Farming invariably interferes with

Farming invariably interferes with the habitatsof plants and animals. However, this does notnecessaly mean that agriculture and biodiersity are incompatible in fact, quite the opposite is true. The sustainable cultivation of plants for food and feed actually enables us to preserve biodiversity By 2007, there were more than twice as many people living on the planet as there were in1961. Over the same period, the total amount of available arable(可耕的) land grew by just 10 percent. In comparison with population growth, the expansion of arable land was small.And there are limits to further expansion. A large proportion of the earth's surface-likedeserts -is not suitable for cultivation, and other areas are utilized by humans for roads and buildings, Some land that is rich in biodiversity needs to be preserved and thus should not be canverted into arable land. The tropical rainforests, for example, have the highest species density in the world, and changing this land for crop cultivation would be dreadful to these species habitats and, indeed, existence. By 2050, global demand for food will have risen by 70 percent. But the expansion of land available for cultivation has its limits. This is one of the greatest challenges facing agriculturetoday: How do we balance the increased demand for food with the need to maintain biological diversity, now and in the futureEfficient and sane use of land will be key to preserving natural animal and plant habitats. To achieve this aim will depend to a considerable extent on the use of modernagricultural methods. If these methods aresuccessfully applied, we believe that agricultureand biodiversity can coexist in harmony.