Abstract: Cereal/legume intercropping is gaining attention due to its potential contribution to achieving sustainable intensification of forage production. Productivity and quality of cereal/legume fodder mixtures are e... PubDate: 2025-07-11
Abstract: Service plants are primarily used in agroecosystems to provide ecosystem services that are not directly marketable. They are a promising option to promote biological pest regulation. Past studies have demonstr... PubDate: 2025-07-03
Abstract: Permaculture, often described as a grassroots movement, philosophy, or set of progressive agricultural practices, is considered to have significant potential to revitalize degraded land, improve the robustness... PubDate: 2025-06-27
Abstract: Yields in organic farming have been stagnating, widening the gap with conventional systems. Thus, there is the need to reconsider traditional organic crop rotations and adopt innovative strategies that will ma... PubDate: 2025-06-27
Abstract: Agroecology is increasingly proposed in literature as a possible solution to mitigate the impact of anthropic agricultural activity on the environment, even though in Europe its potential is still not entirely... PubDate: 2025-06-24
Abstract: Agriculture and forestry are facing numerous challenges, driven by a complex set of social, economic, and ecological factors. Innovation is a key to devising viable, resilient, and sustainable solutions to the... PubDate: 2025-06-18
Abstract: Robusta coffee, a vital cash crop for Vietnamese smallholders, significantly contributes to the national economy. Vietnam is the largest exporter of Robusta coffee, supplying 53% of the global market. However,... PubDate: 2025-06-13
Abstract: In Sub-Saharan Africa, dairy value chains’ stakeholders face many challenges and have expectations for change. Step-by-step innovation design methodologies and multi-stakeholder innovation platforms are implem... PubDate: 2025-06-10
Abstract: As warm season droughts increase in frequency due to climate change, causing severe yield losses especially among cereal crops, European agriculture is in dire need of adaptation. While agroforestry is widely regarded as a key adaptation measure, little is known on how yield performance is influenced by changing water availability in temperate regions. Therefore, we assessed the yield dynamics of five winter crops (winter wheat, triticale, winter barley, winter pea, and rapeseed) during seven growing seasons (2012 to 2023) in a well-established (since 2007) alley cropping agroforestry trial site in Southwestern Germany. The trial integrated three different agroforestry practices in a randomized block design: (i) willow short-rotation coppice, (ii) walnut trees for nut production, and (iii) diverse hedgerows. The relationship between crop yield and climatic water balance was analyzed using a linear mixed-model. In this unique long-term comparison, we demonstrate that individual alley cropping practices exhibited distinct yield patterns with increased distance to tree rows. In contrast to the willow short rotation coppice, walnut and hedgerows did not evoke significant winter crop yield declines at proximity. While in the walnut plots yields did not significantly vary with distance to tree rows, yields adjacent to hedge rows declined significantly towards the alley center. Moreover, tree rows contributed to stable crop yields under fluctuating water availability in their proximity and up to the alley center on their leeward side while yields significantly varied with changing climatic water balance on the windward side. Our results underline the potential of agroforestry to sustain yields in the face of increasingly variable water availability, further substantiating the contribution of alley cropping agroforestry for farming systems’ resilience to increasingly variable weather conditions. They moreover contribute to planning and policy support for advancing agroforestry as a climate smart solution in temperate regions. PubDate: 2025-05-20
Abstract: The impact of a changing climate on crop and tree growth remains complex and uncertain. Whilst some areas may benefit from longer growing seasons and increased CO2 levels, others face threats from more frequent extreme weather events. Models can play a pivotal role in predicting future agricultural and forestry scenarios as they can guide decision-making by investigating the interactions of crops, trees, and the environment. This study used the biophysical EcoYield-SAFE agroforestry model to account for the atmospheric CO2 fertilization and calibrated the model using existing field measurements and weather data from 1989 to 2021 in a case study in Northern Ireland. The study then looked at two future climate scenarios based on the representative concentration pathways (RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5) for 2020–2060 and 2060–2100. The predicted net impacts of future climate scenarios on grass and arable yields and tree growth were positive with increasing CO2 fertilization, which more than offset a generally negative effect of increased temperature and drought stress. The predicted land equivalent ratio remained relatively constant for the baseline and future climate scenarios for silvopastoral and silvoarable agroforestry. Greater losses of soil organic carbon were predicted under arable (1.02–1.18 t C ha−1 yr−1) than grassland (0.43–0.55 t C ha−1 yr−1) systems, with relatively small differences between the baseline and climate scenarios. However, the predicted loss of soil organic carbon was reduced in the long-term by planting trees. The model was also used to examine the effect of different tree densities on the trade-offs between timber volume and understory crop yields. To our best knowledge this is the first study that has calibrated and validated a model that accounts for the effect of CO2 fertilization and determined the effect of future climate scenarios on arable, grassland, woodland, silvopastoral, and silvoarable systems at the same site in Europe. PubDate: 2025-05-13
