Long-term Study Shows Plants Adapt Genetically to Organic Farming

A study published in Agronomy for Sustainable Development by the University of Bonn in Germany showed that crop plants adapt genetically over time to organic farming. A 23-year study of neighboring fields of conventional and organic barley, replanted each year in their respective fields, revealed that the organic barley was enriched with specific genetic material that differed from that in the conventional field. The conventional and organic fields showed the same genetic adaptations over the first 12 years of the study, as they adapted to the site, but later they diverged increasingly. Notably, the organic barley developed gene variants that were less sensitive to a nutrient deficit or lack of water, and the conventionally farmed barley became more genetically uniform over time. The variation in the organic barley meant that some years were extremely favorable or unfavorable for some plants. Researchers say the results demonstrate the importance of cultivating crop varieties optimized for organic farming.