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.

The objective of this study is to explore the main factors that drive decisions of farmers to sell their products directly to consumers through farm direct marketing channels. A case study on cherry growers on the subject of direct marketing, which is one of the alternative marketing options in agricultural products marketing for farmers, is examined in this study. In addition, further suggestions are put forward on how to improve the use of direct marketing strategies by farmers in Turkey. An ordinal logistic regression analysis model was used to analyze the effects of agricultural businesses and demographic features on the tendency of growers to choose direct marketing channels in cherry selling. According to these model results, the cherry farming experience of the growers, the size of the cherry orchard, the level of specialization in cherry production, and the gross margin per hectare for cherry production have a statistically significant impact on the tendency of the growers to choose direct marketing channels in cherry selling. In particular, the growers whose experience is more than 20 yr, the farms that are semi-specialized, the farms providing a gross margin of more than US$5506 ha−1, and the farms having a cherry orchard between 1 and 2 ha in size were determined to have more of a tendency for direct marketing. These results show that owners of medium-sized farms are more interested in direct marketing. According to the interviewed cherry growers, the most important factor limiting their participation in direct marketing is that there are no organizations that will help them meet their direct marketing goals and build direct marketing arrangements between themselves and their consumers.

Over the last several decades, agriculture in industrialized countries experienced a significant intensification as a result of the diffusion of mechanization, the widespread use of genetically improved genotypes, and the large-scale use of off-farm inputs, mainly in the form of fossil fuel energy and synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. Under the pressure of the growing agro-industrial sector, which has been oriented to promote models based on large volumes and long-distance supply chains, intensification was accompanied by progressive specialization of farms and cropping systems (Ratnadass et al., 2012). Indeed, the reduction of diversity at the field, farm, and territory level, a result of a low number of crops, the shortening of crop rotations, and a decrease in the number of cultivated genotypes, is becoming evident in many agro-environments in developed countries.

In Europe, the lack of specific rules regulating organic vegetable production in protected conditions has led to the implementation of extremely diversified systems of production, at different level of intensification. In this study, we compared three strawberry organic production systems based on the following main criteria of soil fertility management: input substitution (SB), a simplified system of organic production that mimics conventional agricultural practices and two systems characterized by a more complex soil fertility management, based on the introduction, in the rotation of agroecological service crops (ASCs) and compost (AC), and of ASCs and cattle manure (AM). Strawberry yields, in the compared systems, were not significantly different in both years of our research, while, as a whole, the yield in 2013 (30.3 Mg ha−1) was significantly higher than in 2014 (28.9 Mg ha−1). Crop nitrogen (N) needs, during the entire cycle of production, were satisfied according to the same pattern by SB, AC and AM, while green manuring and organic amendments in AM and AC determined a higher soil organic N content, compared with SB. As far as the production quality is concerned, both AM and AC treatments yielded strawberry fruits similar to SB, but with better characteristics in terms of color and phenolic content. AM and AC did not differentiate statistically in the two year period of our research.

There is growing evidence of urban poverty in and around cities in sub-Saharan Africa in the form of food and nutrition insecurity. Although many studies have been done across sub-Saharan Africa on urban agriculture, food and nutrition insecurity, little is known about the association of urban agriculture to household food and nutrition insecurity along the urban–rural continuum, especially in West African cities. Therefore, a survey was carried out between August and September 2014 in and around Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), using a transect approach to guide the data collection. The purpose of this study was to understand the dynamics of urban, periurban and rural agriculture and its association with household food and nutrition insecurity. A total of 240 households participated in the survey. From these households, data were collected on 179 women of reproductive age (15–49 yr) and 133 children under the age of 5 yr to compute Women's Dietary Diversity Scores (WDDS) and other anthropometric indices. The results of this study provide a general picture of crop production which is inclined to subsistence and income generation. Households in rural and periurban areas were more engaged in crop and livestock production compared with their urban area counterparts. Households in periurban areas had the highest relative proportion (54%) of food insecurity (household food insecurity access scale (HFIAS) > 11), compared with urban areas (39%) and rural areas (45%). At the same time the periurban households had the highest relative proportion of stunting and wasting prevalence compared with urban and rural households. Households in the rural areas had the highest dietary diversity (WDDS ≥ 6), compared with periurban and urban households. Households keeping livestock significantly experienced less wasting (weight-for-height index (WHZ)) (coef = −0.15; P = 0.008) by a factor of 0.15, and overweight (body mass index (BMI)-for-age (BAZ)) (coef = −0.12; P = 0.015) by a factor of 0.12 compared with households not doing livestock keeping. Households involved in crop production significantly experienced more food insecurity, HFIAS (coef. = 2.55; P = 0.042) by a factor of 2.55 compared with households without crop production. The complexity of periurban areas coupled with the scourge of food and nutrition insecurity will require more periurban agriculture and food policy consideration.

