Setting malaise traps to catch and genetically sequence flying insects. Credit: Ben Roberts

New research shows that lower-intensity management of coconut palm plantations can sustain, or even increase, crop yields while improving soil health. The new approach, published in Plants, People, Planet , reduces harmful pathogens and promotes beneficial mycorrhizal fungi, providing a practical model for more sustainable tropical agriculture.

Co-author of the study, Ben Roberts, said, "Palm species are fantastic and extremely important crops. Oil palm, for example, produces over 40% of the world's vegetable oil while using less than 6% of the global land allotted to vegetable oils.…