Showing papers on "Organic farming published in 2017"
TL;DR: Current and future increase in food production must go along with production of food with better quality and with less toxic contaminants, which requires more cautious use of agrochemical through prior testing, careful risk assessment, and licensing.
Abstract: Agrochemicals have enabled to more than duplicate food production during the last century, and the current need to increase food production to feed a rapid growing human population maintains pressure on the intensive use of pesticides and fertilizers. However, worldwide surveys have documented the contamination and impact of agrochemical residues in soils, and terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems including coastal marine systems, and their toxic effects on humans and nonhuman biota. Although persistent organic chemicals have been phased out and replaced by more biodegradable chemicals, contamination by legacy residues and recent residues still impacts on the quality of human food, water, and environment. Current and future increase in food production must go along with production of food with better quality and with less toxic contaminants. Alternative paths to the intensive use of crop protection chemicals are open, such as genetically engineered organisms, organic farming, change of dietary habits, and development of food technologies. Agro industries need to further develop advanced practices to protect public health, which requires more cautious use of agrochemicals through prior testing, careful risk assessment, and licensing, but also through education of farmers and users in general, measures for better protection of ecosystems, and good practices for sustainable development of agriculture, fisheries, and aquaculture. Enhanced scientific research for new developments in food production and food safety, as well as for environmental protection, is a necessary part of this endeavor. Furthermore, worldwide agreement on good agriculture practices, including development of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and their release for international agriculture, may be urgent to ensure the success of safe food production.
918 citations
Abstract: Global agricultural feeds over 7 billion people, but is also a leading cause of environmental degradation. Understanding how alternative agricultural production systems, agricultural input efficiency, and food choice drive environmental degradation is necessary for reducing agriculture's environmental impacts. A meta-analysis of life cycle assessments that includes 742 agricultural systems and over 90 unique foods produced primarily in high-input systems shows that, per unit of food, organic systems require more land, cause more eutrophication, use less energy, but emit similar greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) as conventional systems; that grass-fed beef requires more land and emits similar GHG emissions as grain-feed beef; and that low-input aquaculture and non-trawling fisheries have much lower GHG emissions than trawling fisheries. In addition, our analyses show that increasing agricultural input efficiency (the amount of food produced per input of fertilizer or feed) would have environmental benefits for both crop and livestock systems. Further, for all environmental indicators and nutritional units examined, plant-based foods have the lowest environmental impacts; eggs, dairy, pork, poultry, non-trawling fisheries, and non-recirculating aquaculture have intermediate impacts; and ruminant meat has impacts ~100 times those of plant-based foods. Our analyses show that dietary shifts towards low-impact foods and increases in agricultural input use efficiency would offer larger environmental benefits than would switches from conventional agricultural systems to alternatives such as organic agriculture or grass-fed beef.
605 citations
TL;DR: It is predicted that if food waste and meat consumption are reduced, organic agriculture could feed the world without requiring cropland expansion, and none of the corresponding strategies needs full implementation and their combined partial implementation delivers a more sustainable food future.
Abstract: Organic agriculture is proposed as a promising approach to achieving sustainable food systems, but its feasibility is also contested. We use a food systems model that addresses agronomic characteristics of organic agriculture to analyze the role that organic agriculture could play in sustainable food systems. Here we show that a 100% conversion to organic agriculture needs more land than conventional agriculture but reduces N-surplus and pesticide use. However, in combination with reductions of food wastage and food-competing feed from arable land, with correspondingly reduced production and consumption of animal products, land use under organic agriculture remains below the reference scenario. Other indicators such as greenhouse gas emissions also improve, but adequate nitrogen supply is challenging. Besides focusing on production, sustainable food systems need to address waste, crop–grass–livestock interdependencies and human consumption. None of the corresponding strategies needs full implementation and their combined partial implementation delivers a more sustainable food future.
410 citations
TL;DR: The current understanding of the costs and benefits of organic agriculture across multiple production, environmental, producer, and consumer dimensions is assessed.
