Analysis of Ecological Agriculture from the Perspective of Maintaining the Biodiversity of Agricultural Lands

Abstract

Abstract The intensification of agriculture, the specialization of production and the use of a wide range of agrochemicals has led to the loss of biodiversity on agricultural land, namely the cultivation of a small number of high-yielding varieties and short crop rotation. The loss of biodiversity and the homogenization of crops directly affects the productivity of agroecosystems and implicitly the sustainability of food systems. In this context, the article proposes an analysis of the evolution of ecological agriculture from the perspective of the need for a change in the structure and operation of agriculture to restore the biodiversity of agricultural land. The analysis is oriented towards the economic, social and environmental aspects given the fact that, often, ecological agriculture is proposed as a solution to ensure the food security of the world’s population. The analysis of data on global organic agriculture indicates that, in 2021, the total area of agricultural land cultivated in the organic system represented approximately 1.6% of the total agricultural land, the number of producers registered in organic agriculture reached approximately 3.7 million and the global market for organic products reached 125 billion euros. With regard to organic agriculture in Romania, in 2021, the total area cultivated in an ecological system was 578.7 thousand ha (3.2% of agricultural land cultivated organically in the EU), and the number of economic operators was 12,231. Given that the productions obtained in the ecological system are 20-40% lower than those in conventional agriculture, the integration of ecological practices in agriculture has the potential to increase the productions obtained and maintain biodiversity on agricultural land.