Abstract: Transitioning to a fossil fuel free society requires an increase in solar energy production. However, expanding solar power to farmland competes with food production. Additionally, climate change threatens food security and leads increasingly to yield losses. Agrivoltaic systems produce solar energy and food on the same field, while sheltering crops. In agrivoltaic systems, crops grow in a protected environment with reduced solar irradiance, a modified microclimate, and a potential physical cover protecting against hail damage. The agrivoltaic system may help safeguard crop yields from extreme weather events such as frost during flowering or sunburn during heat waves. Studies on agrivoltaic fruit production have previously focused on raspberry or apple. However, multiyear field trials are often lacking, and no study has described agrivoltaic pear cultivation. This research describes the multiyear effect of agrivoltaics on pear fruit, revealing that a predictable fruit yield and quality can be attained under solar panels in a temperate maritime climate. Tree rows were fitted with semi-transparent monofacial c-Si photovoltaic modules at a ground coverage ratio of 25.45%. Across three growing seasons, we recorded a 24% light reduction at canopy level. Agrivoltaic pear trees yielded 15% less than the reference control plots in 3 consecutive years. Flowering and fruit-set were unchanged, while agrivoltaics reduced leaf flavonoid levels. The leaf photosynthetic performance was identical, yet delayed leaf senescence under agrivoltaics suggests an adaptation to the modified environment. Agrivoltaics impacted fruit shape, as there was an increase in the number of bottle-shaped pears and a reduction in caliber. Other fruit quality traits were unaffected, including postharvest ethylene production. A land equivalent ratio of 1.44 was reached in the agrivoltaics orchard. This study demonstrates that agrivoltaics hold potential for pear production under temperate climates and highlights how pear productivity and quality is predictable when compared with conventional cultivation methods. PubDate: 2025-05-08
Abstract: Agroecological practices are largely recognized as one way of engaging social actors in the co-design and transformation of food systems towards sustainability. Such comprehensive approaches are difficult to evaluate using conventional metrics of agronomic and economic performance, which are only partial judges of the changes they enable. Holistic evaluation frameworks are essential to capture the multidimensional impacts of agroecology and provide evidence for informed decision-making. Identifying methodological gaps remains critical for framework improvement. While systematic reviews on agroecology impacts exist for other regions, Southeast Asia lacks such analysis despite its agricultural importance and unique characteristics. This knowledge gap potentially undermines the effectiveness of agroecological initiatives across Southeast Asia’s diverse agricultural landscapes. In response to this gap, we carried out the first systematic literature review on this topic in Southeast Asia. Our review included 97 papers across diverse disciplines. More than a third of the studies were conducted in Indonesia, with agroforestry accounting for half of the reviewed papers. Comparative land use studies and field experiments each constituted one-third of the research records, with both approaches focused on the plot level. Quasi-experimental evaluations represented merely 5% of the total studies. Half of the studies analyzed impacts of agroecological practices on income, followed by biodiversity and yield; very few assessed socio-cultural indicators. Overall, positive impacts of agroecology were reported, focusing on biodiversity, input efficiency, and soil health. The few studies on integrated crop-livestock farming assessed more diverse impacts, including social values and diets. Key methodological gaps in the holistic evaluation of agroecology in Southeast Asia emerge from this review. Research limitations include predominant plot-level focus, insufficient methodological integration of evaluation approaches, and critically neglected social and cultural dimensions. Additionally, a contextualized definition of agroecology developed and embedded in Southeast Asia farming systems is needed to guide adequate characterization, evaluation and policy formulation. PubDate: 2025-05-07