Abstract: Organic agriculture is often proposed as a more sustainable alternative to current conventional agriculture. We assess the current understanding of the costs and benefits of organic agriculture across multiple production, environmental, producer, and consumer dimensions. Organic agriculture shows many potential benefits (including higher biodiversity and improved soil and water quality per unit area, enhanced profitability, and higher nutritional value) as well as many potential costs including lower yields and higher consumer prices. However, numerous important dimensions have high uncertainty, particularly the environmental performance when controlling for lower organic yields, but also yield stability, soil erosion, water use, and labor conditions. We identify conditions that influence the relative performance of organic systems, highlighting areas for increased research and policy support.
293 citations
TL;DR: Overall, this review emphasises several documented and likely human health benefits associated with organic food production, and application of such production methods is likely to be beneficial within conventional agriculture, e.g., in integrated pest management.
Abstract: This review summarises existing evidence on the impact of organic food on human health. It compares organic vs. conventional food production with respect to parameters important to human health and discusses the potential impact of organic management practices with an emphasis on EU conditions. Organic food consumption may reduce the risk of allergic disease and of overweight and obesity, but the evidence is not conclusive due to likely residual confounding, as consumers of organic food tend to have healthier lifestyles overall. However, animal experiments suggest that identically composed feed from organic or conventional production impacts in different ways on growth and development. In organic agriculture, the use of pesticides is restricted, while residues in conventional fruits and vegetables constitute the main source of human pesticide exposures. Epidemiological studies have reported adverse effects of certain pesticides on children’s cognitive development at current levels of exposure, but these data have so far not been applied in formal risk assessments of individual pesticides. Differences in the composition between organic and conventional crops are limited, such as a modestly higher content of phenolic compounds in organic fruit and vegetables, and likely also a lower content of cadmium in organic cereal crops. Organic dairy products, and perhaps also meats, have a higher content of omega-3 fatty acids compared to conventional products. However, these differences are likely of marginal nutritional significance. Of greater concern is the prevalent use of antibiotics in conventional animal production as a key driver of antibiotic resistance in society; antibiotic use is less intensive in organic production. Overall, this review emphasises several documented and likely human health benefits associated with organic food production, and application of such production methods is likely to be beneficial within conventional agriculture, e.g., in integrated pest management.
263 citations
TL;DR: Overall organic farming enhances total microbial abundance and activity in agricultural soils on a global scale and shows that differences in microbial size and activity between organic and conventional farming systems vary as a function of land use, plant life cycle, and climatic zone.
Abstract: Population growth and climate change challenge our food and farming systems and provide arguments for an increased intensification of agriculture. A promising option is eco-functional intensification through organic farming, an approach based on using and enhancing internal natural resources and processes to secure and improve agricultural productivity, while minimizing negative environmental impacts. In this concept an active soil microbiota plays an important role for various soil based ecosystem services such as nutrient cycling, erosion control and pest and disease regulation. Several studies have reported a positive effect of organic farming on soil health and quality including microbial community traits. However, so far no systematic quantification of whether organic farming systems comprise larger and more active soil microbial communities compared to conventional farming systems was performed on a global scale. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis on current literature to quantify possible differences in key indicators for soil microbial abundance and activity in organic and conventional cropping systems. All together we integrated data from 56 mainly peer-reviewed papers into our analysis, including 149 pairwise comparisons originating from different climatic zones and experimental duration ranging from 3 to more than 100 years. Overall, we found that organic systems had 32% to 84% greater microbial biomass carbon, microbial biomass nitrogen, total phospholipid fatty-acids, and dehydrogenase, urease and protease activities than conventional systems. Exclusively the metabolic quotient as an indicator for stresses on microbial communities remained unaffected by the farming systems. Categorical subgroup analysis revealed that crop rotation, the inclusion of legumes in the crop rotation and organic inputs are important farming practices affecting soil microbial community size and activity. Furthermore, we show that differences in microbial size and activity between organic and conventional farming systems vary as a function of land use (arable, orchards, and grassland), plant life cycle (annual and perennial) and climatic zone. In summary, this study shows that overall organic farming enhances total microbial abundance and activity in agricultural soils on a global scale.
