A new Nature Communications study finds European farmers could cut agricultural climate emissions by 40% while protecting biodiversity — without reducing food production. Led by NTNU and CICERO, the research shows that relocating crops away from suboptimal land and restoring it to natural vegetation can boost climate and nature outcomes. Strategies like intensification or extensification maintain yields while supporting long-term sustainability.
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European farmers could cut agricultural climate emissions by 40% while easing pressure on biodiversity — all without reducing food production — according to a new study published in Nature Communications.
Food systems worldwide account for roughly one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions. This new research, led by NTNU in Norway with contributions from CICERO, examines how European agriculture can become more climate- and nature-friendly while maintaining current output. The study finds that a significant portion of Europe’s agricultural production occurs on land poorly suited for crops, and that both climate and biodiversity could benefit from strategically relocating production to more optimal areas.
“Agricultural production in areas characterized by low productivity, steep slopes, and high fragmentation is usually associated with higher-than-average management costs and environmental impacts. Abandoning this suboptimal cropland to vegetation regrowth, while optimizing crop production in other locations, is an attractive strategy for supporting climate and biodiversity targets without compromising food security,” said Dr. Ting Hua, lead author of the paper, postdoc researcher at the Industrial Ecology Program at NTNU.
Fourteen percent of Europe’s cropland is considered suboptimal. Of this land, two-thirds is at risk of degradation, and roughly half overlaps with biodiversity-priority areas. The study examines several strategies that could help balance crop production with climate mitigation and nature conservation, according to a press release.
One option is intensification, which focuses on boosting yields in optimal cropland through more intensive production. This allows suboptimal land to be retired and restored to natural vegetation, offsetting production losses while delivering climate and biodiversity benefits.
Another option is extensification, which also involves phasing out agriculture on suboptimal land. However, instead of relying solely on intensified production elsewhere, this approach integrates crops with other types of vegetation in optimal areas, creating more diverse habitats and enhancing ecosystem services. Although extensification offers greater environmental gains, it requires more extensive changes in land use than intensification.
“The different scenarios presented in the study will to some extent have value in all countries but are not equally applicable everywhere. All the scenarios considered maintain the current level of food production in Europe, and they reduce greenhouse gas emissions and preserve nature—but the benefits are not necessarily equal or the same in all countries.
“It is up to national governments to decide which strategy is more suitable in each country. The approaches that result in the greatest benefits for climate, nature and food production will likely be met with the most resistance as they require greater changes,” said Bob van Oort, contributing writer and senior researcher at CICERO Center for International Climate Research.
In Europe, about 250,000 square kilometers of agricultural land has been abandoned since the early nineties, which in comparison equals about 80% of Norway’s mainland. Furthermore, large areas of cropland are at risk of abandonment by 2030, the study showed.
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