Crop Diversification: A Key Pillar for the Agroecological Transition

Editorial

12 July 2022

Editorial: crop diversification, a key pillar for the agroecological transition

Lionel Alletto

Florian Celette

Dora Drexler

Daniel Plaza-Bonilla

and

Moritz Reckling

2,887 views

8 citations

Editors

Lionel Alletto

Institut National de recherche pour l’agriculture, l’alimentation et l’environnement (INRAE)

Florian CELETTE

Institut Supérieur d'Agriculture Rhône-Alpes

Dora Drexler

Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (ÖMKi)

Daniel Plaza-Bonilla

Universitat de Lleida

Moritz Reckling

Leibniz Center for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF)

Impact

Systematic Review

04 May 2022

Diversity and Diversification: Ecosystem Services Derived From Underutilized Crops and Their Co-benefits for Sustainable Agricultural Landscapes and Resilient Food Systems in Africa

Tafadzwanashe Mabhaudhi

, 11 more and

Pauline Chivenge

There are growing calls to adopt more sustainable forms of agriculture that balance the need to increase production with environmental, human health, and wellbeing concerns. Part of this conversation has included a debate on promoting and mainstreaming neglected and underutilized crop species (NUS) because they represent a more ecologically friendly type of agriculture. We conducted a systematic review to determine the ecosystem services derived from NUS and assess their potential to promote functional ecological diversity, food and nutritional security, and transition to more equitable, inclusive, sustainable and resilient agricultural landscapes and food systems in Africa. Our literature search yielded 35 articles for further analysis. The review showed that NUS provide various provisioning, regulating, cultural, and supporting ecosystem services and several environmental and health co-benefits, dietary diversity, income, sustainable livelihood outcomes, and economic empowerment, especially for women. Importantly, NUS address the three pillars of sustainable development- ecological, social, and economic. Thus, NUS may provide a sustainable, fit-for-purpose transformative ecosystem-based adaptation solution for Africa to transition to more sustainable, healthy, equitable, and resilient agricultural landscapes and food systems.

8,132 views

23 citations

A conceptual model demonstrating major assets for rice production and their influential conditions affecting the possibility for crop rotation. Natural capital is foundational and largely influence the other four. Secondary capitals were grouped into Economic, Social, Human, and Cultural categories (Flora et al., 2019). These capitals are interdependent on each other, depicted by the direction and connectivity of the arrows. Conditions that influence capitals are depicted as circles. The direction of the arrows indicates what they influence, and whether the relationship is positive or negative in terms of increasing or decreasing the likelihood of crop rotations, respectively. Some influential conditions such as “What your family has always done” can be either positive or negative depending on the growers' circumstance.

Original Research

02 June 2022

Crop Rotations in California Rice Systems: Assessment of Barriers and Opportunities

Sara Rosenberg

, 6 more and

Cameron M. Pittelkow

8,105 views

19 citations

Traits that are widely, frequently and rarely reported of relevance to Farmers (F), Grain Buyers or Processors (B), and/or Consumers (C) within the organic supply chain.

Policy and Practice Reviews

02 March 2022

Influence of the Seed Loophole and Bottleneck on Quantity and Quality of Organic Maize Seed in the U.S. Midwest

A. Bryan Endres

, 6 more and

Michelle M. Wander

3,117 views

4 citations

Radar plots displaying percent leaf area injury to winter OSR seedlings by slugs and cabbage stem flea beetle (CSFB), percent podless stalks caused by pollen beetle (PB), percent pods damaged by brassica pod midge (BPM), weed biomass and OSR yield in each of the five treatments that included OSR: winter oilseed rape (OSR) sole crop or winter OSR intercropped with berseem clover (+Clover), spring faba bean (+Sfaba), winter faba bean (+Wfaba) or winter peas (+Wpeas). Variables were standardized by dividing all numbers by the value from the OSR sole crop. The scale for OSR yield was reversed into yield loss, so that a lower value is more favorable for all response variables.

Brief Research Report

03 December 2021

The Potential of Intercropping for Multifunctional Crop Protection in Oilseed Rape (Brassica napus L.)

Sara E. Emery

, 5 more and

Ola Lundin

6,745 views

8 citations

Original Research

15 October 2021

Effects of Temporal Crop Diversification of a Cereal-Based Cropping System on Generalist Predators and Their Biocontrol Potential

Giovanni Antonio Puliga

, 2 more and

Jens Dauber

2,945 views

3 citations

Original Research

23 September 2021

Sustainability of Diversified Organic Cropping Systems—Challenges Identified by Farmer Interviews and Multi-Criteria Assessments

Carolina Rodriguez

, 2 more and

Georg Carlsson

Diversification of cropping and farming systems is a central agroecological principle, which may improve resource use efficiency, reduce pests and diseases, diversify income sources, and enhance the resilience of the production. The main objective of this study was to identify challenges related to the sustainability of organic cropping systems that were diversified according to one or several of the following practices: diverse crop rotation, integration of cover crops, and intercropping. The sustainability assessments were made using a multi-criteria decision aid method (MCDA) and a framework based on the FAO Sustainability Assessment of Food and Agricultural Systems (SAFA) guidelines. Social, economic and environmental aspects were integrated in the sustainability assessments and combined with semi-structured interviews to identify and discuss farmer's perceptions of barriers to crop diversification and sustainability transition. The results showed that diversified organic cropping systems could achieve high overall sustainability, especially in the environmental dimension thanks to non-inputs of pesticides or mineral fertilizers and efficient use of resources. On the other hand, social and economic dimensions were more variable, with challenges of lower sustainability in profitability and management complexity for several of the diversified cropping systems. Limited access to knowledge, technology and markets for minor crops, and concerns about the consistency of policies were highlighted by farmers as barriers for crop diversification. We discuss how the identified challenges can be overcome and argue that fostering collaboration among stakeholders may increase investment capacity and improve access to new or alternative markets, thereby stimulating transitions toward more diversified and sustainable cropping systems.

14,300 views

26 citations