263 citations
University of Arizona1, Washington State University2, The Nature Conservancy3, University of California, Berkeley4, University of Göttingen5, Wageningen University and Research Centre6, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences7, University of Idaho8, University of Brasília9, University of Lisbon10, University of California, Davis11, Rutgers University12, Lund University13, Stanford University14, Cornell University15, University of Kiel16, Simon Fraser University17, Federal University of Ceará18, University of Otago19, University of Wisconsin-Madison20, University of Würzburg21, Michigan State University22, University of Turin23, University of Texas at Austin24, Stockholm University25, University of Freiburg26, University of California, Santa Cruz27, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation28, University of Bristol29, Alberta Environment30, University of North Dakota31, Research Institute of Organic Agriculture32, Spanish National Research Council33, University of Reading34, University of Puerto Rico35, Charles Sturt University36, AgResearch37, University of California, San Francisco38, Technische Universität München39
TL;DR: Both organic farming and in-field plant diversification exerted the strongest effects on pollinators and predators, suggesting these management schemes can facilitate ecosystem service providers without augmenting herbivore (pest) populations.
Abstract: Agricultural intensification is a leading cause of global biodiversity loss, which can reduce the provisioning of ecosystem services in managed ecosystems. Organic farming and plant diversification are farm management schemes that may mitigate potential ecological harm by increasing species richness and boosting related ecosystem services to agroecosystems. What remains unclear is the extent to which farm management schemes affect biodiversity components other than species richness, and whether impacts differ across spatial scales and landscape contexts. Using a global metadataset, we quantified the effects of organic farming and plant diversification on abundance, local diversity (communities within fields), and regional diversity (communities across fields) of arthropod pollinators, predators, herbivores, and detritivores. Both organic farming and higher in-field plant diversity enhanced arthropod abundance, particularly for rare taxa. This resulted in increased richness but decreased evenness. While these responses were stronger at local relative to regional scales, richness and abundance increased at both scales, and richness on farms embedded in complex relative to simple landscapes. Overall, both organic farming and in-field plant diversification exerted the strongest effects on pollinators and predators, suggesting these management schemes can facilitate ecosystem service providers without augmenting herbivore (pest) populations. Our results suggest that organic farming and plant diversification promote diverse arthropod metacommunities that may provide temporal and spatial stability of ecosystem service provisioning. Conserving diverse plant and arthropod communities in farming systems therefore requires sustainable practices that operate both within fields and across landscapes.
235 citations
TL;DR: It is reported that conventional and organic farming systems had major influence on soil microbial diversity and community composition while the effects of the soil health treatments in both farming systems were of smaller magnitude.
Abstract: Organic farming system and sustainable management of soil pathogens aim at reducing the use of agricultural chemicals in order to improve ecosystem health. Despite the essential role of microbial communities in agro-ecosystems, we still have limited understanding of the complex response of microbial diversity and composition to organic and conventional farming systems and to alternative methods for controlling plant pathogens. In this study we assessed the microbial community structure, diversity and richness using 16S rRNA gene next generation sequences and report that conventional and organic farming systems had major influence on soil microbial diversity and community composition while the effects of the soil health treatments (sustainable alternatives for chemical control) in both farming systems were of smaller magnitude. Organically managed system increased taxonomic and phylogenetic richness, diversity and heterogeneity of the soil microbiota when compared with conventional farming system. The composition of microbial communities, but not the diversity nor heterogeneity, were altered by soil health treatments. Soil health treatments exhibited an overrepresentation of specific microbial taxa which are known to be involved in soil suppressiveness to pathogens (plant-parasitic nematodes and soil-borne fungi). Our results provide a comprehensive survey on the response of microbial communities to different agricultural systems and to soil treatments for controlling plant pathogens and give novel insights to improve the sustainability of agro-ecosystems by means of beneficial microorganisms.
