Flooding is an inexpensive cultural practice used for pest management in Massachusetts cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon Ait.) production. This project examined the use of short-term floods (<72 h) for dodder (Cuscuta gronovii Willd.) management under controlled conditions. Using incubators, seed was submerged in water for 0, 24 and 48 h at 10, 15 and 20°C (simulating spring water temperatures) and 0, 12, 24, 36 and 48 h at 15, 20 and 25°C (simulating summer water temperatures). Two 1-year controlled studies (field and greenhouse) evaluated three flood durations (0, 24 and 48 h) and four flood initiations (1, 2, 3 and 4 weeks after early seedling emergence (AEE)). Treated seeds were planted to cranberry vines and to Petri dishes; percent germination, degree of dodder attachment and dodder biomass data were collected. Treatments had limited effect on seed germination. Flooding 4 weeks AEE resulted in the lowest mean attachment ratings and dodder stem biomass on cranberry. This preliminary work provides evidence that flooding may retard dodder stem growth rather than reducing seed germination and that floods initiated after some time has elapsed after early emergence may be more effective than those initiated closer to the time of seedling emergence. More information is needed to thoroughly understand the processes involved; however, small projects such as this can provide interim guidelines that growers can immediately consider when deciding on a dodder management program.

The Environmental Protection Agency's phase-out of the pesticide azinphos-methyl (AZM) has encouraged the transition of apple pest management toward more environmentally and socially sustainable practices. This study reports on results of a 2009 survey of conventional apple growers in Washington State. Growers were asked about their approaches and attitudes toward the AZM phase-out and barriers to the adoption of reduced-risk insecticides (AZM-alternatives) as part of their integrated pest management (IPM) programs. Chi-square and analysis of variance (ANOVA) techniques were used to examine relationships between actions and attitudes toward the phase-out and grower characteristics. Results showed that Washington apple growers have begun eliminating AZM and adopting AZM-alternatives. However, larger growers (in terms of acreage and income) and growers more familiar with Washington State University's (WSU's) educational resources were more likely to have already reduced their AZM use. These results suggest that larger farms can play an important role in increasing the sustainability of conventional agriculture, despite a common association of sustainable agriculture with small farms. Results also suggest that agricultural extension services could be well served to extend their outreach to smaller growers and others lagging in the transition to more sustainable apple pest management.

Land suitability analysis is very important to assess and propose the most suitable land-use options. The reliability of land suitability evaluation is controlled by choosing the most limiting land characteristics and their ratings for the proposed land utilization types (LUTs). This study aims at examining the possibility of using current land use and farmers' knowledge as a starting point to suggest and/or modify land evaluation criteria, and to improve the land suitability evaluation process. The potential suitability of land for five LUTs (open range, improved range, rainfed barley, drip-irrigated vegetables and drip-irrigated trees) was evaluated near Al-Mafraq in Jordan using the maximum limitation method. The results indicated variable agreement levels between potential land suitability and current land use for different LUTs. Sixteen farms were selected to represent different cases of disagreement between potential suitability and current land use and were visited to explore the farmers' improved management practices adopted to overcome land-use limitations. Using proposed criteria, only 1% of the study area was highly suitable for drip irrigation, whereas most of the area was moderately or marginally suitable for other uses. This represents the conventional land evaluation procedures, which, in most cases, overlook the farmers' knowledge and practices that are adopted in a particular area to overcome biophysical limitations. The ratings for different land characteristics were modified based on comparisons with current land use, and by referring to farmers’ adopted management practices. Using modified criteria, the highly suitable area for drip-irrigated vegetables increased by 18% and the highly suitable area for drip-irrigated trees increased by 25%. The results emphasized that the consideration of the farmer's indigenous knowledge and current land use improve the land evaluation process, which leads to better utilization of limited land resources in fragile environments.

The present study was conducted in Magnesia Prefecture, central Greece, during the period May–June 2007. It aimed at the comparison between conventional and certified organic olive groves with regard to olive and olive oil production, diversity of plants (herbaceous and woody) and diversity and abundance of avifauna. Correlations between variables within herbaceous plants (linear regression) and woody plants (Principal Component Analysis), and the role of integration time of olive groves to the organic system were investigated. Also, finding easily measurable parameters indicating high bird diversity levels within organic and conventional management systems was a main target of the study. According to our findings, neither edible olive yield nor olive oil yield showed significant differences between conventional and certified organic olive groves. There is an increasing trend for alpha and beta diversity of herbaceous plant species, woody plant beta diversity, density and cover of woody plants, and density of breeding birds in certified organic olive groves (10 years) in comparison with conventional ones. The effect of time since the adoption of organic procedures is very important and produces benefits for the biodiversity. In the total olive groves 15 insectivorous, six granivorous and three insectivorous/granivorous birds species were recorded. Nine bird species distinguished by Ward's hierarchical clustering were identified as typical (indicator value, IndVal>50%) of specific farming systems. Among them, the Eurasian jay, associated with the 10-year certified organic olive groves, and the common cuckoo, Orphean warbler and Red-backed shrike, associated with the 6-year certified organic olive groves, should be regarded as characteristic species (IndVal>70%). Conclusively, organic farming favors some aspects of diversity of herbaceous and woody plants of olive grove ecosystems. On the contrary, similar effects on breeding bird diversity and density were not clearly recorded. However, breeding bird density proved a good indicator of their richness.

