Assessing cover crop and intercrop performance along a farm management gradient

Stratton, Anne Elise; Comin, Jucinei José; Siddique, Ilyas; Zak, Donald R.; Filipini, Letícia Dambroz; Lucas, Renata Rodrigues; Blesh, Jennifer

doi:10.1016/j.agee.2022.107925

Cited by 10 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 85 publications

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“…Costs for diversified crop rotation were expected to be lower than the baseline variable costs, due to lower costs for mechanical weed control, savings of plant protection inputs and fungicide applications (Table S5). Diversified crop rotation was expected to significantly increase gross margin, which is consistent with other studies that evaluated the economic performance of crop rotations (Garbelini et al, 2022;Stratton et al, 2022).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Diversified Farming Systems – An evaluation of ecological benefits, economic costs & risks farmers face

Rosa-Schleich¹

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Biodiversity and associated ecosystem services in cultural landscapes are declining due to increasing agricultural production. Human population growth and changing consumption patterns cause higher demands on agricultural products and accelerates the intensification of agricultural practices. Intensification of agricultural management is a major reason of Original articlesChapter 2 Ecological-economic trade-offs of Diversified Farming Systems -A reviewJulia Rosa-Schleich a , Jacqueline Loos b , Oliver Mußhoff c , Teja Tscharntke a Author contribution: JRS, JL, OM, and TT conceived and designed the synthesis, JRS performed the systematic review, collected the scientific evidence, and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. JL, OM, and TT were substantially involved in discussion and editing.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Diversified Farming Systems – An evaluation of ecological benefits, economic costs & risks farmers face

Rosa-Schleich¹

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“…Studies in Brazil near activity of the landless workers movement, or MST, show that soil fertility is positively associated with the recent adoption of and transition to sustainable land management practices (Stratton et al, 2022) like cover crop diversity, which could also be promoted by stronger social recognition of benefits (Williams et al, 2021). This perspective, together with other studies directly tying soil organic matter to crop yield (Oldfield et al, 2022), ultimately tie soil regeneration to environmental justice issues of land tenure.…”

Section: Restorative Agropedogenesismentioning

confidence: 85%

Developing systems theory in soil agroecology: Incorporating heterogeneity and dynamic instability

Medina¹,

Vandermeer²

2023

Preprint

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Ecosystem management is integral to the future of soils, yet anthropogenic drivers represent a key source of uncertainty in ecosystem models. First- and new-generation soil models formulate many soil pools using first-order decomposition, which tends to generate simpler yet numerous parameters. Systems or complexity theory, developed across various scientific and social fields, may help improve robustness of soil models, by offering consistent assumptions about system openness, potential dynamic instability and distance from commonly assumed stable equilibria, as well as new analytical tools for formulating more generalized model structures that reduce parameter space and yield a wider array of possible model outcomes, such as quickly shrinking carbon stocks with pulsing or lagged respiration. This paper builds on recent perspectives of soil modeling to ask how various soil functions can be better understood by applying a complex systems lens. We synthesized previous literature reviews with concepts from non-linear dynamical systems in theoretical ecology and soil sciences more broadly to identify areas for further study that may help improve the robustness of soil models under the uncertainty of human activities and management. Three broad dynamical concepts were highlighted: soil variable memory or state-dependence, oscillations, and tipping points or hysteresis. These themes represent less intuitive yet key dynamics that can emerge after assuming nuanced observations, such as reversibility of organo-mineral associations, dynamic aggregate- and pore hierarchies, persistent wet-dry cycles, higher-order microbial community and predator-prey interactions, cumulative legacy land use history, and social management interactions and/or cooperation. We discuss how these aspects may contribute useful analytical tools, metrics, and frameworks that help integrate the uncertainties in future soil states, ranging from micro- to regional scales, including those indirectly affected by human activities and management decisions. Overall, this study highlights the potential benefits of incorporating spatial heterogeneity and dynamic instabilities into future model representations of whole soil processes. Additionally, it advocates for transdisciplinary collaborations between natural and social scientists, extending research into anthropedology and biogeosociochemistry, to better integrate and understand longer-term anthropogenic drivers of soil processes, potentially from soil structural dynamics to microbial community and food web ecology.

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“…The promotion of intercropping is based on the benefits it brings, including enhancing crop yield (Li et al 2020;Stratton et al 2022), reducing the risks of climatic shocks, improving soil fertility (Mazzafera et al 2021), controlling pests and diseases (Mazzafera et al 2021;Silberg et al 2017), and lowing agrochemical inputs (Li et al 2021). This promotion specifically targets the low-input systems of smallholder fields in sub-Saharan Africa (Gitari et al 2020;Namatsheve et al 2020), where practices and adoption may vary to suit local conditions, needs, and challenges.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Limited environmental and yield benefits of intercropping practices in smallholder fields: Evidence from multi-source data

Kambombe

Chimimba

et al. 2023

Field Crops Research

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Assessing cover crop and intercrop performance along a farm management gradient

Cited by 10 publications

References 85 publications

Diversified Farming Systems – An evaluation of ecological benefits, economic costs & risks farmers face

Diversified Farming Systems – An evaluation of ecological benefits, economic costs & risks farmers face

Developing systems theory in soil agroecology: Incorporating heterogeneity and dynamic instability

Limited environmental and yield benefits of intercropping practices in smallholder fields: Evidence from multi-source data

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