193 citations
TL;DR: The results indicate that cover crops are essential to maintaining a certain yield level when soil tillage intensity is reduced or when production is converted to organic agriculture, and the inclusion of cover crops provides additional opportunities to increase the yield of lower intensity production systems and contribute to ecological intensification.
Abstract: A major challenge for agriculture is to enhance productivity with minimum impact on the environment. Several studies indicate that cover crops could replace anthropogenic inputs and enhance crop productivity. However, so far, it is unclear if cover crop effects vary between different cropping systems, and direct comparisons among major arable production systems are rare. Here we compared the short-term effects of various cover crops on crop yield, nitrogen uptake, and weed infestation in four arable production systems (conventional cropping with intensive tillage and no-tillage; organic cropping with intensive tillage and reduced tillage). We hypothesized that cover cropping effects increase with decreasing management intensity. Our study demonstrated that cover crop effects on crop yield were highest in the organic system with reduced tillage (+24%), intermediate in the organic system with tillage (+13%) and in the conventional system with no tillage (+8%) and lowest in the conventional system with tillage (+2%). Our results indicate that cover crops are essential to maintaining a certain yield level when soil tillage intensity is reduced (e.g. under conservation agriculture), or when production is converted to organic agriculture. Thus, the inclusion of cover crops provides additional opportunities to increase the yield of lower intensity production systems and contribute to ecological intensification.
191 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine eight different organic regulations from across the world to understand how they have codified the large diversity of ideas inherent in organic agriculture, and find that organic practices and regulations do not differ substantially between countries.
138 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a review on the quality of organic produce in terms of its nutritional value, the presence of pesticide residues, heavy metals, mycotoxins and bacterial contamination, and the use of antibiotics is addressed.
TL;DR: Effective management through reducing tillage and increasing organic C inputs can enhance soil microbial diversity and community stability, as shown in the southern Appalachian mountains of North Carolina, USA.
TL;DR: In this review, scientific progress in this field was collected and critically assessed to lay grounds for further investigations and applications of seaweed extracts in agriculture.
Abstract: Seaweeds or marine macroalgae are rich in diverse compounds like lipids, proteins, carbohydrates, phytohormones, amino acids, osmoprotectants, antimicrobial compounds and minerals. Their potential for agricultural applications is used since antiquity, but recent demands of organic farming and organic food stimulated much the application of organic treatments like seaweed extracts in agriculture. The benefits of seaweeds application in agricultural field are numerous and diverse such as stimulation of seed germination, enhancement of health and growth of plants namely shoot and root elongation, improved water and nutrient uptake, frost and saline resistance, biocontrol and resistance toward phytopathogenic organisms, remediation of pollutants of contaminated soil and fertilization. In this review, scientific progress in this field was collected and critically assessed to lay grounds for further investigations and applications.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors review and compare principles and practices defined and described in EU organic agriculture regulations, International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movement (IFOAM) norms, and agroecology scientific literature.
Abstract: There is ongoing debate among stakeholders about the future development of agricultural and food systems to meet the global challenges of food supply, biological and cultural diversity, climate change, and social justice. Among other options, agroecology and organic agriculture are discussed. Both have similar goals and use a systems approach; however, they are recognised and received differently by stakeholders. Here we review and compare principles and practices defined and described in EU organic agriculture regulations, International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movement (IFOAM) norms, and agroecology scientific literature. The main finding are as follows: (1) Regarding principles, EU organic regulations mainly focus on appropriate design and management of biological processes based on ecological systems, restriction of external inputs, and strict limitation of chemical inputs. IFOAM principles are very broad and more complete, and include a holistic and systemic vision of sustainability. Agroecology has a defined set of principles for the ecological management of agri-food systems, which also includes some socio-economic principles. (2) Many proposed cropping practices are similar for EU organic, IFOAM, and agroecology, e.g. soil tillage, soil fertility and fertilisation, crop and cultivar choice, crop rotation, as well as pest, disease and weed management. In contrast, the origin and quantity of products potentially used for soil fertilisation and pest, disease, and weed management are different. Additionally, some practices are only mentioned for one of the three sources. (3) In animal production, only a few proposed practices are similar for EU organic, IFOAM, and agroecology. These include integration of cropping and animal systems and breed choice. In contrast, practices for animal management, prevention methods in animal health, animal housing, animal welfare, animal nutrition, and veterinary management are defined or described differently. (4) Related to food systems, organic agriculture focusses on technical aspects, such as food processing, while in agroecology there is a prominent debate between a transformative and conformative agenda. Both agroecology and organic agriculture offer promising contributions for the future development of sustainable agricultural production and food systems, especially if their principles and practices converge to a transformative approach and that impedes the conventionalisation of agro-food systems.
