Laura Vang Rasmussen among this year’s recipients of the Frontiers Planet Prize

Each year, the Frontiers Planet Prize, the world’s biggest prize for science-based breakthroughs within environmental science, is given to three research publications that hold the greatest potential to address the ecological crises.

And one of the winners this year was the publication ‘Joint environmental and social benefits from diversified agriculture,’ which Laura Vang Rasmussen, Co-PI at TreeSense, was the co-first author on alongside Professor Ingo Grass from the University of Hoffenheim. The Planet Prize also includes an award of one million dollars, intended to support further research. The paper was published in Science.

“I feel proud that Prof Ingo Grass and I persevered to lead a very big team of 58 excellent collaborators through a data harmonization effort that seemed almost impossible at first,” says Laura Vang Rasmussen.

Agricultural diversification works

The paper involved 58 researchers from all over the world and data from 2.655 farms across 11 countries and 5 continents, analyzing how agricultural diversification affects both people and the environment.

A clear takeaway from the publication is that diversified agriculture, such as mixed livestock and crops, flower strips, and agroforestry, brings significant benefits for both the environment, food security, and livelihoods. And the more diversification, the greater the positive effects. Negative effects are rare and usually only short-term.

Therefore, the researchers advocate for a general shift away from industrial monoculture in favor of more sustainable farming methods – something that aligns well with the Frontiers Planet Prize’s goal of advancing the transformational breakthroughs proposed by the winning scientists.

“Because our study includes very different contexts from blueberry farming in Canada to smallholder maize in Malawi, our key result - that agricultural diversification works – can guide transitions towards more sustainable agriculture across the globe,“ explains Laura Vang Rasmussen.