Sustainable production systems

Agroecology is a novel concept that proposes the use of ecological tools and practices to replace actual harzardous farm management such as spraying toxic pesticides and degrading soil quality. However, this is actually little knowledge on which and how ecological processes should be used to improve farming. A review of agroecological and management sciences by Duru et al. provides tools to develop biodiversity-friendly agriculture.

For higher yields industrial agriculture has been removing all landscape diversity such as ditches and hedges, which has led in the long run to many adverse impacts such as loss of plant and animal diversity, soil erosion, water pollution, and, paradoxically, loss of plant nutrients. Agronomists Dollinger et al. review the major ecosystem services provided by ditches, e.g. flood regulation, water purification, pesticide retention and wildlife conservation. A striking example is that the occurrence of ditches can double the number of bird species in crop fields.

Common belief tells that bacteria are sources of illnesses for living organisms. That is not true for plants, which can benfit from the help of small friends in the form of bacteria. For instance the root-friendly Azospirillum bacteria enhance the growth and adaptation of plants. Agronomists Tkachenko et al. show that the cultivation of baby plants with the Azospirillum brasilense bacterial species improve potato growth, development, and survival in the field, leading to an increase of 45% of tuber yield, on the average.

Growing two or more plant species provides ecological benefits for a safe agriculture because some plant species such as legumes provide free fertilisers in the form of nitrogen (N), whereas other species fight pests without pesticide, for example. Agroecologists Gaba et al. review such ecological practices and propose guidelines to design safer cropping systems.

Increasing population, climate change and pollution call for a safer production of food. An agroecological solution to those issues is to select, breed and design suitable crop plants. Agronomist Ochatt describes advanced technologies to design suitable plants during embryogenesis.

Simulation is a useful technique in agroecology to predict future climate and crop yields, for instance. However simulation research is rarely taking into account the knowledge from farmers and policy-makers. Such knowledge is essential to to achieve concrete results. Bellocchi et al. discuss the participation of actors in simulation research.

In many developing countries crop productivity is low. Many factors could explain this issue, but actually there is no successful, systematic method to identify those factors in order to solve the productivity issue. A literature review by Kraaijvanger et al shows that there are three categories of methods based upon either farmer control and opinion, or scientist control and opinion, or scientist control and farmer opinion. Methods were tested  in four localities in northern Ethiopia.

Identifying the factors that control wine quality could be useful to improve wine production. Wines are currently scientifically differentiated using chemical analysis of flavours, for instance. But it is actually unknown whether observed differences in wine composition are caused by winemakers, e.g. during grape fermentation, or by soil and climate factors. Scientists González-Centeno et al. designed a method based upon soil, climate and landscape to link wine with their Appellation of Origin.

Wheat has been improved by breeding for about 200 years. However this breeding selection has been done classically, that is by favouring aerial plants parts such as higher shoots, larger leaves and heavier seeds. Improving the root system may also benefit wheat, but no method is available so far. Agronomists Heřmanská et al. have designed a method based on electrical capacitance to measure the size of the root matrix. Their found that wheat selection based on root size increases grain yield.

Cashew is a South American tropical tree native that has been introduced in Asia and Africa by European explorers during the 16th century. Now cashew grows worldwide, particularly in emerging countries. Cashew production a major resource for smallholder farmers. However cashew farmers face several issues such as lack of agricultural education and access to cultivation hardware, and few investment in cashew production. Those issues are particularly impacting women. Agronomists Dendena and Corsi review the cashew production chain including management practices, processing methods and uses of products and by-products. They found a lack of integrated and systematic research on cashew production and on potential solution to help smallholder farmers.