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In this article, we quantify the impact of the crop diversification measure implemented in France as part of the 2013 common agricultural policy greening reform. We exploit a discontinuity in the constraints imposed on farms larger and smaller than 30 ha, respectively, and apply regression differences-in-differences with a regression discontinuity set-up on land use data collected from a representative sample of French farmers. We find that farms greater than 30 ha increased compliance with the measure and the number of crops grown on their lands and that farms larger and smaller than 30 ha responded differently to the reform.

Modern agriculture has been focused on optimizing production, neglecting supporting and regulating ecosystem services. Meta-analyses have demonstrated the potential of intercropping to deliver multiple ecosystem services. However, guidelines for the design and management of such systems remain unclear, especially for the understudied vegetable-based intercropping systems. Given the diversity of vegetable crops, we propose a ‘relay’ of classical crop-specific meta-analyses to capitalize on vegetable intercropping research. Each ‘leg’ in the relay analyzes the effects of companion crops on a focal crop, and over the course of subsequent legs, the network of interactions among the different crops is built. In this study we start what we aspire to be the meta-analysis relay, focusing on cabbage (Brassica oleracea ssp.) and the delivery of the provisioning services Productivity, Product Quality (grade and pest injury in cabbage products), and Yield Stability across different companion species, spatio-temporal configurations, and management practices. We identified 76 studies from all inhabited continents across 81 field sites, comprising 892 data records, of which 689 remained after cleaning. We show that intercropping reduced cabbage productivity (−7% on average, P < 0.05) but also pest injury (−48%, P < 0.001) relative to sole cabbage systems. Cabbage grade on the contrary was not significantly improved by intercropping (+1%, P = 0.71). Effects on yield stability varied widely as only few data records were available from trials conducted over more than two years, pointing to the need for longer-term experimentation. Greater productivity was associated with companion species with a low growth habit or types sown at or after planting of the cabbage crop thus limiting competition with cabbage at early development stages. The decrease in pest injuries was associated with intercropping patterns involving strong inter-plant interactions (i.e., mixed, row, and additive) and companion species that supported biodiversity such as living mulches. Overall, beneficial effects of intercropping tended to be more evident in organic production systems, possibly because synthetic inputs may have hidden regulating effects. Cabbage growers and agricultural advisors can use these guidelines when designing intercrop systems specific to their needs. Applying the approach to other crops and agro-ecosystem services as part of the proposed meta-analysis relay will foster comprehensive understanding of vegetable intercropping systems interactions.

Until the Covid-19 pandemic, Bangladesh had reported consistent improvements regarding its food and nutrition security (FNS) status, and yet, the country still features poor FNS outcomes among parts of its population. In rural coastal regions of the Ganges–Brahmaputra-Meghna delta, farming households’ vulnerability is particularly exacerbated by a range of environmental hazards, increasing challenges for agriculture to contribute to higher FNS levels. In the context of existing literature on the trade-offs between subsistence agriculture and cash-earning livelihood activities, vis-à-vis food and nutrition security outcomes, this article assesses the relative contribution of crop diversification vis à vis other factors on the households’ Food Consumption Score (FCS) in specific livelihood contexts. We provide differentiated analyses between primarily export-oriented shrimp farming and non-shrimp farming households, so policy makers can better address FNS targets. Quantitative data from 1,188 sample households across the delta were analysed through descriptive and linear regression analyses. Results show that households cultivating shrimp have a significantly higher dietary diversity than households that do not. Among shrimp farmers, crop diversification has the relatively strongest significant positive effect on dietary diversity, suggesting part of the aquacultural crops are geared towards subsistence. By contrast, crop diversification seems to have a negative effect on dietary diversity among households that do not produce shrimp, especially when different agricultural crops are combined. Importantly, both for shrimp and non-shrimp farmers, crop diversification systems combining agriculture with aquaculture, and agroforestry seem to improve diverse diets among households. While by no means a panacea to solving FNS challenges among rural households, we suggest that promoting specific crop diversification systems could be a beneficial pathway to improved FNS outcomes.

Relay intercropping of subsidiary legumes with durum wheat (living mulch) can be a viable option to support ecological weed control and optimize nutrient cycling in cereal-based cropping systems. However, the lack of knowledge on suitable legume species is often identified as the main bottleneck for the successful application of legume living mulches. This study aimed to evaluate the suitability of 12 different legumes for relay intercropping with wheat in two contrasting Mediterranean cereal-based cropping systems respectively characterized by low-input and integrated management. Each legume was monitored from the undersowing in wheat until the following spring and we compared direct drilling to broadcast sowing of legumes. None of the undersown legumes showed a negative effect on the wheat grain yield. Relay intercropping of legumes proved to be an effective solution to control weeds before and after the wheat harvest, provided suitable legumes species are chosen. Suitable legumes reduced the weed biomass up to the 90% during the intercropping and up to 94% in the following spring. On the contrary, legumes such as Trifoliumresupinatum, Viciavillosa, Medicagotruncatula, and Medicagoscutellata boosted weed growth in the following spring in comparison with the control. According to the performance of legumes, Medicagosativa, Trifoliumrepens and Medicagolupulina had the most suitable characteristics for relay intercropping with durum wheat at the Ravenna site, in a highly productive region whereas Medicagosativa, Hedysarumcoronarium and Trifoliumsubterraneum performed better in the low-input system near Pisa, where yields are generally lower. This is the first time that such a diversity in legumes species is tested in the same experiment for relay intercropping under diversified environmental and management conditions. The results of this study can support farmers in selecting the most appropriated legume species for their specific cropping systems and local conditions.

Specialization and intensification in agriculture have increased productivity but have also led to the spread of monocultural systems, simplifying production but reducing genetic diversity. The purpose of this study was to propose crop diversification as a tool to increase biodiversity and achieve sustainable and resilient intensive agriculture, particularly in areas with water scarcity. In this paper, a combined life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle costing (LCC) applied to evaluate the environmental and economic sustainability of a differentiated system of cultivation were (pomegranates, almonds and olives), according to modern intensive and super-intensive cropping systems. Based on the results obtained, it is deduced that pomegranate cultivation generated the highest environmental load, followed by almonds and olives. From the financial analysis, it emerged that almond farming is the most profitable, followed by pomegranate and olive farming.

In the present study, we investigated the effects of mixed intercropping winter wheat-winter pea on activity density and biocontrol potential of epigeal generalist predators. We show that mixed intercropping wheat and pea may represent a valid strategy to favour generalist predators and support conservation biological control compared to wheat cultivated as mono-crop. Furthermore, we show that the cultivation of pea may have an important ecological pre-crop value within the rotation improving relevant biodiversity-related ecosystem services.

19thEuropean Weed Research Society Conference, Athens, Greece, 20-23 June 2022 This work raises the questions, is the relay intercropping of subsidiary legumes with durum wheat a sustainable intercropping practice from an economic point of view? Which subsidiary legume among Medicago sativa, Trifolium repens, Hedysarum coronarium, Medicago lupulina, Trifolium incarnatum, Trifolium resupinatum; Trifolium subterraneum, and Medicago polymorpha maximize the profitability of relay intecropping in a low-input cereal based Mediterranean cropping system? Therefore, an assessment was performed to evaluate the economic sustainability of several subsidiary legumes for relay intercropping with durum wheat, taking into account the impact of legumes on the co-cultivated wheat and to the subsequent forage sorghum. A 2-years plot experiment was carried out in Pisa (Tuscany) in a complete randomized block design with 4 replications. Legumes were sown in the already established wheat in late winter. After the wheat harvest legumes were maintained in the field until the subsequent spring and incorporated into the soil by plowing. Forage sorghum was sown for the evaluation of the residual effects of each legume on the subsequent crop. Gross Income (GI) was calculated for wheat and sorghum as the difference between the Gross Production Value (GPV) and the total production costs (C). The overall economic impact of relay intercropping in a wheat-sorghum rotation was estimated by the calculation of the cumulative GI. Results of this study reveal that relay intercropping reduces profitability of the co-cultivated durum wheat because the productive advantages do not cover the additional costs due to the inter-sowing operations. After the wheat harvest the presence of legumes in the field ensure a good weed control and potentially allows to reduce tillage and herbicides application with an estimated save of 195 €/ha compared to the conventional management. The gross income of sorghum preceded by these legumes is higher compared to the control and it can be up to 955 €/ha. According to the legume choice, relay intercropping of legumes demonstrated to satisfy nutritional requirements for the subsequent sorghum and allows to reduce the input costs up to 253 €/ha. H. coronarium and T. repens were identified as the best performing legumes from an economic point of view. For these legumes the costs due to the relay intercropping were balanced by the ecosystem services that they provide at crop rotation level.

