Loss of biodiversity in European agriculture during the twentieth century

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Today, agriculture in Europe can be generally classified as having a low level of biodiversity. This article describes indications of biodiversity in agriculture and of how biodiversity has changed over time. It is highly likely that in the past, over a period of approximately 1,000 years, agriculture in central and western Europe was a matter of biodiversity, due to low-intensity cultivation methods and the principle of self-sufficiency that most farms practised. Biodiversity actually increased between the eighteenth and twentieth centuries due to a growing variety of cultivated crops brought about by the more advanced farming methods used in England and the Netherlands at that time. The loss of biodiversity in recent decades was stimulated primarily by the economic “environment“ which was shaped by rising labour costs and relatively low prices for agricultural products which, in turn, accelerated mechanization and specialization in a few products (crops, animals) and put pressure on farmers to increase their yields. At present, loss of biodiversity is apparent in many ways. The European Union is trying to make biodiverse farming attractive to farmers through and farm ecology programmes. A general shift towards more biodiversity is, however, unlikely to occur because the prevailing political, commercial, administrative and economic forces are against it.