Recently, we conducted a case study that showed a no-till, diverse cropping system increasing corn yields in a semiarid climate compared with a tilled, corn–soybean rotation. Further analysis showed that the no-till system improved resource-use-efficiency of corn; inputs were reduced 42% averaged across five resources. The largest reduction with inputs involved nitrogen fertilizer and fuel. Reduced fertilizer input was attributed to greater soil microbial activity. A surprising trend was that cost of weed management in corn was 45% lower in the no-till system, due to resistant weeds being present only in the tilled, corn–soybean system. Crop diversity in the no-till system suppressed development of weed resistance. Integrating a diversity of crops with no-till can improve efficient use of resources.

Producers may be able to improve growth of cover crop mixtures by selecting species to occupy different levels (zones) in the cover crop canopy. This suggestion is based on a study where we compared four cover crop treatments, comprised of one, three, six and nine species, for biomass production. Oat, dry pea and oilseed radish were present in all multi-species mixtures. Treatments were established in August, following spring wheat harvest. Biomass was harvested 9 weeks later. The most productive treatment was the oat–dry pea–oilseed radish mixture. Species of this mixture occupied different zones in the canopy and minimized interspecies competition to improve production. Cover crop mixtures of six and nine species produced 24% less biomass, which we partially attribute to unequal distribution of species in zones of the canopy. This suggestion with canopy architecture could be tested further with other cover crop species to quantify its impact.

There is a growing awareness that climate change, economic instability, resource limitations and population growth are impacting the capacity of the contemporary global food system to meet human nutrition needs. Although there is widespread recognition that food systems must evolve in the face of these issues, a polarized debate has emerged around the merit of global-versus-local approaches to this evolution. Local food system advocates argue that increasing food self-reliance will concomitantly benefit human health, the environment and local economies, while critics argue that only a globalized system will produce enough calories to efficiently and economically feed the world. This debate is strong in British Columbia (BC), Canada, where residents and food security experts have called for increased food self-reliance while the provincial government largely supports export-oriented agriculture. As elsewhere, however, in BC this debate takes place in absence of an understanding of capacity for food self-reliance. The few studies that have previously evaluated self-reliance in this region have been limited in their approach in a number of ways. In this study we use a novel methodology to assess current (2011) status of land-based food self-reliance for a diet satisfying nutritional recommendations and food preferences that accounts for seasonality of crop production and the source of livestock feed, and applied it to the Southwest BC bioregion (SWBC) as a case study. We found that agricultural land use in SWBC is dominated by hay, pasture and corn silage, followed by fruits and vegetables. Fruit and vegetable production comprise 87% of total food crop production in SWBC by weight, and a substantial amount is produced in quantities beyond SWBC need per crop type, representing an export focused commodity with limited contribution to food self-reliance. Results illustrate that SWBC is a major producer of livestock products, but these industries rely on feed grain imports. The production of feed grain could therefore be considered a major constraint on self-reliance; SWBC's total dietary self-reliance is 12% if discounting livestock feed imports or 40% if including them. Results demonstrate that a diet including foods that cannot be grown in the region or consumed fresh out of season, limits potential food self-reliance. Our methods reveal the value of factoring dietary recommendations and food consumption patterns into food self-reliance assessments and the necessity of accounting for the source of livestock feed to fully understand the self-reliance status of a region.

The purpose of this study is to identify the determinants of suppliers' intensity of participation in the European Union school fruit scheme (SFS) based on the example of the SFS in the German federal state North Rhine-Westphalia. In 2013/14, approximately 100 suppliers including many agricultural enterprises or farm shops took part in a telephone survey. The data were processed by a factor analysis. Multivariate regression and ordered logit analyses were used to examine the determinants of intensity of participation. The results indicate that economic as well as non-economic factors determine suppliers' intensity of participation in such programs, though the financial aspect was determined as the most influential single factor for participation. In addition, the feel-good factor from helping to improve children's dietary habits and supporting the local community has been identified as an important motive.

