The competitiveness of the olive agrofood sector depends heavily on its ability to adapt to the current scenario of increasingly internationalized interchanges, segmentation of markets, differentiation of consumption behaviors, and changing public support for agriculture. Quality differentiation and certification through a Certified Quality System (CQS) ensure the quality of products and services beyond mandatory levels and generate a competitive advantage for certified firms. In the Andalusian olive-growing sector, the largest in the world, integrated production (IP) plays an important role. IP certifies a higher quality of the product and production process by guaranteeing the implementation of farming practices that are hypothetically more sustainable, environmentally friendly, profitable, fair for farmers, and healthy for consumers. This paper investigates the underlying factors that have conditioned the diffusion of IP and tries to confirm the differential and higher quality provided by this CQS. A survey of 400 farmers from the main olive-growing provinces of Andalusia was carried out in 2010/2011 on the basis of face-to-face interviews following a structured questionnaire. The results corroborate low levels of knowledge and adoption of most of the available CQSs in the sector. They also confirm the higher quality of IP olive products and processes since farmers adopting this CQS are implementing better farming practices from an agronomic, environmental and economic point of view. The better practices are especially those related to soil management, irrigation, phytosanitation and harvesting. Otherwise, olive farmers in general seem to be entrenched in a relatively closed information system where ‘contagion’ of information among themselves and from close sources is the main diffusion driver, with no significant influence from external sources such as public and private R&D institutions. Moreover, a lack of orientation of farmers toward satisfying customers’ requirements when innovating was detected. Strengthening the diffusion of IP would require bringing information closer to farmers in an accessible manner. The work of R&D institutions is essential in this context. Special emphasis should be placed on the medium- to long-term economic benefits and improved competitiveness associated with IP, these being the main concerns of farmers. Improved access to credit would also probably encourage its adoption. It is also necessary to convince farmers of the environmental and social benefits associated with IP. Reinforcing public policies promoting the professionalization of the sector and training in marketing are also necessary measures.

Over the past century, agricultural landscapes worldwide have increasingly been managed for the primary purpose of producing food, while other diverse ecosystem services potentially available from these landscapes have often been undervalued and diminished. The incorporation of relatively small amounts of perennial vegetation in strategic locations within agricultural landscapes dominated by annual crops—or perennialization—creates an opportunity for enhancing the provision of a wide range of goods and services to society, such as water purification, hydrologic regulation, pollination services, control of pest and pathogen populations, diverse food and fuel products, and greater resilience to climate change and extreme disturbances, while at the same time improving the sustainability of food production. This paper synthesizes the current scientific theory and evidence for the role of perennial plants in balancing conservation with agricultural production, focusing on the Midwestern USA as a model system, while also drawing comparisons with other climatically diverse regions of the world. Particular emphasis is given to identifying promising opportunities for advancement and critical gaps in our knowledge related to purposefully integrating perennial vegetation into agroecosystems as a management tool for maximizing multiple benefits to society.

Intensive fertilizer usage of KCl has been inculcated as a prerequisite for maximizing crop yield and quality, and relies on a soil test for exchangeable K in the plow layer to ensure that soil productivity will not be limited by nutrient depletion. The interpretive value of this soil test was rigorously evaluated by: (1) field sampling to quantify biweekly changes and seasonal trends, (2) characterizing the variability induced by air drying and the dynamic nature of soil K reserves and (3) calculating the K balance in numerous cropping experiments. These evaluations leave no alternative but to question the practical utility of soil K testing because test values cannot account for the highly dynamic interchange between exchangeable and non-exchangeable K, exhibit serious temporal instability with or without air drying and do not differentiate soil K buildup from depletion. The need for routine K fertilization should also be questioned, considering the magnitude and inorganic occurrence of profile reserves, the recycling of K in crop residues and the preferential nature of K uptake. An extensive survey of more than 2100 yield response trials confirmed that KCl fertilization is unlikely to increase crop yield. Contrary to the inculcated perception of KCl as a qualitative commodity, more than 1400 field trials predominately documented a detrimental effect of this fertilizer on the quality of major food, feed and fiber crops, with serious implications for soil productivity and human health.