Islamic Azad University1, Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies2, Indian Veterinary Research Institute3, Bakrie University4, University of California5, University of Kassel6, University of Copenhagen7, University of Bonn8, Rural Development Administration9, University of Helsinki10, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad11, Warsaw University of Life Sciences12, Ceres13, Dankook University14, Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research15, Royal University of Bhutan16, Massey University17, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute18, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences19, China Agricultural University20, Marche Polytechnic University21
TL;DR: The contribution of organic agriculture to solve current problems linked to food security and environmental quality was discussed during the International Society of Organic Agricultural Research (ISOFAR) Symposium “Organic 3.0 is Innovation with Research”, held September 20-22, 2015, in conjunction with the first ISOFAR International Organic Expo, in Goesan County, Republic of Korea as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Organic agriculture can and should play an important role in solving future challenges in producing food. The low level of external inputs combined with knowledge on sustainablity minimizes environmental contamination and can help to produce more food for more people without negatively impacting our environment. Organic agriculture not only includes farming as a production practice but it also includes processing, trade and consumption. Nevertheless, Organic agriculture must always evolve to overcome emerging challenges. Science-based knowledge attained through dedicated research is required to strengthen organic food and farming as a means to solve future challenges. In 2010, a global discussion about Organic 3.0 was initiated to address current problems our agri-food systems are facing. Many scientifically and practically proven results are already available to make organic agriculture a strong tool to solve some of these challenges. However, the organic agri-food system has to be developed further to fulfill its potential. The contribution of organic agriculture to help solve current problems linked to food security and environmental quality was discussed during the International Society of Organic Agricultural Research (ISOFAR) Symposium “Organic 3.0 is Innovation with Research”, held September 20–22, 2015, in conjunction with the first ISOFAR International Organic Expo, in Goesan County, Republic of Korea. Some of the world’s most active scientists in organic agriculture attended the symposium. This paper is a result of their discussions and aims to give an overview of research conducted and required to strengthen organic agriculture in its ambitions to overcome agronomic challenges, contribute to food security and protect our common environment.
TL;DR: The most important barriers to the use of organic fertiliser identified among respondents were: unpleasant odour for neighbours, uncertainty in nutrient content, and difficulty in planning and use.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors tested two hypotheses: i) land use and management practices affect microbial properties (microbial biomass and enzyme activities) in topsoil (0-20 cm), but have no effects in subsoils (20-100 cm).
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors compare the potential environmental impacts of two agricultural supply chains, with the primary aim of testing the expected benefits of vegetable organic farming and of alternative forms of distribution promoting packaging reduction and a shortened supply chain.
TL;DR: It is shown that organic farming leads to differences in land-use compared to conventional: overall, crop rotations are 15% longer and result in higher diversity and evener crop species distribution, likely to enhance ecosystem service provisioning to agroecosystems.
