Setting aside some farmland as wildlife habitat might not reduce crop yields.

Richard Pywell at the Natural Environment Research Council's Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in Wallingford, UK, and his team studied 56 fields at a farm growing wheat, oilseed rape and field beans over 6 years. Along field edges, 0%, 3% or 8% of the total cropped area was set aside as habitat for birds, pollinators and other wildlife. None of the crop yields in the three experiments decreased, despite the difference in crop area. In fields without any habitat set aside, yields at the edges were poor, whereas in fields with habitat margins, the wildlife seemed to boost yields by increasing the productivity per unit area.

For beans, the yield was 35% higher in the fields where the most land was set aside.

Proc. R. Soc. B 282, 20151740 (2015)