Organic agriculture is being promoted in Iran to address environmental problems resulting from the use of chemical materials in agriculture. Despite many advantages of organic agriculture, the results of several case studies show that its adoption rate is still very low among farmers. The purpose of this paper is to review previous studies that investigated the main factors influencing and challenging the adoption of organic agriculture. The review included journal articles and conference papers from 2007 to 2012. The results show that Iranian farmers have strong motives for the adoption, yet face challenges in certifying, marketing, and accessing reliable technical information and credits. Given the review of factors that govern farmers' adoption of organic agriculture, key mechanisms for promoting farmers' adoption are discussed. Further research is needed to learn how to bring these mechanisms into play in Iran.

The following study assesses cold-season hoop house lettuce production in the context of local food systems’ relative environmental effects. For this purpose, we compare the carbon footprints of leaf lettuce production in two climatic zones, one close to the consumer market and one distant, via environmental impact modeling in SimaPro 7.3. A site-specific scenario is first detailed with organic leaf lettuce locally grown in an East Lansing, Michigan hoop house. This is compared to a hypothetical scenario, modeled using average industry data, with leaf lettuce conventionally grown in California then shipped to East Lansing. The system boundaries used in this analysis extend from manufacturing of farm production inputs to a hypothetical retail gate. We assumed that the consumer drove the same distance to the retailer in each case. The functional unit used is 1 kg of leaf lettuce. Results demonstrate that the distant system exhibits 4.3 times the CO2 ‘footprint’ per kg of lettuce. This nonlocal system also resulted in higher resource depletion, health impact and ecological damage potential as demonstrated via the SimaPro simulation. This study concludes that unheated, hoop house lettuce production, given the assumption on within-area travel, has a smaller carbon footprint than outdoor, distant production, and speaks to both the potential value of more localized food systems and the need for a more diverse set of scenario modeling to understand the boundaries of this value.

This paper develops the concept of ‘critical agrarianism’ to describe and advance the pursuit of land-based work as a means of realizing social justice and environmental sustainability. Encouraging new agrarianism to more carefully scrutinize its agenda, critical agrarianism celebrates the promise of a close working relationship with the natural world while insisting that a return to the land—per se—is insufficient. In the practice of linking people and land, past and present, critical agrarianism continually questions and reshapes the very category of agrarian, toward a more equitable and enduring prosperity. I revisit both canonical agrarian writing and its critics, pulling out ‘back-pocket tools’ that can keep critical agrarians on track in building our alternative futures. I then offer several case studies of critical agrarianism in practice, encouraging a move beyond idealized models of agrarian ties, toward an empirical account of who has actually been doing the work to put food on the table. Noting the historical gap between working the landscape and having a property or citizenship right, I call for an agrarianism in which practices—not land title—are the basis of material and social community. Furthermore, I suggest that agrarianism must extend its web outward rather than inward, forging connections to the work of land tenure reform, education, community development, immigrant advocacy and trade policy. To be a critical agrarian is not to preserve fixed social-natural ties, but rather to practice a powerfully open and dialogical engagement with the world and one another.

Weeds are a major challenge for organic farmers, yet we know little about the factors influencing organic farmers’ weed management decisions. We hypothesized that farmers and scientist ‘experts’ differ in fundamental areas of knowledge and perceptions regarding weeds and weed management. Moreover, these differences prevent effective communication, outreach programming and research prioritization. An expert mental model, constructed primarily from interviews with research scientists and extension professionals, revealed expert emphasis on knowledge of ecological weed management as crucial for successfully implementing such strategies. We interviewed 23 organic farmers in northern New England, yielding an aggregate farmer mental model to compare with the expert model. Farmers demonstrated knowledge of the major concepts discussed by experts, but differed in emphasis. Farmers placed less emphasis on ecological complexity than experts. One-third of farmers interviewed discussed the potential role of weeds as indicators of soil nutrient status, a concept of which experts were skeptical. Farmer beliefs about the weed seedbank highlighted potential misconceptions regarding seed persistence, with one-fourth of farmers focusing on the concept that seeds can live for an exceptionally long time in the soil, while experts focused on the concept of the seed half-life. Farmers emphasized the role of experience, both their own and that of other farmers, rather than knowledge derived from scientific research. Farmers considered yield and the cost of time and labor as equally at risk because of weeds, whereas experts predominantly discussed yield loss. During discussions of management, both farmers and experts most emphasized risks associated with cultivation and benefits associated with cover cropping. These results have prompted us, first, to develop new educational materials focused on weed seed longevity and management of the weed seedbank, and, second, to conduct regional focus groups with farmers who prioritize fertility management in their efforts to control weeds, especially manipulations of soil calcium and magnesium.