Abstract: Agriculture is a key contributor to gaseous emissions causing climate change, the degradation of water quality, and biodiversity loss. The extant climate change crisis is driving a focus on mitigating agricultural gaseous emissions, but wider policy objectives, beyond net zero, mean that evidence on the potential co-benefits or trade-offs associated with on-farm intervention is warranted. For novelty, aggregated data on farm structure and spatial distribution for different farm types were integrated with high-resolution data on the natural environment to generate representative model farms. Accounting for existing mitigation effects, the Catchment Systems Model was then used to quantify global warming potential, emissions to water, and other outcomes for water management catchments across England under both business-as-usual and a maximum technically feasible mitigation potential scenario. Mapped spatial patterns were overlain with the distributions of areas experiencing poor water quality and biodiversity loss to examine potential co-benefits. The median business-as-usual GWP20 and GWP100, excluding embedded emissions, were estimated to be 4606 kg CO2 eq. ha−1 (inter-quartile range 4240 kg CO2 eq. ha−1) and 2334 kg CO2 eq. ha−1 (inter-quartile range 1462 kg CO2 eq. ha−1), respectively. The ratios of business-as-usual GHG emissions to monetized farm production ranged between 0.58 and 8.89 kg CO2 eq. £−1 for GWP20, compared with 0.53–3.99 kg CO2 eq. £−1 for GWP100. The maximum mitigation potentials ranged between 17 and 30% for GWP20 and 19-27% for GWP100 with both corresponding medians estimated to be ~24%. Here, we show for the first time that the co-benefits for water quality associated with reductions in phosphorus and sediment loss were both equivalent to around a 34% reduction, relative to business-as-usual, in specific management catchment reporting units where excess water pollutant loads were identified. Several mitigation measures included in the mitigation scenario were also identified as having the potential to deliver co-benefits for terrestrial biodiversity. PubDate: 2025-04-02
Abstract: Climate change-driven extreme events are reducing barley productivity. The high use of mineral fertilizers, combined with low nutrient use efficiency, leads to environmental and economic concerns. Indigenous arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) inoculants offer a sustainable alternative, especially in intensive farming systems where AM colonization and diversity are low. However, poor adaptation to local conditions limits inoculant success. Few studies have tested indigenous AMF inoculated on field crops, with limited research on barley. No research has yet explored how barley genotype and environment modulate field inoculation outcomes in terms of crop productivity. Key factors such as AM fungal abundance and community structure shifts remain unidentified. This study evaluated the agroecological effects of an indigenous AM fungal consortium on three barley varieties (Atlante, Atomo, and Concerto) over 2 years. In 2020, Atomo and Concerto responded positively to inoculation in terms of root colonization, with grain yield increases of 64% and 37%, respectively. In 2021, only Concerto showed enhanced root colonization, while grain yield increased by 78% in Concerto and 134% in Atlante. Multivariate analysis revealed a strong impact of environment on barley productivity, with a significant third-order interaction among AMF, genotype, and environment. Inoculation slightly altered AM composition but strongly influenced community structure, particularly at different plant growth stages. Root colonization was strongly correlated with barley productivity, with root length containing arbuscules being the best predictor. Changes in the AM community structure, rather than composition, drove barley response, with Glomus and Septoglomus, present in the inoculum, being main players. These findings support the use of indigenous AMF for sustainable biofertilization and highlight the importance of selecting genotypes with a stable AM response across environments. Our results disclose for the first time the role of barley genotype and plant growth stage on AM host preference with and without indigenous AM fungal inoculants. PubDate: 2025-03-28
Abstract: Maize is the second most important cereal crop in European agriculture and a widely used raw material for feed, food, and energy production. Climate change studies over Europe predict a significant negative change in maize production. Finding appropriate and feasible adaptation strategies is a top priority for agriculture in the twenty-first century. Long-term agricultural experiments provide a useful resource for evaluating biological, biogeochemical, and environmental aspects of agricultural sustainability and for predicting future global changes. For the first time, we have been able to formulate a response to the question of which sowing date or hybrid choice strategies will prove beneficial in the future for the Pannonian region, based on sufficiently long experimental data. The objective of the study was to analyze a 30-year period of a multi-factorial long-term experiment at Martonvásár (Hungary) searching for traces of climate change as well as for favorable combinations of agro-management factors that can be used as adaptation options in the future. To analyze and extrapolate the data both in space and time, a multivariate statistical (response surface) model and a process-based crop simulation model were used. The results of the study yielded the following conclusions: (1) intensification of fertilization would not promote sustainable development in the region, (2) late hybrids have no perspective in the Pannonian climatic zone, and (3) earlier planting may become an effective adaptation option in the future. Our comprehensive methodology combines long-term historical weather and climate projection data with statistical and simulation models for the first time to provide agricultural stakeholders with more reliable adaptation strategies. It is essential to facilitate effective knowledge transfer to encourage farmers to adopt the proposed new practices. The collection of more detailed data for the entire Carpathian Basin will allow for the improvement of the models and projections. PubDate: 2025-03-27
