There’s an interesting paper in the latest Pedologia. Researchers grew Cavendish bananas in all combinations of with and without an endoparasitic nematode, and with and without an earthworm. They found that the banana plants did better when there were earthworms around, which slightly alleviated the root damage done by the nematodes and made more nutrients bioavailable. This is a great illustration of the importance of having an understanding of agricultural biodiversity as a whole, in the sense of all the different organisms — including crops, pests, symbionts, whatever — that interact in a farming landscape, affecting each other’s performance. These kinds of interactions are what organic agriculture aims to maintain, and why silver bullets rarely work.