Authors: Woodcock, Ben;

Intensively managed arable farming systems are by necessity run as commercial enterprises and farmers remain focused on both profitability and efficiency with the maintenance of biodiversity typically being something that needs to fit around these concerns. However, the large area covered by these systems provide significant scope for altering practices to support biodiversity by altering the character of these management practices across a range of spatial scales. For farmers perspective it is the provision of ecosystem services, like pollination and natural pest control, that may be of greatest interest as it represents an intersection between biodiversity and agricultural productivity. In this talk we will look at the potential and limitation for modern intensive arable farming systems to be softened to support improved biodiversity and ecosystem service provision provided largely by invertebrate communities. We will look at the extent to which field scale yields can be supported by such biodiversity mediated ecosystem processes and consider the problems associated with driving change in the farming community where harsh economic decisions can limit shifts to more sustainable practices.