Cover crops are suites of non-marketable plants grown to improve soil tilth and reduce erosion. Despite these agronomic benefits, the use of cover crops is often limited because they do not provide a direct source of revenue for producers. Integrating livestock to graze cover crops could provide both an expeditious method for cover crop termination and an alternative source of revenue. However, there has been little research on the agronomic impacts of grazing for cover crop termination, especially in horticultural market-gardens. We conducted a 3-year study comparing the effects of sheep grazing to terminate a four species cover crop (buckwheat, sweetclover, peas and beets) with those of mowing on soil quality indicators, cover crop termination efficacy, and subsequent cash-crop yields. In addition, we tested the nutritional quality of the cover crop as forage. Compared with mowing, sheep grazing did not affect soil chemistry, temperature or moisture. Our study demonstrates that sheep grazing removed more cover crop biomass than mowing at termination. The assessment of nutritional indices suggests that the four-species cover crop mixture could provide high-quality forage with a potential value of US$144.00–481.80 ha−1 of direct revenue as a grazing lease. Cash-crop yields did not differ between previously grazed and previously mowed plots in the subsequent growing season. We conclude that integrating sheep grazing into market vegetable garden operations could make cover crops more economically viable without having adverse effects on subsequent cash crops.

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.

The effects of living mulch (LM) introduction and management strategies on cash crop yield, product quality and energy use were studied in a wide range of European vegetable cropping systems, climatic and soil conditions, as well as species of LM grown as agro-ecological service crops. Nine field experiments were carried out in research stations and commercial farms located in Denmark, Germany, Italy and Slovenia. Farmers’ perception of the feasibility and applicability of the LM technique was also assessed.

The results demonstrated that the LM systems with a substitutive design can be effectively implemented in vegetable production if the value of the ecological services (positive externalities) delivered by LM can counterbalance the yield loss due to the cash crop density reduction. The crop density of the system and the length of the period in which the LM and cash crop coexist are oppositely related both for competition and yield. Moreover, if an additive design is used, the LM should be sown several weeks after the cash crop planting. Overall, different cash crop genotypes (i.e., open pollinated/local cultivars in comparison with the hybrids) performed similarly. Use of human labor (HL) and fossil fuel (FF) energy slightly increased in LM systems (7%), and there was a shift in the proportion of FF and human energy consumption. The farmers’ acceptance of the LM techniques was quite high (75% of the interviewed sample), even though their critical considerations about yield quality and quantity need consideration in future research and practical implementation of LM systems.

Naranjilla cultivation is highly profitable in many parts of the Andean foothills in Colombia and Ecuador. Its susceptibility to soil-borne diseases, however, lowers its economic benefits, reduces sustainability of production and increases its contribution to environmental degradation. This paper presents an analysis of the potential market and non-market benefits of research that developed and tested the grafting of common naranjilla onto disease-resistant rootstock. Grafting reduces the need for pesticide application and increases the longevity and sustainability of the plant. An economic surplus approach, carefully calibrated to reflect the realities of naranjilla production, was employed to show the large benefits from such research. Environmental and health benefits are very close in magnitude to market-mediated surplus gains. The results show substantial potential benefits from an outreach program to diffuse the new technology.

The fertility and soil health of organic agroecosystems are determined in part by the size and turnover rate of soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) pools. Our research contrasts the effects of best management practices (BMP) (reduction in soil disturbance, addition of organic amendments) on C and N cycling in soils from two field sites representing five organic agroecosystems. Total soil organic C (SOC), a standard measure of soil health, contains equal amounts of biologically and non-biologically active C that is not associated with release of mineral N. A three-pool first-order model can be used to estimate the size and turnover rates of C pools but requires data from a long-term incubation. Our research highlights the use of two rapid C fractions, hydrolysable and permanganate (0.02 M) oxidizable C, to assess shifts in biologically active C. Adoption of BMP in organic management systems reduced the partitioning of C to the active pool while augmenting the slow pool C. These pools are associated with potentially mineralizable N supplied by residues, amendments and soil organic matter affecting the concentration and release of mineral N to crops. Our data show that minimizing disturbance (no tillage, pasture) and mixed compost additions have the potential to reduce carbon dioxide emissions while enhancing slow pool C and or its turnover, a reservoir of nutrients available to the soil biota. Use of these rapid, sensitive indicators of biological C activity will aid growers in determining whether a BMP fosters nutrient loss or retention prior to shifts in total SOC.

