More biodiversity on organic farms

Plants benefit from organic farming, particularly plants that are insect pollinated, annuals and rare. Around 20 percent greater diversity has been found on organic farms, when compared to conventional farms. Yet no difference was found between farms that had newly conver - ted to organic farming and those that had been organic for longer. Plant diversity benefited immediately from the change in farming system. This was down to ceasing to use herbicides, growing a wider variety of crops on the farms and that the stands of crops were thinner.