Soil hydraulic properties and pore continuity are important parameters of soil quality and may differ among tillage systems, crop rotations, and change over time. However, there are some contrasting results, depending on soil type, climate and cultivation history on the spatial and temporal variations. The objective of this study was to determine spatio-temporal dynamics of soil hydraulic properties and pore characteristics (i.e., pore volume, effective porosity, and continuity) on a silt loam long-term tillage field experiment, in Agramunt, NE Spain, during two cropping years. Undisturbed soil samples were used to determine soil water retention, θ(Ψ), and soil hydraulic conductivity, K(Ψ), curves in two different tillage systems (intensive tillage, IT vs no-tillage, NT), two crop sequences (short fallow-maize, FM vs legume-maize, LM) and two positions (within the row of crops, W-row vs between the rows of crops, B-row). The results revealed that LM had greater specific hydraulic conductivity, Kpc in its macroporosity (>1000 µm) than FM due to greater number of effective pores, Npc and effective porosity, εpc. Soil water content, θ was greater under IT than under NT at higher soil water matric potential, Ψ (≥-3 cm H2O), whilst the opposite was observed at lower Ψ (≤ − 50 cm H2O). Long-term NT showed greater hydraulic conductivity, K at higher Ψ (≥ − 10 cm H2O) than IT, and no difference at lower Ψ. Although IT had greater pore volume, ϕpc than NT in the macroporosity and coarse mesoporosity (1000–60 µm) pore size classes, NT had two times greater Kpc than IT due to increased Npc, εpc, and pore continuity, Cwpc. K(Ψ) and pore characteristics showed spatial variations (W-row vs B-row). W-row had significantly greater K at higher Ψ (≥ − 3 cm H2O) than B-row. Temporal dynamics of soil hydraulic properties and pore characteristics were not evident under IT during crop succession. This study shows that LM increases specific hydraulic conductivity of soil macroporosity by increasing the number of effective macropores and the effective porosity. In a Mediterranean climate, this may improve the hydrological functions of agricultural soil and associated crop yield. Further, long-term NT formed a stable number of effective macropores and coarse mesopores, and showed a greater pore continuity in coarse and fine mesopores, resulting in improved soil water flux. The authors thank the support given by Dr. Stefan Fenner, the visiting Ph.D. candidate Mehrdad Soranj, Prof. Concha Ramos, the field and laboratory technicians Carlos Cortés and Silvia Martí, and the farmer Xavier Penella. The authors gratefully acknowledge support for this research from the Research Spanish Agency (DISOSMED Project - AGL2017-84529-C3-R). Rasendra Talukder also sincerely acknowledges the fund provided by University of Lleida to support its PhD fellowship. Daniel Plaza-Bonilla is Ramón y Cajal fellow (RYC-2018-024536-I) co-funded by MICIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and European Social Fund.

The DiverIMPACTS policy brief contains the following key messages The implementation of crop diversification requires multiple changes, not only within farming systems but also in terms of creation and development of new value chains. Targeting support to the many actors that compose and contribute to new value chains, and ensuring better coordination, are thus critical to the creation and development of crop diversification. Key policy recommendations include the allocation of public and private resources towards actors involved in crop diversification, with special attention paid to the starting and scaling-out phases; and specific support aiming at mitigating or sharing the investment costs and risks along value chains, e.g. through the development of innovative contracts and subsidies schemes. Creating a favorable environment including regulatory stability for new crops, as well as undertaking wide communication campaigns, are critical to reach an increased share for crop diversification products. &nbsp

This study examines whether the decision of crop diversification for perennial crops is based on risk attitudes and time preferences. We conducted incentivised field experiments with farmers only cultivating rubber and those cultivating rubber and oil palm. We utilised Holt and Laury task and Coller and William task. We found that farmers who cultivate two crops are more risk-averse, indicating that they see crop diversification as a safer option for their farms. However, the discount rates of the two groups are not significantly different. These results provide relevant information for policymakers who intend to either encourage or discourage oil palm cultivation. © 2020 The Authors. Journal of International Development published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Soil data and metadata of soil microbial community structure, enzyme activities (dehydrogenase, β-glucosidase, leucine-aminopeptidase, alkaline phosphatase and arylsusfatase activities), N functional genes and earthworms from the different cases studies and long terms from WP4 "Impact of crop diversification on biodiversity", derived from H2020 Diverfarming project. The main objective of workpackage is to provide a scientific understanding of the link between diversified cropping systems, above- and belowground biodiversity, and the resulting ecosystem services provided by soil microorganisms, soil invertebrates and vegetation in agro-ecosystems. Soil organisms contribute to all biogeochemical cycles, Soil organic matter mineralization and stabilization, shape soil structure and have associations with plant species promoting growth and development. http://www.diverfarming.eu.

Data and metadata of crop yield and quality from different cases studies and long terms from WP3 "Crop production and quality", derived from H2020 Diverfarming project. This workpackage provides robust and sound data about how diversified cropping systems with low-input practices and efficient use of resources have positive effects on crop production and quality, and so, farm yields and economic revenues for farmers is increased. This can increase trading productivity with high quality outputs, so improving the competitiveness of European agriculture in the global market. http://www.diverfarming.eu.

Aquest article pertany al número especial: "Evaluation and Prevention of Mycotoxin Contamination and Toxicological Effects" Agronomic factors can affect mycotoxin contamination of maize, one of the most produced cereals. Maize is usually harvested at 18% moisture, but it is not microbiologically stable until it reaches 14% moisture at the drying plants. We studied how three agronomic factors (crop diversification, tillage system and nitrogen fertilization rate) can affect fungal and mycotoxin contamination (deoxynivalenol and fumonisins B1 and B2) in maize at harvest. In addition, changes in maize during a simulated harvest-till-drying period were studied. DON content at harvest was higher for maize under intensive tillage than using direct drilling (2695 and 474 μg kg−1, respectively). We found two reasons for this: (i) soil crusting in intensive tillage plots caused the formation of pools of water that created high air humidity conditions, favouring the development of DON-producing moulds; (ii) the population of Lumbricus terrestris, an earthworm that would indirectly minimize fungal infection and mycotoxin production on maize kernels, is reduced in intensive tillage plots. Therefore, direct drilling is a better approach than intensive tillage for both preventing DON contamination and preserving soil quality. Concerning the simulated harvest-tilldrying period, DON significantly increased between storage days 0 and 5. Water activity dropped on the 4th day, below the threshold for DON production (around 0.91). From our perspective, this study constitutes a step forward towards understanding the relationships between agronomic factors and mycotoxin contamination in maize, and towards improving food safety. This work is part of the R+D+I project PID2020-114836RB-I00, financed by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/ 501100011033. B.B.-V. and J.F.-O. have been funded by the FD pre-doctoral fellowship (PRE2018- 085278 and PRE2018-084610 respectively) of the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities.