Smallholder farmers are an important and growing segment of the farm population in Indiana and in the USA. Past research regarding farmer decision-making has been inconsistent and has largely focused on the larger-scale, conventional farmer, leaving smallholders poorly understood. There is a need to better understand the management decisions of smallholder farmers within their regional context to promote efforts toward environmental, social and economic sustainability. Through in-depth qualitative inquiry, this study investigated the impact of regional factors that influence farmers’ decisions and the barriers and opportunities most relevant to farm viability and sustainability in the context of East Central Indiana (ECI). Semi-structured interviews with 15 key informants and 33 farmers informed our understanding of the factors most relevant to small-scale farming in the region. Several important themes emerged related to perceived barriers to sustainable farm management, including markets; structures and regulations; time and labor; environmental/ecological factors; and networking and access to educational support. The results of this study complement the findings of previous work that describe the complex framework farmers navigate when making decisions on the farm. Further, subtle regional factors emerged that significantly impact farmers’ decisions, emphasizing the importance of local context in crafting agricultural policies and outreach efforts. Implications and recommendations for ECI are discussed.

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.

Although alternative food networks (AFNs) have made strides in modeling socially just and environmentally sound agrifood system practices, the next step is to make these innovations available to more people, or to increase participation in AFNs. However, there are several barriers to expanding the impact of AFNs. The labor intensity of producing and consuming foods in AFNs is sometimes overlooked but poses a significant challenge to alternative agrifood systems’ long-term viability. This paper brings together two independently conducted empirical research studies, one focused on sustainable food production and one focused on food provisioning in the sphere of consumption. Farmers engaged in small-scale alternative food production are investing significantly more time in maintaining the health of their soils by practicing crop rotation, growing a greater diversity of crops and building organic matter with cover crops and compost. Because much of this work is unpaid, the added labor requirements pose an obstacle to the financial viability and social sustainability of alternative production methods. On the consumption side, the labor intensity of food provisioning for women engaged in AFNs, combined with other socio-demographic factors, at times, constrains AFN participation. By identifying the ways in which labor may limit the ability of AFNs to expand to a larger portion of the population, this paper helps shed light on ways of increasing the environmental, social and health benefits of AFNs.

The plant root apparatus and the surrounding micro-environment is strongly influenced by specific abiotic and biotic conditions which occur in the plant rhizosphere system. The hypothesis of the reported research was that, in an organically managed horticultural system, the use of living mulch (LM) promotes the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) colonization among neighboring roots, because of the coexistence of different plants roots in confined soil spaces. This effect determines nutrient uptake optimization, although roots belong to different plant species. In the reported 2-yr field experiment (2012–2013), two Italian artichoke cultivars [Cynara cardunculus L. var. scolymus (L.), Jesino cv. and Mazzaferrata cv.] were intercropped with a LM mixture of plant species and compared with a no LM control. Every year, the effect of LM on artichoke root morphology and AMF colonization was evaluated by scanning electron microscopy, in order to assess abiotic and biotic rhizosphere interactions, as affected by artichoke cultivars. Also the artichoke yield, the soil available phosphorus (P) and rhizosphere P were determined. Results showed that the LM did not reduce yield of both the artichoke cultivars, when compared with the no LM ones. Furthermore, LM has: (i) induced structural changes in artichoke roots by proliferation of root hairs resulting in an increase of effective absorbing surface; (ii) promoted the rhizosphere mycorrhizal infection which improved P uptake. The modified rhizosphere interactions were found to be cultivar-dependent, being recorded only in Jesino artichoke.

Lentil (Lens culinaris Medikus) may have a potential to enhance the productivity of agroecosystems in dry areas where water and nutrients are limited. This study quantified soil water, residual soil nitrogen (N), and crop yields in lentil-based systems in comparison with continuous cereal and conventional summerfallow systems. A 3-yr cropping sequence study was conducted for three cycles in Saskatchewan (50.28°N, 107.79°W) from 2007 to 2011. On average, soil retained 187, 196 and 337 mm of water in the 0–1.2 m depth at crop harvest in 2008, 2009 and 2010, respectively. Summerfallow contained the same amounts of water as the cropped treatments at the harvest in 2009 and 2010. However, in 2008, summerfallow contained more soil water than the cropped treatments. The effect of lentil cultivar on soil water conservation varied with years; the cultivars Glamis, Laird and Sedley conserved highest amounts of soil water by the planting time of 2009 and 2010, but no differences were found among cultivars in 2011. Soil available N (NO3− + NH4+) at spring planting time was 50.4 kg ha−1 in the preceding lentil treatments, which was 44% higher compared with preceding barley or flax, but was 25% lower compared with preceding summerfallow. Lentil cultivars had a similar amount of soil residual N. Grain production in the 3-yr rotation averaged 6.3 t ha−1 per rotation for the wheat–lentil–durum system and 6.8 t ha−1 for the wheat–cereal–durum monoculture, averaging 36% greater compared with wheat–summerfallow–durum system. The lentil system increased total grain production through the access of residual soil water and biologically fixed N, whereas continuous cereal system relies on inorganic fertilizer input for yield. Summerfallow system relies on ‘mining’ the soil for nutrients. We conclude that the adoption of lentil systems will enhance grain production through the use of residual soil water and available N.