Abstract: Cropland use activities are major drivers of global environmental changes and of farming system resilience. Rotating crops is a critical land-use driver, and a farmers' key strategy to control environmental stresses and crop performances. Evidence has accumulated that crop rotations have been dramatically simplified over the last 50 years. In contrast, organic farming stands as an alternative production way that promotes crop diversification. However, our understanding of crop rotations is surprisingly limited. In order to understand if organic farming would result in more diversified and multifunctional landscapes, we provide here a novel, systematic comparison of organic-to-conventional crop rotations at the global scale based on a meta-analysis of the scientific literature, paired with an independent analysis of organic-to-conventional land-use. We show that organic farming leads to differences in land-use compared to conventional: overall, crop rotations are 15% longer and result in higher diversity and evener crop species distribution. These changes are driven by a higher abundance of temporary fodders, catch and cover-crops, mostly to the detriment of cereals. We also highlighted differences in organic rotations between Europe and North-America, two leading regions for organic production. This increased complexity of organic crop rotations is likely to enhance ecosystem service provisioning to agroecosystems.
TL;DR: In this paper, the carbon footprint and land use of organic and conventional diets in Germany were quantified for three consumer categories: men, women and their combined unweighted average, defined as the average diet of consumers who do not buy organic food products; organic diets are the average diets of consumers whose food purchases include a large share of organic food items.
TL;DR: The ability of organic farming to sustain greater AMF diversity relative to conventional farming is demonstrated, and the potential importance of this increased diversity for sustainable cereal production is found.
TL;DR: Only 34% of all German farms apply reduced tillage (RT), while approximately 1% of the arable land is under no-tillage (NT) as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Only 34% of all German farms apply reduced tillage (RT), while approximately 1% of the arable land is under no-tillage (NT). Statistics for organic farming are not available, but the percentages are probably even lower. The development of German organic RT and NT has been strongly driven by pioneer farmers for 40 years, and supported by field trials since the 1990s. The main motive for conversion to RT is increased soil quality, followed by reduced labor costs. NT combined with high-residue cover crops plays only a very small role. Rather, German organic farmers resort to shallow ploughing, a reduced number of ploughing operations in the rotation and/or substitution of the ploughing with non-inversion tillage. In field trials, winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) yields were reduced up to 67% by using RT methods compared to inversion tillage treatments due to reduced mineralization and increased weed pressure, both of which are major obstacles that impede the wider adoption of RT and NT by German organic farmers. Improvement of NT and RT (rotations, implements, timing) in organic farming is a task of both agricultural practice and science. A number of conventional farmers who have recently converted to organic farming are already familiar with RT. These farmers will act as a thriving factor to implement their experience after conversion and contribute to further innovations of RT in organic farming.
TL;DR: Most of the environmental impacts of organic farming were related to N fluxes within agroecosystems, which is a call for the better management of N fertilizer in regions or countries with low levels of N-use efficiency.
TL;DR: Organic farming promotes arachnids but is ineffective on its own for bats in Mediterranean vineyards, and a multi-scale approach is required to design adequate conservation strategies.
TL;DR: In this article, the intentions and attitudes of Syrian farmers towards organic farming and how likely they are to convert their farms to organic production within the next five years were explored using a two-stage cluster sampling procedure.
Abstract: Exporting organic fresh fruit and vegetables (FFV) to the European Union could represent a great opportunity for Syrian farmers and exporters. Yet, the organic sector in Syria is comparatively young and only a very small area of FFV is organically managed. To date, little is known about Syrian farmers’ attitudes towards organic FFV production. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore the intentions and attitudes of Syrian farmers of FFV towards organic farming and how likely they are to convert their farms to organic production within the next five years. Using a two-stage cluster sampling procedure, 266 conventional farmers of FFV in 75 villages located in different districts of Syria’s coastal region were selected for this survey. Data was collected through face-to-face interviews by a project partner in Syria (Citrus Fruit Board in Tartous) from December 2012 until mid-May 2013. We used the Theory of Planned Behaviour as theoretical framework and Partial Least Squares Path Modelling as the main tool for data analysis. The results show that most farmers used at least one of the practices that are also part of certified organic production (throughout this article, the term organic agriculture, farming, and/or production always refer to certified organic agricultural production), and hold strong positive attitudes and intentions to adopt organic production within the next five years.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors evaluated a number of environmental, economic, and social issues for the two main soybean farming systems in southern Brazil, the conventional system, which produces genetically modified (GM) or non-genetically modified (non-GM) soybeans, and the organic system.