Gas, erosion, runoff and soil data and metadata of the different cases studies and long terms from WP5 "Environmental impact and delivery of ecosystem services by crop diversification", derived from H2020 Diverfarming project. This workpackage has been designed to provide sound and robust scientific understanding of the benefits and drawbacks of the tailored diversified cropping systems for improvement of the environmental quality and delivery of ecosystem services in each pedoclimatic region. http://www.diverfarming.eu.

Soil health and function is one of the most important components for sustainable management of woody orchards. Intensive use of machinery and tillage creates heavy pressure on agroecosystems by altering the soil physicochemical and biological characteristics. In this study we aimed to assess the changes in soil physicochemical properties and the soil bacterial community structure, as well as the main drivers involved in shifts in the microbial community following 10 years implementing reduced tillage and reduced tillage plus green manure in a rainfed Mediterranean almond orchard. The treatments were: i) conventional tillage (CT); ii) reduced tillage (RT); and iii) reduced tillage and diversification with Avena sativa and Vicia sativa (RTD). After ten years, the results showed that the different managements had no significant effect on almond yields. RTD significantly increased total organic carbon (TOC), with an average content of 19.5 g kg−1 compared to 17.1 g kg−1 in CT. RTD also contributed to an increase in the fraction of soil macro-aggregates. Both RT and RTD significantly increased soil total nitrogen (NT) and particulate organic carbon (POC). However, other physical and chemical variables such as exchangeable Ca, Mg and K, bioavailable Fe, Cu, Zn and Mn, cation exchange capacity, bulk density, wilting point and field capacity were not significantly affected by the management. The bacterial community significantly changed with management: RTD showed a higher relative abundance of the family Solirubrobacteraceae and the genera Streptomyces and Solirubrobacter. The bacterial community structure was explained by changes in TOC, POC, pH, and NT values. Thus, a combination of reduced tillage and green manure could represent an appropriate sustainable management for rainfed almond orchards in very fragile environmental conditions, due to an increase in soil organic matter, total nitrogen, and the higher presence of beneficial bacteria related to soil productivity. This work was supported by the European Commission Horizon 2020 project Diverfarming [grant agreement 728003]. We acknowledge the owners of the farm “Los Alhagüeces”, Antonio and Pepe Escámez, for generously letting us work in their farm for the last 12 years.

Assessing progress towards healthier people, farms and landscapes through nutrition-sensitive agriculture (NSA) requires transdisciplinary methods with robust models and metrics. Farm-household models could facilitate disentangling the complex agriculture-nutrition nexus, by jointly assessing performance indicators on different farm system components such as farm productivity, farm environmental performance, household nutrition, and livelihoods. We, therefore, applied a farm-household model, FarmDESIGN, expanded to more comprehensively capture household nutrition and production diversity, diet diversity, and nutrient adequacy metrics. We estimated the potential contribution of an NSA intervention targeting the diversification of home gardens, aimed at reducing nutritional gaps and improving livelihoods in rural Vietnam. We addressed three central questions: (1) Do ‘Selected Crops’ (i.e. crops identified in a participatory process) in the intervention contribute to satisfying household dietary requirements?; (2) Does the adoption of Selected Crops contribute to improving household livelihoods (i.e. does it increase leisure time for non-earning activities as well as the dispensable budget)?; and (3) Do the proposed nutrition-related metrics estimate the contribution of home-garden diversification towards satisfying household dietary requirements? Results indicate trade-offs between nutrition and dispensable budget, with limited farm-household configurations leading to jointly improved nutrition and livelihoods. FarmDESIGN facilitated testing the robustness and limitations of commonly used metrics to monitor progress towards NSA. Results indicate that most of the production diversity metrics performed poorly at predicting desirable nutritional outcomes in this modelling study. This study demonstrates that farm-household models can facilitate anticipating the effect (positive or negative) of agricultural interventions on nutrition and the environment, identifying complementary interventions for significant and positive results and helping to foresee the trade-offs that farm-households could face. Furthermore, FarmDESIGN could contribute to identifying agreed-upon and robust metrics for measuring nutritional outcomes at the farm-household level, to allow comparability between contexts and NSA interventions.

How does the composition of a collection of individuals affect its outcome in competition with other collections of individuals? Assuming that individuals can be different, we develop a model to interpolate between individual-level interactions and collective-level consequences. Rooted in theoretical mathematics, the model is not constrained to any specific context. Potential applications include research, education, sports, politics, ecology, agriculture, algorithms and finance. Our first main contribution is a game theoretic model that interpolates between the internal composition of an ensemble of individuals and the repercussions for the ensemble as a whole in competition with others. The second main contribution is the rigorous identification of all equilibrium points and strategies. These equilibria suggest a mechanistic underpinning for biological and physical systems to tend towards increasing diversity due to the strength it imparts to the system in competition with others.

In agroecosystems, crop diversification plays a fundamental role in maintaining and regenerating biodiversity and ecosystem services, such as natural pest control. Temporal diversification of cropping systems can affect the presence and activity of natural enemies by providing alternative hosts and prey, food, and refuges for overwintering. However, we still lack studies on the effects of temporal diversification on generalist predators and their biocontrol potential conducted at field scale in commercial agricultural settings. Here, we measured proxies of ecosystem functions related with biological pest control in 29 commercial agricultural fields characterized by cereal-based cropping system in Lower-Saxony, northern Germany. The fields differed in the number of crops and cover crops cultivated during the previous 12 years. Using the Rapid Ecosystem Function Assessment approach, we measured invertebrate predation, seed predation and activity density of generalist predators. We aimed at testing whether the differences in the crop rotations from the previous years would affect activity of predators and their predation rates in the current growing season. We found that the length of the crop rotation had neutral effects on the proxies measured. Furthermore, predation rates were generally lower if the rotation comprised a higher number of cover crops compared to rotation with less cover crops. The activity density of respective taxa of predatory arthropods responded differently to the number of cover crops in the crop rotation. Our results suggest that temporal crop diversity may not benefit the activity and efficiency of generalist predators when diversification strategies involve crops of very similar functional traits. Adding different resources and traits to the agroecosystems through a wider range of cultivated crops and the integration of semi-natural habitats are aspects that need to be considered when developing more diverse cropping systems aiming to provide a more efficient natural pest control.

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.

Mono-cropping in the farming system decline in farm profit, climate change, and food insecurity are some of the major concerns that lead to unsustainability in the agricultural production system in the Eastern Gangetic Plains. A study was conducted for three years from June 2019 to June 2022 at Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa, Bihar, India, to assess the profitable and best rice-based cropping system through crop diversification for sustainable agriculture. Ten different cropping sequences were exploited using randomised block design and replicated thrice, with the system productivity ranging from 8.70 to 24.95 t ha−1 under the different cropping sequences. The system productivity was increased by 187% and profitability by 299.52% in the maize − Cole crops − sesame cropping system over the rice − wheat cropping system. A diversified cropping system with black gram − maize + vegetable pea − sesbania possessed significantly more soil organic carbon (0.49%), bacterial population (47.85 × 106 cfu/g soil), azotobacter population (42.96 × 104 cfu/g soil), phosphate solubilising bacteria (20.72 × 106 cfu/g soil), dehydrogenase activity (4.39 µg TPF/g/h), fluorescein diacetate hydrolytic activity (17.28 µg fluorescein/g/h) and acid phosphatase activity (451.46 µg pNP/g/h), as well as urease activity (47.21 µg NH4+/g/h), relative to the rice–wheat cropping system. Therefore, the adoption of vegetables and legumes as diversified crops are viable options for enhancing productivity, profitability and soil health in the EGPs.