The production of livestock feed in the USA is geographically concentrated, which poses several risks. Extreme weather events and disease outbreaks have the potential to disrupt production in these areas, which could reduce the national output of meat, dairy and eggs. Additionally, geographically concentrated livestock and feed production systems have been observed to contribute excessive nutrient loads to surrounding soil and water bodies, thereby threatening environmental sustainability. Geographic relocation of production systems has been proposed as an adaptation strategy to increase system resilience and this could take the shape of more geographically dispersed livestock feed production. We estimate the degree to which the demand for meat, dairy and eggs in the Northeast region is met with current levels of regional feed and livestock production, a term that we refer to as regional self-reliance. We combine mean annual (2001–2010) data on Northeast regional land use; crop output; meat, dairy and egg output; and food consumption with a livestock feed requirements model. An annual mean of over 6.1 million ha of land in the Northeast was dedicated to livestock feed from 2001 to 2010, with nearly 80% located in just three states (Pennsylvania, New York and West Virginia). The region is a net importer of livestock feed (in terms of total digestible nutrients and crude protein), as well as meat, dairy and eggs (in terms of total human-edible energy and protein). This is the result of a confluence of long-term regional trends that include the movement of agricultural production out of the region with a concomitant increase in the regional population and an increase in the national demand for meat, dairy and eggs. Limited slaughter output in the region is a key limiting factor to increasing the region's self-reliance for livestock products.

This research investigated soil microbial abundances affected by different ground management systems in establishing apple (Malus domestica cv. Idared, M9) orchards in Ontario, Canada. Four treatments, including forest garden systems with and without compost (FGSC and FGS), and grass understory systems with and without compost (GC and G), were assessed over two establishment years for gene copy abundance of soil arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi, total fungi and total bacteria using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reactions. Time had a greater effect on all three soil microbial abundances, with total bacterial and AM fungi decreasing and total fungal abundance increasing from spring 2013 to fall 2014. The changes were greatest between the sampling dates of fall 2013 and spring 2014, which is 1 yr after the establishment of the experimental apple plots. There were no significant differences in soil microbial abundances between treatments at any specific sampling date. Apple tree trunk circumference was greatest for FGSC and FGS after 2 yr, but no significant differences in GC and G treatments. In the last sampling period, fall 2014, FGSC plots had significantly greater trunk circumferences compared with G plots. Soil chemical properties neither changed over the 2 yr, nor did they differ between treatments at any one sampling time. We conclude that the apple-based FGS treatments can benefit apple tree growth and there is a basis for future research to explore specific plant–plant, plant–microbe and microbe–microbe relations in FGSs.

Uganda is the largest producer of organic commodities in Africa. While most of the literature associate the start of organic agriculture in Uganda with the first certified project, no accounts exist about non-certified organic agriculture before 1993. Both in Europe and in the USA, pioneers drove non-certified organic agriculture as a response to economic, ecological and social crises. Uganda suffered two decades of civil war ending in 1986 causing multiple crises. We explore how post-war conditions influenced the emergence of organic agriculture in Uganda. We conducted individual semi-structured interviews with 12 organic agriculture experts from Central and Southwestern Uganda. Interviews were held in English using interview guides informed by a transition theoretical perspective. Interviews were tape-recorded, transcribed and analyzed using deductive and inductive coding. Our analysis shows that the degraded environment, food insecurity and economic instability after the war created a sense of urgency for the rehabilitation of livelihoods. Pioneers, including civil society activists, farmers, entrepreneurs and researchers, responded by promoting low-cost, resource-conserving technologies and agronomic practices to smallholder farmers. Economic liberalization, decentralization and institutional vacuum eased pioneers’ activities, despite facing opponents from the government and research. Through experimental learning, demonstration farms and cooperation with the Catholic Church, public extension services, researchers and international development-oriented non-governmental organizations, pioneers reached out to farmers in Eastern, Central and Southwestern Uganda. As challenging as post-war crises may be, they offer opportunities for changing development trajectories. Therefore, reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts can accommodate sustainability concerns and allow the introduction of course-changing measures in any sector.

The registration of Geographical Indications (GIs) under the European Union (EU) legislation requires collective action and considerable efforts borne by multiple actors such as producers, processors, public authorities and research centers. We analyze their efforts, risks and benefits by comparing two EU GI registration processes in Italy and Austria, namely the Sorana bean Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) and the Perry from Mostviertel PGI. Results from the institutional and transaction costs analysis suggest that intensive interaction for solving conflicting interests, negotiating quality standards and defining common rules might pay off in indirect benefits and reduced risks. In particular, an inclusion of diverse and heterogeneous interest groups and a high degree of direct enterprise participation along the GI application process (as observed in the Italian case) generate benefits such as trust and social cohesion, which then support the actual use of the GI label and a better implementation of associated quality standards. A supportive legal framework with assistance from public authorities can back up the community of producers not only in technical aspects, but also as mediators when conflicts seem to be difficult to solve. As there seems to be a positive relationship between the intensity and effectiveness of collective action and the likelihood of achieving broadly accepted standards and social cohesion needed for successful GI implementation, the question for future research would not be how to avoid collective efforts but how to effectively organize the interaction among heterogeneous producer groups.