Abstract: This virtual issue reports on the use of digital technologies in On-Farm Experimentation (OFE) in varied farming systems across the world. The authors investigated diverse questions across contrasted environments and scientific domains, with methodologies that included review, empirical studies, interviews, and reflexive accounts. The contributions thus showcase the multiplicity of research directions that are relevant to OFE. This includes addressing the two intertwined types of research objects in OFE: the farmers’ questions (how to improve management) and the methodologies required to address these (how to improve research through OFE)—with the notable support of digital tools. The issue includes a systematic review exploring OFE practices and farmer-researcher relationships as reported in the scientific literature; a meta-analysis comparing experimental scales in the USA; reflexive analyzes on a feed assessment tool and a tree crop decision support system rooted in OFE that are connecting farmers and researchers in Africa; a retrospective on a large CGIAR program combining citizen sciences and OFE; the use of video recordings and work analysis to characterize farmers’ knowledge in French vineyards; and in the same sector in Australia, two accounts of the use of digital tools in spatially explicit OFE: one an investigation into farmers’ and consultants’ perceptions, the other a retrospective on the roles of precision agriculture. Findings from these examples validate the use of varied digital tools to scale the design, implementation, and learning stages of OFE processes. These include how to better harness and bridge the knowledge of farmers, researchers and other parties, examples of data management and analytics, the improved interpretation of results, and capitalizing on experiences. The international conference this issue was part of also led to acknowledgement of a lack of policy linkages, required to scale OFE endeavors by incentivizing institutional change toward more farmer-centric research practices and responsible digital deployment. PubDate: 2025-03-17
Abstract: Pulse crops are commonly used to improve nitrogen management and diversify cereal-based cropping systems. However, integrated assessments of diversified rotations with pulse crops using plant, soil, and environmental quality indicators remain limited and relatively underexplored. A comprehensive evaluation of such diversified rotations based on agronomic performance, economic returns, and environmental sustainability over time is essential for enhancing cropping system resilience. An eight-year study (two cycles of 4-year rotation) was conducted at two locations to determine the effects of diversification with pulses on ecosystem services indicators including productivity, resource use efficiency, soil carbon, soil nitrogen, carbon footprint, and economic returns. Four cropping systems were evaluated, including a low-diversified rotation of lentil-wheat-lentil-wheat, a moderately diversified rotation of pea-wheat-lentil-wheat, a highly diversified rotation of pea-mustard-lentil-wheat, and a wheat monocrop control. At the 4-year rotation level, diversified rotations increased yield by 22–36%, water use efficiency by 31–42%, energy productivity by 78–86%, and economic returns by 46–65%, compared to the wheat monocrop. Additionally, diversified rotations resulted in net CO2 withdrawal when accounting for carbon sequestration in the soil. There was no difference between moderately and highly diversified rotations, suggesting that a large portion of diversification benefits can be achieved at the moderately diversified rotation level. Compared with the wheat monocrop, diversified rotations reduced nitrogen fertilizer inputs and resulted in a 10–31% lower partial nitrogen balance at the end of 8-year rotations. Moreover, diversifying cropping systems with pulse crops had no adverse effect on soil organic carbon, despite relatively low straw returns from pulse crops. These results, assessed using multiple system indicators at both the crop phase and rotation levels, reveal that diversifying rotations with pulse crops, even at a moderate level, can effectively improve the ecosystem services, contributing to the sustainability of cropping systems. PubDate: 2025-03-12