The term monoculture is widely used in the scientific literature concerning the agricultural sector. However, it is very difficult to find a clear and shared definition of this term. This study investigates the concept of monoculture in agricultural areas where high specialization in a specific crop is observed. Therefore, we refer to a territorial-level definition, which associates the idea of monoculture to the prevalent presence of a crop in a region including many farms. The objectives of the paper are: (i) to define indicators capable of verifying the existence of this condition; (ii) to test the ability of such indicators in identifying the effective presence of a monoculture. A set of Italian areas identified as monoculture in the recent literature were selected to carry out a quantitative analysis, assessing different indexes of monoculture. On the basis of the obtained results, such an analysis should help in comparing the monoculture indexes and fostering a discussion on their suitability and descriptive capacities.

Fil: Mashilingi, Shibonage K. Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Institute of Apicultural Research. Key Laboratory for Insect-Pollinator Biology of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affair. China. Fil: Zhang, Hong. Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Institute of Apicultural Research. Key Laboratory for Insect-Pollinator Biology of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affair. China. Fil: Garibaldi, Lucas A. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro. Instituto de Investigaciones en Recursos Naturales, Agroecología y Desarrollo Rural. Río Negro, Argentina. Fil: Garibaldi, Lucas A. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones en Recursos Naturales, Agroecología y Desarrollo Rural. Río Negro, Argentina. Fil: An, Jiandong. Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Institute of Apicultural Research. Key Laboratory for Insect-Pollinator Biology of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affair. China. Evidence of a decline in wild pollinators is increasing across global and local habitats. However, with regional variation, the number of managed pollinators has increased globally. Whether these managed pollinators can sufficiently meet the agricultural pollination demand given wild pollinator declines remains unclear. Data on 49 honeybee-pollinated crops cultivated worldwide and stocked honeybee colonies were analysed to assess the pollination demand and pollination service capacity between 1989 and 2019. We found a rapidly increasing demand for honeybee pollination but a decreasing pollination service capacity of honeybee colonies. Globally, the demand for honeybee pollination rose approximately 2.3 times higher than the stocked number of honeybee colonies in 2019, growing 1.78% annually, almost 2 times faster than honeybee colonies (0.95%). On average, the pollination service capacity, growth rates of demands for honeybee colony stocks and honeybee pollination, and diversity of honeybee-pollinated crops varied regionally. Nevertheless, fluctuation of the honeybee-pollination demand increased with increased fluctuation of crop diversification. Oil crops accounted for over 70% of the world's honeybee-pollination demand in 2019, with soybean and rapeseed accounting for 39% and 16%, respectively. This was the case in less diversified countries, where a few crops dominated the demand for honeybee pollination, including American countries such as Argentina, Brazil, and the USA, compared to more diversified countries such as China, India, and Japan in Asia. Our study shows that managed pollinators are far too insufficient to adequately supply the agricultural pollination demand worldwide. This emphasises the importance of ongoing calls for protecting pollinators and the integrated management of honeybees and wild pollinator assemblages for a sustainable food-secure future world.

Crop diversification of EuropeanAgriculture can support a transition towards more sustainable agri-food systems, mitigate climate change and help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. However, crop diversification is hindered by barriers throughout the agri-food system. Such barriers should be removed through systems approaches and coordination of actors and efforts. This presentation was given at the AAB Conference "Intercropping for Sustainabilty" organised by H2020 project DIVERSify and ReMIX. The talk: - put “intercropping” into the context of crop diversification at large, given that all diversification options face similar challenges; - claim that fostering crop diversification requires considering simultaneously the different components of value chains and their interactions; - Present the cluster of the six H2020 projects that joined forces to address these challenges and shortly describe what they are doing together. &nbsp

Agriculture plays a central role in Bangladesh’s economy, especially in rural areas, and further progress in agriculture will remain important as Bangladesh’s economy continues to evolve. Bangladesh has made significant agricultural policy reforms since the 1980s, which has largely contributed to achieving self-sufficiency in rice production. However, these policies are now creating headwinds, constraining the emergence of a more diversified production system. With rapid urbanization and income growth, dietary patterns are changing in Bangladesh and new market opportunities are emerging for diverse, safe, and nutritious foods. Thus, additional productive diversification in agriculture and modernization along the agri-food value chain are needed in order to allow the sector to seize the emerging domestic market opportunities. Promoting greater diversification and modernization of the agri-food sector in Bangladesh will require repurposing the country’s agricultural support along with increasing private investment, both along the agri-food value chain and in support services to that chain. The agri-food ecosystem analysis in the report has identified critical constraints to the diversification and modernization of the agri-food sector. The major productivity constraints include land fragmentation and informality in the land rental markets; limited access to quality seeds for nonpaddy crops; limited knowledge of and adoption of good agricultural practices, reflected in unbalanced use and overuse of inputs; and limited use of farmer aggregation models, which constrains the delivery of extension services, access to financing, and linking with markets. Other key constraints, which are preventing off-farm value addition and commercialization in the sector, include the limited number of formal off-takers; inadequate and costly marketing infrastructure and logistic services; inadequate upholding of appropriate food safety practices and product quality standards; and a poorly designed export subsidy policy. These constraints are exacerbated by other cross-sectoral issues, such as access to finance, and the overall challenges of the investment climate and competitiveness.

Poplar is popular among farmers and planted widely in the form of block and boundary systems. The preferences of farmers are shifting much more towards bund plantations due to their smaller yield reductions and can take up kharif and rabi crops till rotation. As for boundary plantations, farmers tend to grow trees in any direction without concern for yield reduction or profitability. Against this background, an experiment was designed by planting poplar at 2 m intervals in East–West (E–W) and North–South (N–S) directions during 2008 to determine the production potential and economic viability of boundary plantations and their effect on sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) and wheat (Triticum aestivum) crop rotations till harvesting of the trees. The experiment comprised three variables: stand age (years); four aspects (northern and southern E–W rows, eastern and western N–S rows; these four aspects are considered by dividing the tree lines); and six distances from tree the lines (0–3, 3–6, 6–9, 9–12, 12–15, 15–18 m and a control). A split-split plot design with three replicates was used. A significant reduction of fodder biomass of sorghum and wheat yield was observed up to 9 m distant from the tree line: the reduction was 10 to 60% for the kharif season and 7.2 to 29.5% for rabi crops from the second year to eight years after planting, respectively. Interestingly, the poplar boundary plantation had a favorable microclimatic effect from 9 to 15 m distance from the tree line, which increased crop yields compared with the control. The total dry wood production of poplar in the E–W direction (166.99 mg ha−1) was almost two times more than production for the N–S direction (82.62 mg ha−1) at 8 years of rotation. The economic analysis of this study concluded that an E–W boundary plantation of poplars exhibited the maximum net returns of INR 549,367 ha−1, a net present value of INR 222,951 ha−1, a BC ratio of 1:1.65, an IRR of 85% and an LEV of INR 1,220,337 ha−1. Therefore, it is concluded that the intercropping of a sorghum-wheat crop rotation in E–W boundary plantations was more beneficial for enhancing farm income over traditional agriculture in north India.