Anaerobic digestion of manure and crops provides the possibility of a combined production of renewable energy and organic fertilizer on organic farms and has been suggested as an option to improve sustainability of organic agriculture. In the present study, the consequences of implementation of anaerobic digestion and biogas production were analyzed on a 1000 ha model farm with combined dairy and cash crop production, representing organic agriculture in Denmark. The effects on crop rotation, nitrogen flows and losses, yield, energy balance and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions were evaluated for four scenarios of biogas production on the farm. Animal manure was digested for biogas production in all scenarios and was supplemented with: (1) 100 ha grass–clover for biogas, (2) 100 ha maize for biogas, (3) 200 ha grass–clover for biogas and reduced number of livestock, and (4) 200 ha grass–clover for biogas, reduced number of livestock and import of biomass from cuttings made in ungrazed meadows. These four scenarios were compared with the current situation in organic agriculture in Denmark and to a situation where slurry from conventional agriculture is no longer imported. Implementation of anaerobic digestion changed the nitrogen flows on the farm by increasing the slurry nitrogen plant availability and introducing new nitrogen sources from legume-based energy crops or meadows. The amount of nitrogen available for application as fertilizer on the farm increased when grass–clover was used for biogas production, but decreased when maize was used. Since part of the area was used for biogas production, the total output of foodstuffs from the farm was decreased. Effects on GHG emissions and net energy production were assessed by use of the whole-farm model FarmGHG. A positive farm energy balance was obtained for all biogas scenarios, showing that biomass production for biogas on 10% of the farm area results in an energy surplus, provided that the heat from the electricity production is utilized. The energy surplus implies a displacement of fossil fuels and thereby reduced CO2 emission from the farm. Emissions of N2O were not affected substantially by biogas production. Total emissions of methane (CH4) were slightly decreased due to a 17–48% decrease in emissions from the manure store. Net GHG emission was reduced by 35–85% compared with the current situation in organic agriculture. It was concluded that production of biogas on organic farms holds the possibility for the farms to achieve a positive energy balance, provide self-sufficiency with organic fertilizer nitrogen, and reduce GHG emissions.

While plains favorable to agriculture are still dominated by specialized and intensive agriculture, self-sufficient mixed crop-dairy farming systems increasingly attract policy makers' and scientists' attention. Owing to their limited use of purchased inputs, they can contribute to reducing the environmental impact of agriculture. Furthermore, self-sufficient farming tends to be linked with a search for autonomy in decision-making, i.e., farmers developing their own technical reference framework. Such farming systems can thus also contribute to alternative development pathways of rural territories. In this paper, we analyze how ten intensive mixed crop–dairy farms have progressively evolved toward more self-sufficient and autonomous systems. Through formalizing farmers' transition in action, we identified 34 tools that the farmers implemented making them reflect on their farming system, shift socio-professional networks, reorganize work routines, and steer the evolution of their production practices. For example, they created temporary pastures in crop rotation, introduced rotational pastures, observed their herds to adjust their feed and keep the animals in good health, and they limited expenditures to manage their cash flow. Which tools were used and when they were used depends on what is meaningful to them at various stages of the transition. Our analysis of transitions in action has three original features: it is centered on the transition as perceived by the actors who experience and manage it; it proposes a long-term conceptualization of the dynamics of farming systems, based on the farmer's initiative and creativity; and it highlights tools implemented by farmers during the transition to self-sufficiency and autonomy.