Protein sources other than soybean for the diets of poultry are needed for agricultural systems in temperate regions to help avoid some negative social and ecological impacts of large-scale soybean imports from overseas. The aim of the present study was to test the suitability of alternative protein sources in diets for slow-growing organic broiler chicken. Four experimental broiler diets were tested against a commercial feed for organic broiler chicken fattening (control), containing 255 g kg−1 soybean cake. Each experimental diet was based on the control diet, but 130 g kg−1 of soybean cake was replaced with alternative feeds. The diet ‘HermAlf’ contained 78 g kg−1 Hermetia meal (dried larvae of the black soldier fly, Hermetia illucens) and 52 g kg−1 alfalfa (Medicago sativa) meal. Diet ‘HermPea’ contained 78 g kg−1 Hermetia meal and 52 g kg−1 pea (Pisum sativum) groats. Diet ‘AlfPea’ contained 78 g kg−1 alfalfa meal and 52 g kg−1 pea groats. Diet ‘PeaAlf’ contained 78 g kg−1 pea groats and 52 g kg−1 alfalfa meal. Both diets containing Hermetia meal had the same amount of crude protein (CP) concentration as the control, while CP concentration was lower in diet AlfPea (by 2.7%) and in diet PeaAlf (by 3.5%) compared with the control. Over the course of the experiment, 15 broilers each (slow-growing Hubbard S757) were fattened with one of the five diets ad libitum from days 7 to 82. Additionally, all broilers received water and wheat grains (Triticum aestivum) ad libitum. Feed intake was measured by group. Daily gains, live weights, carcass weights and meat quality were analyzed individually. Compared with the control, feed intake, daily weight gain, carcass weights and feed efficiency were equivalent for all experimental diets. Regarding quality parameters, only cooking loss was increased with the HermPea diet compared with the control. The results indicate that the alternative feeds tested could replace part of the soybean products in broiler diets while achieving equivalent feed efficiency and product quality.

Understanding motivating factors for taking soil conservation measures is seen as key to improving on-farm implementation. However, to date only few on-farm conservation measures have been investigated. The objective of this paper is to investigate the influence of farmers’ subjective beliefs on their intention to apply and actual implementation of cover cropping, with the region of Brandenburg (Germany) as a case. An additional objective was to investigate how these insights can contribute to increase farm level implementation of soil conservation measures. Theory of planned behavior provides an approach to understand human behavior by analyzing farmers’ subjective beliefs. Our results, based on a survey of 96 farmers, show that attitudes (ATTs) and perceived difficulty significantly explain variations in intention to apply cover cropping, with ATTs being generally very positive. We discuss that, in this case, the most effective way to increase on-farm implementation is to decrease the farmers’ perception of difficulty. This can be achieved by providing information to farmers on how to overcome barriers to implementation of conservation measures. In-depth insights into belief structures reveal what kind of information is most useful in the case of cover cropping.

The effect of introduction strategy for living mulches (LMs) to reduce the potential nitrate leaching was investigated when grown with vegetables with high nitrogen (N) demand and low use efficiency in four European countries: Italy, Slovenia, Germany and Denmark over 2 yr. The plant N uptake and soil nitrate N content at harvest, in the autumn, and in the following spring were measured below open-pollinated and hybrid cultivars of cauliflower and leek crops. The cultivars performed differently over the 2 yr. In Italy and Slovenia, when LM of burr medic or white clover was broad sown (addition design ADD) at the same time as crop transplanting, the N uptake of crops was hampered without increasing the total aboveground N accumulation. Delaying LM sowing by 2.5–4 weeks maintained the N uptake of crops. In Germany, delaying white clover sowing for a month in cauliflower reduced soil nitrate at the start of leaching by 17–33 kg N ha−1 in the ADD design and 25 kg N ha−1 in the substitution design (SUB), where rows of cash crops were replaced by rows of LM. An overwintering LM of grass–clover incorporated in strips and root pruned decreased soil nitrate at the start of the leaching period by 35 kg N ha−1 in cauliflower, and in leek, an LM of dyer's woad decreased the soil nitrate by 55 kg N ha−1 at harvest and 30 kg N ha−1 at the start of leaching. The effect of delayed LM sowing depended on the LM species and system design. Overall, the SUB and ADD designs showed potential to reduce nitrate leaching, whereas the ADD design had stronger competition against either cash crop or LM. The key to reduce soil nitrate N without jeopardizing crop yields may be to identify suitable growing periods, sometimes combined with root pruning, for each LM species and system design. The LM introduction strategy can be used to control competition and reduce the potential leaching, but the performance depends on the intensity of the interspecific competition and the local conditions.