Legume crops hold promise to diversify the currently simplified rotations that dominate Europe and to increase the sustainability of European farming systems. Nevertheless, most legumes have been ignored by farmers, advisors, and value chain agents in the EU, where legumes are estimated to occupy only ~2% of arable land. Recent surveys find that farmers see a lack of knowledge on the agroecological impacts of (re)introducing legumes as a key barrier to legume adoption. A review of current research on the agroecological potential of legume-inclusive cropping systems would help in assessing whether research targeting sufficiently supports farmers in overcoming this barrier. We have systematically reviewed and synthesized published literature reporting on agricultural ecosystem service delivery in European cropping systems with legumes included compared to those without legumes. Our analysis of 163 published articles revealed: (1) the bulk of published research addresses production-related services delivered by few legume species (pea, clover, faba bean, and vetch, 70% of reviewed studies) comparatively assessed in cereal-based rotations; (2) substantial knowledge gaps also exist, encompassing ecosystem services with less direct relevance to economic outcomes (e.g., biodiversity) and with potential for high variability (e.g., pest and disease suppression); (3) studies at plot-level and within-season scales dominate (92% and 75% of reviewed studies, respectively). Assessed in the context of recent complementary studies, we find that a limited research focus is both counter to knowledge demands from farmers and likely the result of self-reinforcing socio-technical regimes which prioritize production over non- or indirectly-marketable ecosystem services. We conclude that scientists in Europe should diversify research to include legume species, ecosystem services, contexts, and scales not yet well studied, in order to provide the agroecological knowledge base farmers need to amplify the potential benefits of crop diversity.

The intercropping of two or more crop species on the same piece of land at a given time has been hypothesized to enhance crop yield stability. To address this hypothesis, we assessed the grain yield stability of various barley-pea and wheat-faba bean mixtures grown in seven experimental field trials (locations) across Europe during two years with contrasting weather (2017 and 2018). Three different yield stability measures were used, all based on the expected yield variability of the mixture components grown as sole crops, and the corresponding observed yield variability of the same components grown in 50:50 mixtures in a replacement design. Stability indices were calculated as ratios between the expected and observed variabilities, with values > 1 indicating greater stability of the intercrops. Mean grain yields tended to be higher in intercrops than sole crops. However, in contrast to our hypothesis, the observed (intercrop) yield stability was similar or lower than the expected (sole crop) stability in most locations except one. Furthermore, yield stability significantly increased with increasing mean yields when assessed across differentially productive locations. The results are relevant for the designing of intercropping systems as a means to increase yield stability and the resilience of cropping systems., This research was funded by the DIVERSify project, a grant from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 727284. MR was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation)—420661662. A.J.K. and A.C.N. are also supported by the strategic research programme funded by the Scottish Government’s Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services Division.

Problem: Researchers need to communicate better with farmers and advisors. Failure to do this limits the uptake of outcomes and restricts the legacy of research as well as its scope. It can also inhibit the on-farm application of research findings. Solution: Facilitating improved inter-sector communication through skills training in knowledge exchange and event coordination is essential. This can enhance the quality and quantity of research dissemination while influencing on-farm practices. Benefits: Better engagement and understanding between farmers, advisors and researchers can increase the practical application of research.

Despite research evidence on the diverse benefits of home gardens and their potential contributions to multiple sustainable development goals (SDGs), the role of policy towards supporting these contributions remains unclear in developing countries like Vietnam. In this study, we found that 25 out of Vietnam’s 86 key rural development and agricultural policies enacted over the last decade (2010–2021) set specific targets for home gardens. The targets, however, focus strongly on income generation with indicators stipulating e.g., 50–80% of total income from home gardens should be generated by the main product. The policies set no specific target for other potential roles of home gardens beyond the economy of rural households and can exacerbate the widespread transformation of home gardens in Vietnam into farming practices with low crop diversity. The latter potentially limits contributions of home gardens to two (SDG 1, 10) of at least 11 (SDG 1–3, 5, 6, 8, 10–13, 15) of Vietnam’s 17 SDGs. To narrow the gap between research and policy in home garden contributions to Vietnam’s SDGs, we need to better mainstream integrated home garden systems and their diverse benefits, enrich policy targets beyond the income generation, and strengthen coordination among state departments for policy implementation.

There is widespread recognition that a narrow crop base has inherent vulnerabilities. Crop diversification is one strategy that can help enhance human health, environmental sustainability and resilience of farming communities—yet lock-in mechanisms have mediated against such diversification. This mini-review considers inadvertent negative impacts on crop diversity of policies that favor a few, highly annual crops. Priorities of agricultural research and government institutions such as Public Distribution Systems promote production of a few determinant cereal species, and do not consider the ecosystem service functions associated with diverse growth types (e.g., long duration, indeterminant, and perennial crops). Genetic improvement of fields crops has prioritized short maturity cycles, calorie production, and inadvertently, this may lead to high consumption of water and nutrients. Such crops are highly productive; however, they “lock-in” dependence on fossil fuels and chemical pest regulation. Further, early duration crops have modest root systems, and are short-statured. This limits generation of co-products, such as fodder, fuel wood, leafy vegetables, and soil amelioration. Research gaps and next steps are proposed to address this challenge, including: (1) investigation of adoption barriers and opportunities in order to foster diverse crop growth types and “bright spots” of agroecosystem diversity, (2) changing metrics for assessing system performance, to consider nutrient-enrichment, multipurpose properties and ecosystem services in agricultural policy, and (3) investment in developing perennial and multipurpose grain crops, and plant-facilitated nutrient accessing mechanisms. Enhanced resilience in agriculture requires greater attention to promotion of crop diversity, including functional diversity and socio-economic innovations.

We assessed soil site suitability for selected winter crops in the coastal saline agro-ecological environment of Sagar Island, India by integrating land limitation and crop suitability evaluation framework of FAO. Grid based (1 km by 1 km) soil sampling and estimation of important soil quality attributes were measured in the laboratory following standard procedures. Geo-statistical and visualization methods were applied to match the soil suitability for selected crops. The weights of crop specific soil parameters have been assigned through PCA analysis. The inverse distance weighting interpolation and reclassification methods were adopted for generation of spatial layers of those soil attributes. Nearly 61% area (14,618 ha GA) of the Island is under agricultural landuse (AL), mostly dominated (>75% of AL) by lowland rice-fallow mono-cropping. Soils are highly suitable (S1) for growing sunflower while moderately suitable (S2) for growing chilli, mustard and potato crops. The grid-wise georeferenced soil data information generated in this study will help in periodic monitoring of soil quality in spatio-temporal dimensions for devising location specific soil health managements in the Island. The methodology used in estimating soil quality index and crop specific soil suitability analysis in spatial format will help in replicating such studies in other such coastal Islands of Indian Sub-continent.

This talk addresses the need to couple (i) innovations in activities across value chains; and (ii) technological innovations (e.g., technical knowledge on crop management, harvesting and processing equipment) with organisational innovations (e.g., different upstream and downstream organisational arrangements, cooperation between agri-food system actors) and institutional innovations (e.g., new policies and regulations) in order to unlock the potential of crop diversification and support sustainability transitions. It informs on strategies to support such developments in innovation niches and society.

Planetary boundaries for terrestrial inputs of reactive nitrogen (Nr) are transgressed and reducing the input of new Nr and its environmental impacts are major global challenges. Grain legumes fix dinitrogen (N2) in symbiosis with soil bacteria and use soil N sources, but often less efficient than cereals. Intercropping grain legumes with cereals may be a means of increasing use efficiency of soil N. Here, we estimate the global sole cropped grain legume acquisition of N from soil to approximately 14.2 Tg N year−1, which corresponds to one-third of the global synthetic fertilizer N use (109 Tg N year−1) for all crops, assuming that grain legumes recover on average 40% of the fertilizer N. Published data from grain legume-cereal intercrop experiments, employing stable 15N isotope methods, have shown that due to competitive interactions and complementary N acquisition in intercrops, the cereals recover a more than proportional share of the soil N sources. As a consequence, the intercropped legume derives more of its N from the atmosphere, compared with when it is grown as legume sole crop. We estimated that the increased N use efficiency in intercropping can reduce the requirements for fossil-based fertilizer N by about 26% on a global scale. In addition, our estimates indicate that if all current grain legume sole crops would instead be intercropped with cereals, a potential net land saving would be achieved, when also replacing part of the current cereal sole crop area with intercropping. Intercropping has additional potential advantages such as increased yield stability and yield per unit area, reduced pest problems and reduced requirements for agrochemicals, while stimulating biodiversity. It is concluded that crop diversification by intercropping has the potential to reduce global requirements for synthetic fertilizer N and consequently support the development of more sustainable cropping systems.

