“There is need to incorporate such practices based on agro-ecology to enhance the contribution of natural assets in farming so as to ensure long-term sustainability of farms and wellbeing of farming community,” Dr Sandhu says.

Dr Sandhu will address a forum on the role of agro-ecology to global agriculture at a Food and Agricultural Organisation of the UN forum in Rome this month.

His global investigation into the value of pollination, with about 100 researchers worldwide, will be released at another FAO summit in February 2016.