Résumé
A confl uence of discoveries in ecology and agriculture suggests thatbiodiversity can help address the sustainability problems facing modernintensive agriculture. Here we explore several questions related to thispossibility. Can increases in national crop diversity help increase thestability and security of national food systems? Can practices based ongreater crop biodiversity produce yields that compete with those obtainedthrough the long-standing, high-input monoculture model? What are theappropriate levels and combinations of crops to be used? We highlightrecent research that suggests it is time to begin unlocking the agriculturalpotential of biodiversity — from the level of crop genetic diversity to speciesdiversity — and to do so on spatial scales from individual fi elds to nations.Recent research suggests that the biodiversifi cation of agriculture may lead togreater and more stable yields, decrease land clearing, and lower the use ofharmful agrochemicals.