This data set contains a data-mining performed to assess the impact of intercropping, tillage and fertilizer type on soil organic carbon and crop yield in arable crops from four selected European pedoclimatic regions and typical cropping systems in the Atlantic, Boreal, Mediterranean North, and Mediterranean South regions. A further meta-analysis was performed with these data. These data correspond to the open-access articles: - Diversified Arable Cropping Systems and Management Schemes in Selected European Regions Have Positive Effects on Soil Organic Carbon Content. Agriculture 2019, 9, 261. https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/9/12/261?type=check_update&version=2 - Diversification and Management Practices in Selected European Regions. A Data-analysis of Arable Crops Production. Agronomy 2020, 10, 297; doi:10.3390/agronomy10020297. https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/10/2/297 - Deficit Drip Irrigation in Processing Tomato Production in the Mediterranean Basin: A Data Analysis for Italy. Agriculture 2019, 9, 79; doi:10.3390/agriculture9040079. https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/9/4/79?type=check_update&version=2 The research and publications have been funded by he European Commission Horizon 2020 project Diverfarming [grant agreement 728003].

[SPA] El modelo agrario actual busca maximizar la producción de alimentos, para lo cual se requieren altos insumos al agroecosistema, lo que puede derivar en un deterioro medioambiental. No obstante, existen oportunidades de mejora del modelo agrario hacia uno más sostenible. Una de ellas es, sin duda, la diversificación de cultivos. En los últimos tiempos, las políticas de gestión de la agricultura están enfocadas a incrementar la sostenibilidad y la resiliencia de los sistemas agrarios a través de la diversificación de cultivos y el fomento de la biodiversidad de los agroecosistemas. En este sentido, el apoyo social y de los agricultores a estos cambios es fundamental para el triunfo de estas políticas. En este contexto, el enfoque de los Servicios Ecosistémicos puede resultar de gran utilidad para valorar y evaluar los beneficios sociales y ambientales de la diversificación de cultivos, así como las aportaciones adicionales que tienen estas prácticas con respecto al monocultivo, el sistema de cultivo más extendido en la actualidad. [ENG] The current agrarian model seeks to maximize food production, for which high inputs are required to the agroecosystem. It can lead to environmental deterioration. However, there are opportunities to improve the agrarian model towards a more sustainable one. One of them is crop diversification. In recent times, the agriculture management policies are focused on increasing the sustainability and resilience of agrarian systems through the diversification of crops and the promotion of the biodiversity of agroecosystems. In this sense, the social and farmer support for these changes is fundamental to the triumph of these policies. In this context, the Ecosystem Services approach can be very useful to assess and evaluate the social and environmental benefits of crop diversification, as well as the additional contributions that these practices have with respect to monoculture, the system of most widespread cultivation at present. Este trabajo ha sido financiado por el Proyecto Diverfarming [Grant Agreement 728003], en el marco Horizonte 2020 de la Comisión Europea.

This data set contains a data-mining performed to assess the impact of intercropping, tillage and fertilizer type on soil organic carbon and crop yield in arable crops from four selected European pedoclimatic regions and typical cropping systems in the Atlantic, Boreal, Mediterranean North, and Mediterranean South regions. A further meta-analysis was performed with these data.

In Europe, there is an increasing interest in pulses both for their beneficial effects in cropping systems and for human health. However, despite these advantages, the acreage dedicated to pulses has been declining and their diversity has reduced, particularly in European temperate regions, due to several social and economic factors. This decline has stimulated a political debate in the EU on the development of plant proteins. By contrast, in Southern countries, a large panel of minor pulses is still cropped in regional patterns of production and consumption. The aim of this paper is to investigate the potential for cultivation of minor pulses in European temperate regions as a complement to common pulses. Our assumption is that some of these crops could adapt to different pedoclimatic conditions, given their physiological adaptation capacity, and that these pulses might be of interest for the development of innovative local food chains in an EU policy context targeting protein autonomy. The research is based on a systematic review of 269 papers retrieved in the Scopus database (1974–2019), which allowed us to identify 41 pulses as candidate species with protein content higher than 20% that are already consumed as food. For each species, the main agronomic (e.g., temperature or water requirements) and nutritional characteristics (e.g., proteins or antinutritional contents) were identified in their growing regions. Following their agronomic characteristics, the candidate crops were confronted with variability in the annual growing conditions for spring crops in Western European temperate areas to determine the earliest potential sowing and latest harvest dates. Subsequently, the potential sum of temperatures was calculated with the Agri4cast database to establish the potential climatic suitability. For the first time, 21 minor pulses were selected to be grown in these temperate areas and appear worthy of investigation in terms of yield potential, nutritional characteristics or best management practices.

© 2018, The Author(s). Bananas (Musa spp.), including dessert and cooking types, are of major importance in the tropics. Due to extremely high levels of sterility, the diversity of cultivated bananas is fixed over long periods of time to the existing genotypes. This pattern puts banana-based agrosystems at risk. Therefore, assessing the extent of wild and cultivated banana diversity, conserving it and making it available for further use is a priority. We report here the collection of new wild and cultivated banana germplasm in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea. In total, 61 accessions were collected and their names and uses were recorded when possible. Classification was also provided based on the observations made in the field. Three wild specimens were collected. Among the 58 cultivated accessions, we noted that eight were used as ornamental plants, seven were edible varieties of the Fe’i type and two were natural tetraploids from the Musa section. The ploidy was then checked by flow cytometry and the accessions were genotyped with a set of 19 SSR markers. The genotyping results were merged to the dataset from Christelová et al. (Biodivers Conserv 26:801–824, 2017). This joint analysis helped refine or confirm the classification of the collected accessions. It also allowed to identify 10 private alleles and 35 genotypes or Genotype Groups that were not present in the wider dataset. Finally, it shed light on the diversification processes at work in the region, such as the capture of mutations by farmers and the likely occurrence of geneflow within the cultivated genepool. ispartof: Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution vol:65 issue:8 pages:2267-2286 status: published

Background Ethiopia is the homeland of various crops due to its diverse and suitable agro-ecological zones. As a result, smallholder farmers grow multiple crops on a small piece of land both for consumption and commercial purposes in different portions of Ethiopia, including the northwestern part of the country. However, crop diversification status and extent of farmers were not well understood. Therefore, this study examined determinants of crop diversification in a pepper-dominated smallholder farming system in northwest Ethiopia. Methods Primary data was collected through a semi-structured interview schedule administered on 385 crop producers selected using a systematic random sampling technique. Moreover, the survey was supplemented by using secondary data, focus group discussions, and key informant interviews. Methods such as the descriptive, inferential statistics, and econometrics model were used for analyzing the data. Results The average crop diversification index was 0.77, and most smallholder farmers (92.46%) used crop diversification as a strategy for risk reduction, nutritional improvement, consumption, and commercial needs. Moreover, the Tobit model result revealed that the status and intensity of crop diversification were significantly influenced by farmland, sex, age, land fragmentation, distance to development center, market distance, and non-/off-farm income participation. Conclusion Generally, most farm households used crop diversification as a norm and best strategy for minimizing risk, income source, nutritional and livelihood improvement. Therefore, crop producers, agricultural experts, the Ethiopian government, and partner organizations should give special attention to extension service, market, and infrastructure development to enhance the role of agricultural diversification for households.