TL;DR: It is shown that maintaining within-field diversity in space and time, reducing nitrogen fertilization or soil tillage as well as using organic farming practices at the farm scale or maintaining seminatural habitats at the landscape scale generally benefit natural enemies, increase biological control and limit pest abundance.
Abstract: Integrating supporting and regulating ecosystem functions provided by several components of biodiversity into cropping systems has been proposed as a promising way to decrease agrochemical inputs and negative environmental impacts while maximizing crop productivity. In this chapter, we illustrate how agroecological knowledge can be used to revisit crop protection and insect pest management using conservation biological control. We review how key management options, from the plant to the landscape level, affect natural enemy communities, insect pest abundance and the level of biological control. We particularly show that maintaining within-field diversity in space and time, reducing nitrogen fertilization or soil tillage as well as using organic farming practices at the farm scale or maintaining seminatural habitats at the landscape scale generally benefit natural enemies, increase biological control and limit pest abundance. We also summarize the body of knowledge of the relationship between natural enemy community structure and the level of pest control. Future research needs and applied perspectives are highlighted.
TL;DR: The aim of this work was to investigate the effects of biodynamic management with and without the addition of green manure, in comparison with organic management, on the microbiota in vineyards soil.
Abstract: AIMS The aim of this work was to investigate the effects of biodynamic management with and without the addition of green manure, in comparison with organic management, on the microbiota in vineyards soil. METHODS AND RESULTS High throughput sequencing was used to compare the taxonomic structure of the soil bacterial and fungal communities from vineyards managed with different methods (organic, biodynamic or biodynamic with green manure). Our results showed that microbial communities associated with biodynamic and organic farming systems were very similar, while green manure was the greatest source of soil microbial biodiversity and significantly changed microbial richness and community composition compared with other soils. Green manure also significantly enriched bacterial taxa involved in the soil nitrogen cycle (e.g. Microvirga sp., Pontibacter sp. and Nitrospira sp.). CONCLUSIONS Our results showed that the diversity and composition of the microbial communities associated with biodynamic and organic farming systems were similar, indicating that the use of biodynamic preparations 500 and 501 did not cause any significant detectable changes to the soil microbial community in the short term, while the effects of green manure were significant in soil microbiota. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY The microbiological richness and structure of soil are used as a sensitive indicator of soil quality. The extension of organic/biodynamic farming, associated with green manure application, could contribute to increase the abundance of functional groups of biological and agronomical relevance and maintaining microbial biodiversity in vineyard soils.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors focus on the challenges of both farmers and researchers limiting the further adoption of MBNT in organic farming in temperate climates, and conclude that consistent weed control and an establishment of best practices for cover crop management are two main overarching challenges limiting adoption.
Abstract: Cover crop mulch–based no-tillage (MBNT) production is emerging as an innovative alternative production practice in organic farming (OF) to reduce intensive soil tillage. Although European organic farmers are motivated to implement MBNT to improve soil fertility and achieve further management benefits (e.g., labor and costs savings), low MBNT practice is reported in Europe. Thus, this paper aims to understand the challenges of both farmers and researchers limiting the further adoption of MBNT in organic farming in temperate climates. The primary no-tillage (NT) practices of organic European farmers and findings of organic MBNT studies conducted in Europe are reviewed, focusing on living or mulch cover crop-based NT (LBNT or MBNT) for arable crop production. Major conclusions drawn from this review indicate consistent weed control and an establishment of best practices for cover crop management as the two main overarching challenges limiting adoption. In view of substantial gaps of knowledge on these issues, additional research should focus on cover crop selection and management (species, date of sowing) to increase cover crop biomass, particularly in warmer climates. Lastly, further research is needed to optimize cover crop termination to prevent competition for water and nutrients with cash crops, particularly in wetter northern conditions which promote vigorous cover crop growth.