SHOWCASE recently published a fifth practice abstract on the EU CAP Network, highlighting the effectiveness of green covers in stone fruit orchards to boost biodiversity, even under intensive farm management.

Authored by project partners conducting research on 15 stone fruit farms in Spain, the study compared areas with planted green covers between fruit trees to conventionally managed areas dominated by bare soil. The results showed significantly higher numbers of beneficial insects, including bees (pollinators), pest-eating predators and parasitoid wasps, as well as greater flower diversity in green cover areas. Surprisingly, these benefits were even more pronounced on farms with higher management intensity.

The findings challenge the assumption that biodiversity measures only work on low-intensity farms and emphasise the potential of wildflower strips and green covers as practical tools for supporting nature and essential ecosystem services, such as pollination and pest control, across a variety of farming systems. This insight encourages policymakers and farmers to implement nature-friendly practices widely, especially in intensively managed agricultural landscapes where biodiversity is most at risk.

Read the full practice abstract here.