The Crop Protection Association has welcomed the findings of new research from the University of Leeds, which concludes that more intensive farming systems – rather than organic methods – offer the most effective way to meet future food production demands while protecting farmland wildlife and biodiversity.

In the most detailed, like-for-like comparison of conventional and organic farms to date, researchers from the University’s Faculty of Biological Science found that the benefits of organic production to wildlife and biodiversity were more limited than previously thought, while yields were much lower.