Prioritise the most effective measures for biodiversity-friendly agriculture

In their response to our paper on harnessing biodiversity in agricultural landscapes [1], Stein-Bachinger et al. [2] argue that our statements in favour of reducing field size and crop diversification ‘have to be combined with reduced management intensity’ to be effective. While we acknowledge the role of reducing agricultural intensity for biodiversity conservation here and in our previous research [3], we argue to substantially increase biodiversity through the restoration of landscape heterogeneity, while still aiming at high yield levels.