Cropping systems that rely on renewable energy and resources and are based on ecological principles could be more stable and productive into the future than current monoculture systems with serious unintended environmental consequences such as soil erosion and water pollution. In nonagricultural systems, communities with higher species diversity have higher productivity and provide other ecosystem services. However, communities of well-adapted crop species selected for biomass production may respond differently to increasing diversity. Diversity effects may be due to complementarity among species (complementary resource use and facilitative interactions) or positive selection effects (e.g., species with higher productivity dominate the mixture), and these effects may change over time or across environments. Our goal was to identify the ecological mechanisms causing diversity effects in a biodiversity experiment using agriculturally relevant species, and evaluate the implications for the design of sustainable cropping systems. We seeded seven perennial forage species in a replicated field experiment at two locations in Iowa, USA, and evaluated biomass productivity of monocultures and two- to six-species mixtures over 3 years after the establishment year under management systems of contrasting intensity: one or three harvests per year. Productivity increased with seeded species richness in all environments, and the positive relationship did not change over time. Polyculture overyielding was due to complementarity among species in the community rather than to selection effects of individual species. Complementarity increased as a log-linear function of species richness in all environments, and this trend was consistent across years. Legume–grass facilitation may explain much of this complementarity effect. Although individual species with high biomass production had a major effect on productivity of mixtures, the species producing the highest biomass in monoculture changed over the years in most environments. Furthermore, transgressive overyielding was observed and was more prevalent in later years, in some environments. We conclude that choosing a single well-adapted species for maximizing productivity may not be the best alternative over the long term and that high levels of species diversity should be included in the design of productive and ecologically sound agricultural systems.

The degradation of the traditional cultural landscape due to abandonment of agricultural management is perceived as a serious problem in different parts of the world. Rising consciousness concerning this issue in Japan led to the formation of numerous voluntary civil farming programs. This paper presents a multi-method case study conducted in Japan (Ōyamasenmaida, Chiba prefecture) about a highly relevant rural–urban cooperation, where landholders lease out their rice terraces to city dwellers to grow their own rice under the intensive instruction and well-organized support by local farmers and other local experts. The activity is known as ‘Tanada Ownership’ (tanada means rice terrace). It is spread over the country and promises, in contrast to the short-term individualistic European models, long-term rural–urban relations, the valorization of local knowledge and natural resources as well as the maintenance of the rice-terrace landscapes in several regions of Japan. The particular goal of this research is the investigation of the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of the system and the motivation of its participants. The Japanese approach is compared with similar European initiatives and conclusions focus on the particularities of the Japanese Ownership System and its transferability to the European context. Despite the innovativeness and popularity of the Ownership System, scientific studies are relatively scarce and none of them published are in English. This article therefore presents an original and important contribution to the scientific community, as it provides insights into the Tanada Ownership System and puts it into an international context by comparing it with European initiatives of voluntary farm work.

Weed management is one of the primary challenges for producers transitioning from conventional to organic agriculture. Tillage and the use of cover crops are two weed control tactics available to farmers transitioning to organic management, but little is known about their interactive effects on soil quality during the transition period. We investigated the response of soils to tillage and initial cover crop during the 3-year transition to organic in a cover crop–soybean (Glycine max)–maize (Zea mays) rotation in the Mid-Atlantic region of the USA. The tillage treatment contrasted full, inversion tillage with moldboard plowing (FT) versus reduced tillage with chisel plowing (RT). The cover crop treatment contrasted annual versus mostly perennial species during the first year of the rotation. The experiment was initiated twice (Start 1 and Start 2), in consecutive years in adjacent fields. By the end of the experiment, labile carbon, electrical conductivity, pH and soil moisture were all greater under RT than under FT in both starts. Soil organic matter and several other soil attributes were greater under RT than under FT in Start 1, but not in Start 2, perhaps owing to differences between starts in initial field conditions and realized weather. Soil attributes did not differ between the two cover crop treatments. Combining our soils results with agronomic and economic analyses on these plots suggests that using RT during the organic transition can increase soil quality without compromising yield and profitability.

Innovations are the driving force for agricultural development under present diverse situations of uncertainty. The innovation system perspective acknowledges the contributions made by all stakeholders involved in knowledge development, dissemination and appropriation. According to the specific agricultural production system, farmers adopt innovations, modify them or innovate on their own. This paper examines the role of farmers' experiments and innovations in Cuba's agricultural innovation system (AIS), identifies knowledge exchange encounters and describes some strategies implemented to institutionalize farmers' experiments and innovations. The research methods comprised 34 semi-structured interviews with agricultural experts from the science, administration and advisory system, and 31 free list questionnaires to assess the institutional influence on farmers' experiments and innovations. In addition, three case studies of outstanding farmers' experiments are presented. The results suggest that the government's commitment to social participation in knowledge development provides the basic prerequisite for an effective integration of farmers' experiments and innovation in Cuba. The historically conditioned vertical structure of knowledge development and dissemination is gradually changing toward more horizontal procedures. The dynamic exchange of ideas at all kinds of interactive meetings, such as workshops or farmers' field schools, have favored farmer to farmer learning as well as knowledge sharing with research, academic and extension officials. This multi-stakeholders' approach contributes to institutionalize farmers' knowledge. Farmers' experiments and innovations play a major role in improving farm management and thereby can contribute to build resilience at the farming system level as well as for the national agricultural system.