Towards resilience through systems-based plant breeding. A review

How the growing world population can feed itself is a crucial, multi-dimensional problem that goes beyond sustainable development. Crop production will be affected by many changes in its climatic, agronomic, economic, and societal contexts. Therefore, breeders are challenged to produce cultivars that strengthen both ecological and societal resilience by striving for six international sustainability targets: food security, safety and quality; food and seed sovereignty; social justice; agrobiodiversity; ecosystem services; and climate robustness. Against this background, we review the state of the art in plant breeding by distinguishing four paradigmatic orientations that currently co-exist: community-based breeding, ecosystem-based breeding, trait-based breeding, and corporate-based breeding, analyzing differences among these orientations. Our main findings are: (1) all four orientations have significant value but none alone will achieve all six sustainability targets; (2) therefore, an overarching approach is needed: “systems-based breeding,” an orientation with the potential to synergize the strengths of the ways of thinking in the current paradigmatic orientations; (3) achieving that requires specific knowledge development and integration, a multitude of suitable breeding strategies and tools, and entrepreneurship, but also a change in attitude based on corporate responsibility, circular economy and true-cost accounting, and fair and green policies. We conclude that systems-based breeding can create strong interactions between all system components. While seeds are part of the common good and the basis of agrobiodiversity, a diversity in breeding approaches, based on different entrepreneurial approaches, can also be considered part of the required agrobiodiversity. To enable systems-based breeding to play a major role in creating sustainable agriculture, a shared sense of urgency is needed to realize the required changes in breeding approaches, institutions, regulations and protocols. Based on this concept of systems-based breeding, there are opportunities for breeders to play an active role in the development of an ecologically and societally resilient, sustainable agriculture

Analysis of facilities in OFF research in participating countries of CORE Organic

Report lists the following research facilities: research farms, experimental fields, on-farm studies, networks, animal research facilities, leaching fields and long-term experiments. Other facilities like facilities for laboratory analyses, food processing, greenhouses, climate chambers and growth cabinets are left out from this analysis, because they are seldom exclusively used for OFF research and because their use for OFF research does not require particular characteristics. On the other hand, when required, these facilities can easily be converted to OFF research

State of the art of existing breeding initiatives & actions planned to strengthen collaborations

State of the art of existing breeding initiatives3Introduction In order to strengthen organic breeding, it is important to know the state of the art of existing initiatives, programs and networks of organic breeding and breeding for organic, and in what crops most organic breeding is currently conducted. Although the number of organic breeding initiatives are growing, as a whole, organic breeding is still relatively marginal compared to conventional breeding. Next to more financial support, another solution to make organic breeding more effective is by improving collaborations. Collaboration can entail, among others, improved exchange of knowledge (breeding tools and approaches) or the exchange of material. In LIVESEED, several activities have been set up to improve collaboration, such as crop‐specific breeding activities, crop‐group activities and systems‐based breeding approaches. For each of these activities, timelines have been developed to strengthen collaborations. This shall improve on one side the capacity building of existing organic plant breeding programs for respective crops and help to identify breeding gaps for those crops, where no activity could be mapped so far

Self-Organising and Self-Learning Model for Soybean Yield Prediction

Machine learning has arisen with advanced data analytics. Many factors influence crop yield, such as soil, amount of water, climate, and genotype. Determining factors that significantly influence yield prediction and identify the most appropriate predictive methods are important in yield management. It is critical to consider and study the combination of different crop factors and their impact on the yield. The objectives of this paper are: (1) to use advanced data analytic techniques to precisely predict the soybean crop yields, (2) to identify the most influential features that impact soybean predictions, (3) to illustrate the ability of Fuzzy Rule-Based (FRB) sub-systems, which are self-organizing, self-learning, and data-driven, by using the recently developed Autonomous Learning Multiple-Model First-order (ALMMo-1) system, and (4) to compare the performance with other well-known methods. The ALMMo-1 system is a transparent model, which stakeholders can easily read and interpret. The model is a datadriven and composed of prototypes selected from the actual data. Many factors affect the yield, and data clouds can be formed in the feature/data space based on the data density. The data cloud is the key to the IF part of FRB sub-systems, while the THEN part (the consequences of the IF condition) illustrates the yield prediction in the form of a linear regression model, which consists of the yield features or factors. In addition, the model can determine the most influential features of the yield prediction online. The model shows an excellent prediction accuracy with a Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of 0.0883, and Non-Dimensional Error Index (NDEI) of 0.0611, which is competitive with state-of-the-art methods