Purpose The adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices (CSAPs) is important for sustaining Indian agriculture in the face of climate change. Despite considerable effort by both national and international agricultural organizations to promote CSAPs in India, adoption of these practices is low. This study aims to examine the elements that affect the likelihood and intensity of adoption of multiple CSAPs in Bihar, India. Design/methodology/approach The probability and intensity of adoption of CSAPs are analyzed using multivariate and ordered probit models, respectively. Findings The results show significant correlations between multiple CSAPs, indicating that their adoptions are interrelated, providing opportunities to exploit the complementarities. The results confirm that both the probability and intensity of adoption of CSAPs are affected by numerous factors, such as demographic characteristics, farm plot features, access to market, socio-economics, climate risks, access to extension services and training. Farmers who perceive high temperature as the major climate risk factor are more likely to adopt crop diversification and minimum tillage. Farmers are less likely to adopt site-specific nutrient management if faced with short winters; however, they are more likely to adopt minimum tillage in this case. Training on agricultural issues is found to have a positive impact on the likelihood and the intensity of CSAPs adoption. Practical implications The major policy recommendations coming from of our results are to strengthen local institutions (public extension services, etc.) and to provide more training on CSAPs. Originality/value By applying multivariate and ordered probit models, this paper provides some insights on the long-standing discussions on whether farmers adopt CSAPs in a piecemeal or in a composite way.

Climate variability is the fluctuation of climatic elements from the normal or baseline values. Agrarian communities are the most sensitive social groups to climate variability and associate extreme weather-induced hazards due to the fact that climate variability affects the two most important direct agricultural production inputs, such as rainfall and temperature. As Ethiopia is heavily dependent on agriculture its economic development is being hindered by climate variability coupled with many other deriving forces. Therefore, the objective of this study is to examine climate variability, local communities’ perceptions and land management strategies to reduce the adverse impact of climate variability in Lay Gayint Woreda, Ethiopia. Both primary and secondary data were used to complete this study. Primary data were collected and analyzed from a total of 200 randomly selected respondents reside in different agro-ecological areas. Metrology data were gathered from Nefas Mewcha Station from the years 1979 to 2010. Standardized rainfall anomaly index (SRAI), crop diversification index (CDI) and other descriptive statistical techniques were used to analyze the data. The results obtained from the climate data revealed an increase in temperature, and decrease and/or erratic in rainfall distribution. Time series SRAI from 1979 to 2010 indicates that 2002 and 2008 were characterized by extreme and severe dry conditions in order of importance with high impact on crop yields whist only 1984 and 1990 received near normal rainfall amount. Similarly, the survey result reveals that out of the total household heads, 87.5 % perceived that there was an increase in temperature over the last 20 years. The survey result also disclosed that significant numbers of households are more likely to adopt different land management strategies to reduce the negative impact of climate variability. Constructing terraces and check dams as well as planting trees were the major land management strategies used by the local communities. However, crop diversification index (CDI) was found to be 0.11 as the cultivated area is stanch to one crop indicating very low alternative crop production in the study area. Although the study area receives variable and inefficient rainfall the rugged topography and poor soil conditions have hindered the development of irrigation facilities. Local context-specific integrated watershed management activities, small-scale irrigation schemes and extension services need to be strengthened to reduce the impact of climate variability. Policy makers need also to substantially invest in establishing information dissemination systems in order to provide reliable weather information for farmers given that crop production is largely dependent on it.

Smallholder agriculture in developing countries is characterized by low productivity. Improving the productive efficiency of farm households is considered one of the paths to increase productivity and reduce poverty. This study analyzed the poverty reduction effects of improving the technical efficiency of cereal-producing farm households using plot-level data from rural Ethiopia. The effects were also evaluated whether they were heterogeneous relative to the level of crop diversification. Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) and stochastic meta-frontier approach were used to estimate the poverty status and the technical efficiency scores, respectively, and the Herfindahl Index (HI) was used to compute crop diversification. The instrumental Tobit Model was specified to estimate the poverty reduction effect of technical efficiency. Our results revealed that the mean technical efficiency of farm households was estimated to be 58%. The poverty estimate results showed that a higher proportion of farm households were multidimensional poor. The incidence of poverty and the mean deprivation score was found to be 57.9% and 44.1%, respectively. Overall, the value of MPI estimated was 31.2%, implying the farm households experienced 31.2% of the total deprivations across all indicators. The HI was 0.51, indicating a moderate degree of crop diversification among farm households. The model results showed that a 10% increase in technical efficiency significantly drives down the household multidimensional poverty by 15.3% at 1% level, keeping other things being constant. Furthermore, ceteris paribus, a 10% increase in technical efficiency significantly reduces household multidimensional poverty by 7.0% and 7.8% at 1% level among moderately diversified and least diversified farm households, respectively. In conclusion, technical efficiency has a higher effect on multidimensional poverty among moderately diversified and least diversified farm households. Therefore, enhancing the productive capacity of farm households among the lower degree of crop diversification to efficiently use production inputs may assist in poverty reduction., Cereal, Technical efficiency, Multidimensional poverty, Crop diversification, Ethiopia.

Crop diversification refers to the addition of new crops or cropping systems to agricultural production on a particular farm taking into account the different returns from value-added crops with complementary marketing opportunities. It is an important mechanism for economic growth, which can be facilitated by technological breaks-through, by changes in consumer demand or in government policy or in trade arrangements, and by development of irrigation, roads, and other infrastructures. Diversification in agriculture is key in achieving food security, improved human nutrition and increase in rural employment. In the past few decades, agricultural sector in the whole state of Jammu and Kashmir and particularly in the district of Kulgam has witnessed a heavy shift in the cropping pattern from food crops to non-food crops (cash-crops). The horticultural sector has been playing an important role in the State largely by contributing to the State Economy and turns to be the source of livelihood for nearly thirty three lakh people, but the paddy production on the other hand has shown an opposite trend. Paddy land is getting changed into the horticultural land, as the farmers find it to be more remunerative. Kulgam, which was once the major producer of rice in the State, and was known to be the “Rice Bowl of Kashmir”, is now among the least producers of rice. Farmers witnessed that sticking only to the water intensive crops proved to be non-beneficial and they willingly shifted to the cash crops, like: apple, almond, and walnut. In the present study, the researcher estimates the association between the different socioeconomic variables and the problems faced by the farmers while availing the loan at the household level in Kulgam, one of the districts of Jammu and Kashmir, and Chi Square test has been used to find out the association.

CONTEXT: Policy-based or technological interventions are more likely to be effective if aligned with farmers' objectives, constraints, and decision-making processes. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to explore trade-offs and synergies of farming systems in response to innovative rice cultivation activities by understanding current farming systems, main drivers impacting farm management and farmers' perspectives on rice intensification. Understanding these interrelations is key in rice production areas, where smallholder farmers largely depend on growing rice to subsist. METHODS: A rapid system analysis was conducted interviewing 20 farmers in 4 villages along the Senegal River Valley (SRV) to obtain a general view on farm functioning and farmers' perspectives on farming systems. A detailed system analysis with four farmers was subsequently conducted to provide an insight into the underlying processes regulating farm management. A multi-objective optimization model was used to quantitatively evaluate and explore farm performances based on four selected indicators representing: rice production, household agricultural profit, household labour and farm nutrient balance. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study showed that government programmes and farmers' Unions were strongly influencing farmers' decision-making in agricultural production. Farmers also reported that although rice was still essential for their livelihoods, there were transitions towards less rice production in the wet season with short duration rice varieties and more vegetable production. Both farmers' interviews and the modelling results suggested that farmers would be unlikely to increase or even maintain the area of rice double cropping, which has been strongly promoted by the Senegalese government. Instead, farmers would rather keep investing in vegetable production. SIGNIFICANCE: This modelling study shows the consequences of policy-based and technological interventions for farming systems and may inform both policy makers and farmers in situations where objectives are strongly divergent. Hence, modelling outcomes may be used to inspire discussion and innovation in order to align the government priority of ensuring national food security and farmers' objectives and constraints in the SRV.

