Organic Farming and Deforestation’

Home , Organic farming

PUBLISHED: 1 JULY 2016 | ARTICLE NUMBER: 16101 | DOI: 10.1038/NPLANTS.2016.101 correspondence Reply to ‘Organic farming and deforestation’

Reganold and Wachter reply — We limited in discussing other important instruments and certification standards3,5. appreciate Tayleur and Phalan1 elaborating sustainability metrics, particularly aspects With growing demands on farmland and on the important challenge of habitat of social wellbeing. This gives strength increasing pressures on natural habitat, conversion facing agriculture. Indeed the to the argument that studies need to be progress will depend on targeting research, relationship between agricultural expansion done that adequately assess agriculture’s implementing effective policies and and habitat loss is complex2, and we did impacts on land-use change as well as other enforcing the protection of wildlands. ❐ not have space to delve into this complexity less-measured sustainability metrics4. 3 References in our paper . Moreover, the intent of We do think that organic and other 1. Tayleur, C. & Phalan, B. Nature Plants 2, 16098 (2016). our paper was not to critique organic third-party certification programmes, and 2. Kremen, C. Ann. NY. Acad. Sci. 1355, 52–76 (2015). certification programmes but to evaluate any government agricultural incentive 3. Reganold, J. P. & Wachter, J. M. Nature Plants 2, 15221 (2016). the 40 years of science examining the effects programmes, should be linked to strong 4. Sachs, J. et al. Nature 466, 558–560 (2010). of organic and conventional farming on conservation measures preventing 5. Phalan, B. et al. Science 351, 450–451 (2016). sustainability metrics. deforestation and other forms of habitat We agree that land-use change is conversion. More sustainable farming John P. Reganold* and Jonathan M. Wachter an important aspect of sustainability; systems — such as organic, integrated and Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, unfortunately, minimal available data on agroforestry systems — could work well with Washington State University, Pullman, this issue prevented us from including active habitat-conservation mechanisms, Washington 99164, USA. it in our discussion. We were similarly including land-use zoning, financial *e-mail: [email protected]