STEPHEN R. GLIESSMAN Pengarang

Cropping system yield stability in response to plant diversity and soil organic carbon in temperate ecosystems Hida R Mannsa and Ralph C Martinb aDepartment of Geography, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada; bDepartment of Plant Agriculture, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada ABSTRACT Decreasing soil productivity, despite improved crop genetics and soil technologies, signals a need for refined understanding of the interaction between soils and plants. For example, to what degree do improvements in soil structural stability and the number and type of plant species contribute to yield variability with extremes of weather? The role that soil aggregation and carbon play in the resilience of soil, and thus plant growth in extremes of moisture availability, is not well interpreted. Ultimately, improving soil organic carbon (SOC) also improves soil water retention and availability, which extends the limits of environmental variation for optimum plant growth. Not only is a significant amount of organic carbon a major element in soil resilience, but there may be interaction with the diversity of plants, which becomes evident with cover crop and crop rotation systems in agriculture. More diverse rotations including cover crops are being tested to explore the mechanisms and benefits of multispecies crop mixes. This review will explore the role of SOC and plant diversity for cropping system resilience with lessons from the temperate North American climate. KEYWORDS Agricultural sustainability; crop yield stability; crop rotations; plant diversity; soil organic carbon; plant available water Assessing sustainability of farming systems in mountain agroecosystems of Western Himalaya, India Vikram S. Negia, R.K. Maikhurib, A. Chandrac, Ajay Malethab, and P.P. Dhyanid aG.B. Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment and Sustainable Development (GBPNIHESD), Almora, India; bRegional Centre (Srinagar Garhwal), Uttarakhand, GBPNIHESD, India; cDepartment of Environmental Studies, Sri Venkateswara College, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India; dShri Guru RamRai University, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India ABSTRACT This paper examines sustainability of cash crops production systems as compared to traditional cereal cropping patterns in terms of their energy efficiency, ecological suitability, economic profitability, and social acceptability. The consistent supply of labor and energy are the most significant requirements for substantial growth of agricultural productivity in Himalayan region. For output–input ratio in terms of monetary efficiency, cash crops performed better (3.16–3.56) as compared to traditional crops (1.57–3.31), whereas the energy output–input ratio of traditional crops was found more efficient (1.63–4.72) as compared to cash crops (1.26–2.36). The monetary input and output analysis of Rabi crops was estimated to be 23.39% and 25.3% of Kharif crops, respectively; Similarly, variance in energy input (27.3%) and output (32.44%) analysis was observed between Rabi and Kharif crops, respectively. Energy input in the form of manure accounted>90% of total energy input, while other inputs (<10%) are contributed in the form of seeds, and animal and human power for all the crops. The study also highlighted the significance of traditional crops and factors responsible for their declining cultivation in the mountain region. KEYWORDS Traditional crops; cash crops; energy; agrodiversity; Western Himalaya How agroecological farmers develop their own practices: a framework to describe their learning processes Helene Cristofaria, Nathalie Girardb, and Daniele Magdab aAGIR, Université de Toulouse, INRA (French National Institute for Agricultural Research), INPT, INP-EI PURPAN, Castanet-Tolosan; bUniversité Toulouse III Paul Sabatier, Toulouse ABSTRACT Supporting farmers through their agroecological transition calls for fostering learning processes that enable farmers to develop practices rooted in their peculiar agroecosystem. We here aim at contributing to the understanding of the learning processes of agroecological farmers. We thus conducted interviews with farmers experienced in conservation agriculture. A qualitative analysis led to a framework grounded in pragmatist philosophy, and consisting in a categorization of learning elements, combined with the evolution of pragmatic judgements. This framework could be applied to a broader range of agroecological farmers, to explain the diversity of their learning processes and help designing ways to better foster such learning processes. KEYWORDS agroecology; conservation agriculture; learning processes; pragmatic ; France The role of consumers in agrobiodiversity conservation: the case of traditional varieties of apples in Portugal Anabela Botelho a, Isabel Dinis b, Lina Lourenço-Gomes c, Jorge Moreira d, Lígia Costa Pinto e, and Orlando Simões b aUniversidade de Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal; bEscola Superior Agrária, Instituto Politecnico de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal; cDepartamento de Economia, Sociologia e Gestão, Universidade de Tras-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal; dInstituto de Investigação Aplicada, Instituto Politecnico de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal; eEscola de Economia e Gestão, Universidade do Minho, Braga, Portugal ABSTRACT The agronomical, cultural, and historical importance of local varieties and the need of structured preservation of genetic resources have been widely recognized at both political and scientific levels in the past decades. To be engaged in genetic resource preservation, farmers must find it rewarding. Besides public policies, the generation of benefits depends crucially on the revenues farmers can collect through product sales, which, in turn, depends on consumers’ preferences. If consumers are willing to pay a price premium that rewards farmers for the lower productivity and greater variability usually associated with traditional varieties, market can make a significant contribution to agrobiodiversity preservation. However, knowledge about consumer’s willingness to pay (WTP) for traditional varieties is scarce and the main research on this topic focuses on particular varieties making it difficult to generalize the results. This study, rather than determining consumers’ WTP for a specific variety, seeks to estimate the WTP for the attribute “traditional variety” itself, using a hedonic price model. In-store Becker-DeGroot-Marschak auctions were applied for data collection. Results show that consumers, depending on their socio-economic characteristics, are willing to pay for the feature “traditional variety”. KEYWORDS Genetic resources; willingness to pay; BDM auctions; traditional varieties; experimental economics Climate adaptation in a minor crop species: is the cocoa breeding network prepared for climate change? Aidan D. Farrell a, Kevon Rhineyb, Anton Eitzingerc, and Pathmanathan Umaharand aDepartment of Life Sciences, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad & Tobago W.I; bDepartment of Geography, Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA; cInternational Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Cali, Columbia; dCocoa Research Centre, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad & Tobago W.I ABSTRACT Plant breeding has undoubtedly been successful in increasing the yield of high value commodity crops. In recent decades, efforts have been made to repeat this success in ‘orphan crops’ through a network of regional and national organizations largely composed of public and not-for-profit institutions. Adapting to climate change is a key challenge for these networks. Here we seek to analyze the particular challenges that characterize efforts to develop climate-smart varieties in minor crops, using the example of cocoa. Cocoa is a high-value commodity with a global research network; however, to date it has not received sustained attention from major global research centers. We estimate that globally <100 new cocoa varieties have been released since 2000, and our analysis suggests that this low number is constrained not by a limited availability of germplasm, but by limitations in the infrastructure focused on the final stages of breeding. We conclude that selecting minor crops for a future climate requires a long-term, regional approach that exploits modern technologies, integrates participatory selection, and is managed through a centrally funded network. KEYWORDS Climate change; climate adaptation; orphan crops; Theobroma cacao; plant breeding