Crop diversification is a climate smart agricultural technique which helps improve resilience for farmers in the face of volatile weather due to climate change. Previous research on its effect on technical efficiency shows contrasting results (positive and negative effects). Other literature show that crop diversification has a positive impact on income variability. Is it possible that choosing crop diversification involves a tradeoff between efficiency and resilience (income variability) for rural smallholder farmers? It is likely that merging these two separate sets of previous literature, one on the effects of crop diversification on technical efficiency, and another on its effect on income variability, can provide valuable insights on the decision making process faced by a farmer considering to adopt crop diversification. So essentially, the question we try to answer in this study is what is the effect of crop diversification on technical efficiency and income variability on the same farm household of northern Ghana? Without addressing this question, policy makers cannot tell for sure if crop diversification is a good CSA option for their farmers, and if it is, they still may not know how to promote its adoption effectively. To answer our research question, we use the Agricultural production data from northern Ghana and employ a Cobb Douglas stochastic input distance function for efficiency, and ordinary least squares for income variability. The results show evidence against ‘tradeoff’. Crop diversification significantly improves efficiency and reduces income variability in northern Ghana so farmers do not have to give up efficiency for income stability or vice versa. Thus crop diversification is an ideal CSA strategy for promoting agricultural growth and resilience in northern Ghana. The data we use in this study has a maximum three crops, so our results cannot be generalized to farmers who grow more than three crops.

Crop diversity through residue incorporation is the most important method for sustaining soil health. A field study was conducted over five consecutive years (2012–2017) to see the impact of residue incorporartions in Inceptisol of eastern India. The main plot treatments had five cropping systems (CS), namely, fallow−rice−rice (FRR), jute−rice−wheat (JRW), jute−rice−baby corn (JRBc), jute−rice−vegetable pea (JRGp), jute−rice−mustard−mungbean/green gram (JRMMu), which cinsisted of four sub-plots with varied nutrient and crop residue management (NCRM) levels, namely crops with no residue +75% of the recommended dose of fertilizers (RDF) (F1R0), crops with the residue of the previous crops +75% RDF (F1R1), crops with no resiude +100% RDF (F2R0), and crops with residue +100% RDF (F2R1). The highest system productivity was obtained for JRBc (15.3 Mg·ha−1), followed by JRGp (8.81 Mg·ha−1) and JRMMu (7.61 Mg·ha−1); however, the highest sustainability index was found with the JRGp cropping system (0.88), followed by JRMMu (0.82). Among the NCRMs, the highest productivity (8.78 Mg·ha−1) and sustainability index (0.83) were recorded in F2R1. Five soil parameters, namely, bulk density, available K, urease activity, dehydrogenase activity, and soil microbial biomass carbon (SMBC), were used in the minimum data-set (MDS) for the calculation of the soil quality index (SQI). The best attainment of SQI was found in the JRGp system (0.63), closely followed by the JRMMu (0.61) cropping system.

Anthropogenic interventions play a key role in promoting positive feedback of soil–plant–environment interactions, but systematic reports on how anthropogenic activities influence soil physiochemical, microorganism-induced properties and soil health are still limited. Here, we assessed the impact of anthropogenic interventions, including crop diversification in rotations, soil physical disturbance, synthetic chemical inputs, and biofertilizer use on soil microbial community structure and function, and the consequential effects on agroecosystem productivity and environmental sustainability. Summarizing the results of over 160 medium- to long‐term experiments from various soil-climatic zones across the globe in this review illustrated that (1) increasing crop diversification in rotations could bring positive impacts on soil microorganisms and soil health, especially including legume crops in rotations. (2) However, monocultures such as continuous wheat cropping could negatively impact soil health by enhancing activities of host specific pathogens. (3) Physical agronomic practices such as tillage can alter soil microbial communities by shifting microclimate conditions. (4) Mineral nitrogen fertilizer use, a leading nutrient input, may have exceeded the planetary boundary of N cycling, and is causing soil acidification and decreasing microbial biomass. (5) Synthetic chemicals, essential for disease management (pesticides) and yield sustainability (fertilization) in conventional agroecosystems are often toxic to non-target soil microorganisms, while bio-fungicides and biofertilizers—a more sustainable approach—carry significant risks to trigger succession of the native soil microbial community, thus impacting soil health. The key is to establish a rational balance between anthropogenic activities for agroecosystem productivity and potential negative influences on the soil microbial community and long-term soil health.

Humankind faces the need to achieve sustainable agriculture production, meanwhile increasing crop yields and reducing soil and water losses. Soil conservation through intercropping or crop canopy management is widely accepted as one of the ways of diversifying crop yields in rainfed agriculture in sloping landscapes. Field experiments were conducted between 2009 and 2014 to evaluate the effects of one or two rows of cowpea/okra intercropped with maize (planted either in 90 or 150 cm row spacing) on productivity, profitability, and resource conservation on 4% sloping crop land in the Himalayas. During five years of experimentation, a total of 110 runoff events were observed in the maize crop grown in rainy months of June to September. The results showed that by growing one row of cowpea in between two rows of maize (90 × 20 cm), no effect was observed on the productivity of rainfed maize. Productivity of the succeeding wheat crop was enhanced by 13% which resulted in a higher net return (117 US$ ha−1) than in a maize-wheat system. This system also reduced runoff and soil loss by 26% and 43%, respectively, compared to only a maize cropping system. Regression analysis revealed as runoff in maize crop increases, grain yield of succeeding rainfed wheat crop decreases due to the less availability of soil moisture.

The study analyzes the technical efficiency of vegetable farmers in root and tuber-based farming systems within selected sites of the humid tropics of Cameroon. Multistage sampling was used to collect primary data from a cross-section of vegetable farmers drawn from eight selected sites in Santa sub division, Northwest region of Cameroon. Stochastic frontier analysis was used to estimate the technical efficiency of vegetable farmer and to examine its determinants. The results showed that farmyard manure was the most productive factor input, followed by farm equipment and labor. The mean technical efficiency level was 67%, revealing production shortfalls and indicating possibilities of significantly increasing production with the current input levels. Female, as well as more educated farmers were found to be significantly more efficient than their counterparts. The results also showed that farmers become less technical efficient as farm sizes become larger. Our study findings suggest that smallholder farmers' access to manure, farm implements, and increased women participation in vegetable farming, will produce huge payoffs in vegetable production efficiency in Cameroon.

Codes JEL : C55, Q12, Q18; International audience; This paper presents the first EU-wide individual farm level model (IFM-CAP – Individual Farm Model for CAP Analysis) to assess the impacts of the crop diversification measure introduced by the 2013 CAP reform as part of CAP ‘greening’. Based on Positive Mathematical Programming, IFM-CAP simulates the behaviour of each individual farmer in the EU-FADN (Farm Accountancy Data Network) database, under the policy constraint of crop diversification and provides distributional impacts over the entire EU farm population. Simulation results show that the effects of the crop diversification measure on the EU farming sector are rather small. At the aggregate EU level, the proportion of the reallocated area due to the diversification measure represents less than 1% of the total agricultural area and the crop production and income decline by less than 0.5%. At the individual farm level, the impacts could be more pronounced (more than –25%), although the number of affected farms by the measure remains small (around 5% of the total farm population). The most constraining component of the diversification measure appears to be the 75% threshold imposed for the main cultivated crop.; Cet article présent les impacts économiques de la mesure de diversification des cultures dans l'assolement introduite par la réforme de la PAC en 2013. Le modèle d'offre agricole européen IFM-CAP est utilisé pour simuler la réponse des agriculteurs européens à cette mesure et a des effets distributifs sur l'ensemble de la population agricole de l'UE.