Abstract: Cover crops (CC) have the potential to reduce the dependency of rice (Oryza sativa L.) production on chemical N fertilizers and the associated environmental and economic risks. While extensively studied in tropical and subtropical systems, their potential in Mediterranean lowlands remains underexplored. This study evaluated whether CC could reduce chemical N fertilization in a Mediterranean rice system (Ebro Delta, Spain). Rice was grown during three seasons (2020–2023) preceded by a bare fallow, hairy vetch (Vicia villosa Roth), or ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) during the winter period, and with 4 different fertilizer N rates (0, 120, 180, and 240 kg N ha−1) under a split-plot design. Besides testing rice productivity, we developed a simple but effective indicator to assess the economic impact of cover crops by adapting the marginal net return of grain production to include cover cropping costs. Differences in biomass accumulation between the CC species were variable across years, with ryegrass being more dependent on precipitation, but also negatively affected by the N fertilization for the rice from the previous season. Due to its sole reliance on soil N uptake, ryegrass never produced more biomass N than hairy vetch. Rice yields were 13% lower and N use efficiency 16% lower after ryegrass than after bare fallow across fertilization levels. Hairy vetch tended to improve rice development (i.e., NDVI and panicle density) but did not translate into higher yields or N use efficiency compared to bare fallowing, potentially due to inhibited N mineralization under anaerobic conditions in flooded environments. Consequently, CC implementation significantly reduced profitability, showing how economic incentives are needed to encourage adoption. Implementing hairy vetch as CC increased the soil total N by 10%, potentially benefiting long-term rice production. These findings offer practical insights for agronomists and policymakers focused on enhancing the sustainability of Mediterranean rice systems. PubDate: 2025-03-12
Abstract: Despite a growing literature highlighting the benefits of agroecology in Africa, policy makers, donors, and scientists are still debating the “viability” of agroecological practices. However, assessing the viability of agroecological practices poses challenges, and so far, no studies have clearly documented them and options for addressing them. The aim of this paper is to describe the main methodological challenges we faced in assessing the viability of agroecology in 11 case studies in Africa so that others planning assessments can benefit from what we learned. Seven methodological challenges discussed are (i) defining an object of study through a list of practices or agroecological principles, (ii) having a practice-based assessment versus a systemic assessment at field or farm scales, (iii) having a subjective assessment of the viability of agroecological practices based on farmers’ perspective or an “objective” assessment, (iv) having a qualitative or quantitative assessment, (v) having a diachronic versus synchronic assessment, (vi) having a multisite approach versus a single-site study, and (vii) having a context-specific assessment method or a unitary assessment method. We conclude that the assessment of the viability of agroecological practices needs to be multicriteria, systemic, and based on farmers’ perspectives and not practice-based using a single simple metric. This is a change from the conventional way such systems are evaluated based on quantitative metrics. We recommend using a mixture of quantitative and qualitative assessments that highlight farmers’ perceptions of practices embedded into their farming systems, using transversal and context-specific data. PubDate: 2025-03-12
Abstract: Accurate calculation of nitrogen requirements is essential in rice fields utilizing both local manure and mineral fertilizers to mitigate nitrogen deficiencies and yield losses associated with reducing chemical fertilizer use. Traditional approaches often fail to effectively integrate organic and mineral fertilizers or adapt to the complexities of real-farm conditions. To tackle these challenges, this study introduced a novel application of the Nitrogen Fertilizer Optimization Algorithm (NFOA), leveraging remote optical sensors and Sentinel-2 satellite imagery to deliver precise, data-driven nitrogen recommendations for the effective integration of organic fertilization in rice cultivation. Fertilizer prescription maps generated by the NFOA delivered precise nitrogen recommendations tailored for diverse real-farm fields. The algorithm demonstrated strong predictive performance for yield responses to nitrogen application at critical phenological stages, such as panicle initiation and maximum tillering (R2 = 0.71, p < 0.0001; R2 = 0.73, p < 0.0001). Key findings demonstrate the model’s ability to optimize nitrogen inputs, achieving up to a 40% reduction in surplus nitrogen while maximizing yields. By promoting a balanced nitrogen input-output equilibrium, the NFOA offers significant environmental and economic benefits, even in the context of the complexities associated with organic fertilization. In conclusion, these findings suggest that the NFOA approach is suitable for calculating nitrogen fertilizer requirements in rice fields using organic fertilization strategies, effectively accommodating the high variability in nutrient content and availability of organic nitrogen to rice crops. However, further refinement is necessary to enhance its predictive accuracy by incorporating advanced spectral indices and accounting for detailed environmental and management factors. PubDate: 2025-03-03
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