Rural, natural and peri-urban areas seem nowadays to become the object of conflicts and tensions because of their multi-functional nature. If these conflicts issue from opposing views about the use of land, they are also determined by the spatial parameters that characterize the pieces of land affected by the projects of land-use transformation, and by the antagonistic relationship between two or several units of action (farmers and local planners, for example). Therefore, there is a need for a new management of rural (and peri-urban) areas, and this is the role of territorial governance, which is the engine of local development, and the tool for better local compromises, involving periods of opposition and streams of negotiation. Territorial governance has to take into account not only negotiations but conflict relations as well and to include both interaction schemes into its framework. Our study assesses the role played by conflicts in land use within a peri-urban context, based on studies on the Greater Paris region, and a case study on the use of agricultural soils on the urban fringe.

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) producers are faced with uncertain yields and prices, and utilizing a production system that will reduce risk while maintaining yield may keep tomato producers economically sustainable into the future. A conservation tillage production system with high biomass cover crops may be an economically viable alternative for tomato producers in Alabama. The objective of this study was to compare the economics of alternative production systems using different cover crops, such as cereal rye (Secale cereale L.) and crimson clover (Trifolium incarnatum L.), and different subsoiler shanks for fresh-market tomato production relative to a commonly used plastic mulch system to determine the preferred treatment. Gross revenues and net returns from tomato production using a rye cover crop were higher than tomato production using plastic mulch in 2 of the 4 years. For the clover cover crop, gross revenues and net returns were higher in 1 out of the 4 years. Under tomato prices and weather conditions observed during 2005–2008, the preferred treatment for a risk neutral producer was planting tomatoes into a rye cover crop with a wide shank. For a strongly risk averse producer, all cover crop treatments were preferred to plastic mulch. The use of a cover crop in tomato production has the potential to be an equally profitable, less risky alternative to plastic mulch in Alabama.

Organic farming systems use green and animal manures to supply nitrogen (N) to their fields for crop production. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of green manure and composted cattle manure on the subsequent winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) crop in a semiarid environment. Dry pea (Pisum sativum L.) was seeded in early April and terminated at first flower in late June. Composted cattle manure was applied at 0, 11.2 or 22.5 Mg ha−1 just prior to pea termination. Winter wheat was planted in mid September following the green manure or tilled summer fallow. No positive wheat response to green manure or composted cattle manure was observed in any of the 3 years of the study. In 2 of the 3 years, wheat yields and grain test weight were reduced following green manure. Green manure reduced grain yields compared with summer fallow by 220 and 1190 kg ha−1 in 2009 and 2010, respectively. This may partially be explained by 40 and 47 mm less soil water at wheat planting following peas compared with tilled summer fallow in 2008 and 2009, respectively. Also, in 2008 and 2009, soil nitrate level averaged 45 kg ha−1 higher for black fallow compared with green manure fallow when no compost was added. Organic growers in the semiarid Central Great Plains will be challenged to supply N fertility to their winter wheat crop in a rapid and consistent manner as a result of the inherently variable precipitation. Growers may need to allow several years to pass before seeing the benefits of fertility practices in their winter wheat cropping systems.

Studies in India from the early to late 1990s found that rural youths and women played a predominant role in livestock farming. Even though many studies differ in the extent and nature of the contribution of youths and women in livestock farming, all acknowledge their roles and contribution. Livestock farming acts as a source of supplementary income to youths and women and provides increased nutritional security. New economic policies of the1990s have brought changes to the livestock farming community. This paper attempts to understand and describe the role of women and youths in livestock farming. The research methodology employed for the present study is ex post facto design, and includes semi-structured open-ended interviews, observation and conversations with key informants. The study has found that a change in the roles of women and the participation of youths in livestock farming has occurred, which could be detrimental to the well-being of rural family farmers.

A multi-criteria model for a qualitative assessment of the production and marketing of local food products (LFP) from mountain areas has been developed by applying the DEX method. The development of the model was carried out and finally applied to ten local food products. The results were given in the form of a qualitative final assessment of both the production and marketing phases. By applying a plus–minus-1 analysis, the influence of various attributes on the final assessment of the LFP was examined. The main bottlenecks in the production and marketing processes were found. A sensitivity test was used to explain the influence of production and marketing on the final assessment. The results give clear directions as to which of the main attributes must be changed/improved or further developed to enable the successful promotion of local food products, which would give rise to an improved economy in mountain areas.

