Crop losses from pests threaten global food security and safety. In the last six decades, pest control using chemical pesticides has resulted in important yield gains per unit area, worldwide. However, the long-term sustainability of chemical pest control has been increasingly thrown into doubt due to the negative impact on human health, biodiversity, and the environment.
The main objective of this methodological toolkit is to aid farmers and technicians to better understand the principles and/or mechanisms that underlie the resiliency (or lack thereof) of farming systems and how agroecological management can enhance the capacity of farmers to adapt to unpredictable and severe climatic variability.
The potential of organic agriculture and agroecological approaches for improving food security in Africa is a controversial topic in global discussions.
After World War II, the evolution of Europe’s agro-food system has been marked by intensified use of synthetic fertilizers, territorial specialization, and integration in global food and feed markets. This evolution led to increased nitrogen (N) losses to aquatic environments and the atmosphere, which, despite increasing environmental regulations, continues to harm ecosystems and human well-being.
Il World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF-Olanda) ha pubblicato un rapporto dal titolo "Farming with Biodiversity - Towards nature-positive production at scale".
Mycorrhizal symbiosis represents a valuable tool for increasing plant nutrient uptake, affecting system biodiversity, ecosystem services and productivity. Introduction of agroecological service crops (ASCs) in cropping systems may determine changes in weed community, that can affect the development of the mycorrhizal mycelial network in the rhizosphere, favoring or depressing the cash crop mycorrhization.
C’è tempo fino il 25 febbraio per inviare un contributo alla seconda conferenza internazionale sulla ricerca biodinamica, evento che avrà luogo presso la Royal Agricultural University di Cirencester (UK) dal 30 agosto al 2 settembre 2021.
A quantitative synthesis published in Ecology Letters. Floral plantings are promoted to foster ecological intensification of agriculture through provisioning of ecosystem services. However, a comprehensive assessment of the effectiveness of different floral plantings, their characteristics and consequences for crop yield is lacking. Here we quantified the impacts of flower strips and hedgerows on pest control (18 studies) and pollination services (17 studies) in adjacent crops in North America, Europe and New Zealand.