Due to the collapse of the socialist systems in 1989, Cuba's government promoted a series of structural changes to deal with resource scarcity and to enhance agricultural productivity. The upcoming crisis triggered adaptation strategies and led to a large-scale transition process towards a more sustainable model of agriculture. Farmers' experiments have been an implicit part of this process. Nowadays, farmers' capacity to experiment is widely accepted among the scientific community. However, detailed descriptions of farmers' approaches to experimentation are scarce. In this study, we examine the topics, resources, sources, motives, methods and outcomes of farmers' experiments in Cuba. The research methods comprised semi-structured interviews with 72 Cuban farmers, field notes, participant observation and a research diary. Key informants and 34 expert interviews added important insights into analysis. The results reveal that farmers' experiments are an integral part of farming in Cuba. Most farmers reported realizing their own experiments on their farms. The use of locally available resources was a crucial element for farmers' experiments. The topics were related to the introduction of new plant species or varieties, plant production, mechanization, fertilization, plant protection and the introduction of new animal species. The farmers' own idea was the most important source for experimenting, followed by ideas offered by colleagues and family members. Increasing production, independence from external resources and improving farm management were the main motives for experimenting. More than half of the farmers started to experiment without detailed written or mental planning, but made some considerations about the experiment before starting. Some planned more in detail and a few farmers devised a written plan, draft or model. Starting on a small scale was a way to minimize risks. The experiments were mainly evaluated by observation and comparison. Only a few farmers took records of their experiments. The most important outcomes were higher production, food self-sufficiency, work easement, improved plant health, increased knowledge, higher working efficiency and better taste of products. Farmers' experiments are a means of learning and they enhance farmers' capacity to adapt to changing conditions.

Consumer Food Co-operatives (co-ops) have provided consumers an alternative to corporate supermarkets and big-box stores since the 1960s. Producers seeking broader marketing opportunities often turn to co-ops. This study examines how, within alternative food networks (AFNs), co-ops play a role in the emergence of the Domestic Fair Trade (DFT) movement in the USA. The DFT movement is based on the idea that family farms and small- to mid-sized farms in the global north are facing many of the same pressures as producers in the global south. The Domestic Fair Trade Association (DFTA) in the USA is the umbrella organization for a variety of stakeholders. The DFTA seeks to ‘support family-scale farming, to reinforce farmer-led initiatives such as farmer co-operatives, and to bring these groups together with mission-based traders, retailers and concerned consumers to contribute to the movement for sustainable agriculture in North America’1. This study assessed five co-ops (through interviews and document analysis) to determine their experiences with integrating DFT into their business practices. The research reveals that DFT concepts are important to co-operative decision-makers, but they are faced with challenges when it comes to actually integrating DFT into their business model. Insight into stakeholder perceptions and professional-level DFT activities, indicates that co-ops will be a key factor in determining whether the DFT movement will succeed in the USA.

Integrated crop–livestock systems in the tropical region are diverse and not well characterized. To better understand the conditions and potential of these systems, we characterized the spatial and social arrangement of integrated systems within a landscape context. Integrated systems are defined by biomass and nutrient flows, linking crop, livestock and human components of agriculture. The landscape is defined within a spatial framework of these flows. To understand the diversity of integrated systems in the tropics, we characterized three case study areas: Southern Mali, Brazilian Cerrados and Amazon frontier. Methodology was based on historical and descriptive approaches of these cases, mobilizing interdisciplinary knowledge of a large research team. This provided a retrospective view to discuss four key points about the future of integrated systems in the tropics: (i) importance of landscape structure for conception and adaptation of the integrated systems; (ii) key role of local institutions in managing such integrated systems; (iii) trade-offs between external and internal resources; and (iv) role of nitrogen to improve system efficiency. This paper concludes with the relevance of social sciences in the further development of integrated systems.