Sustainability aspects of biobased applications : comparison of different crops and products from the sugar platform BO-12.05-002-008

In this study different uses of biomass are compared. In order to allow for a systematic comparison the study focuses on three different chemicals that can be produced from sugar. In this way it is also, in principle, possible to compare different crops for the production of the same product. The study focuses on the production of PLA (polylactic acid, a bioplastic), ethanol, and biopolyethylene (bio-PE, which is produced via ethanol). These three products can presently be produced from biomass and therefore form realistic cases. All three products are produced from sugars, and thus the systems can be decoupled at the sugar step. The sugar can be produced from different crops. In this study five different crops are compared: wheat, maize, sugar beet, sugar cane and Miscanthus. The sustainability aspects that we studied are non-renewable energy use (NREU), greenhouse gas (GHG) emission in the crop-product chain and direct land use for producing the bio-materials

Some Physiochemical Parameters and Phytoplankton Standing Crop in Four Northeast Arkansas Commercial Fish Ponds

Physicochemical conditions and chlorophyll a standing crop were studied from July 1970 through June 1971 in four commercial catfish ponds at the Arkansas State University Experiment Farm near Walcott, Greene County, Arkansas. Determinations of dissolved oxygen, free carbon dioxide, total alkalinity, temperature, pH, transparency, and chlorophyll a standing crop were made at two-week intervals except during fish harvesting operations. One diurnal measurement of dissolved oxygen, free carbon dioxide, and temperature was conducted 25-26 June 1971. Increased oxygen concentrations coincided with increased chlorophyll α concentrations. Free carbon dioxide and chlorophyll α values varied inversely throughout the study. Diurnal concentrations of free carbon dioxide were greatest between 0300 and 0700 hours. Phenolphthalein and total alkalinity values fluctuated throughout the study period, and could not be correlated with other parameters measured. Thermal stratification occurred during the summer and was more pronounced in the more turbidponds. Diurnal temperature measurements indicated that stratification was diurnal. An inverse relationship was found between carbon dioxide and hydrogen-ion concentrations, and all ponds were essentially alkaline. Transparency was relatively constant before the ponds were drained but increased when the ponds were refilled. Suspended particulate matter contributed significantly to turbidity. Peaks of chlorophyll α concentration were found in summer, early autumn, and late winter

Global land use implications of biofuels: State of the art conference and workshop on modelling global land use implications in the environmental assessment of biofuels

Background, Aims and Scope On 4¿5 June 2007, an international conference was held in Copenhagen. It provided an interdisciplinary forum where economists and geographers met with LCA experts to discuss the challenges of modelling the ultimate land use changes caused by an increased demand for biofuels. Main Features The main feature of the conference was the cross-breeding of experience from the different approaches to land use modelling: The field of LCA could especially benefit from economic modelling in the identification of marginal crop production and the resulting expansion of the global agricultural area. Furthermore, the field of geography offers insights in the complexity behind new land cultivation and practical examples of where this is seen to occur on a regional scale. Results Results presented at the conference showed that the magnitude and location of land use changes caused by biofuels demand depend on where the demand arises. For instance, mandatory blending in the EU will increase land use both within and outside of Europe, especially in South America. A key learning for the LCA society was that the response to a change in demand for a given crop is not presented by a single crop supplier or a single country, but rather by responses from a variety of suppliers of several different crops in several countries. Discussion The intensification potential of current and future crop and biomass production was widely discussed. It was generally agreed that some parts of the third world hold large potentials for intensification, which are not realised due to a number of barriers resulting in so-called yield gaps. Conclusions Modelling the global land use implications of biofuels requires an interdisciplinary approach optimally integrating economic, geographical, biophysical, social and possibly other aspects in the modelling. This interdisciplinary approach is necessary but also difficult due to different perspectives and mindsets in the different disciplines. Recommendations and Perspectives The concept of a location dependent marginal land use composite should be introduced in LCA of biofuels and it should be acknowledged that the typical LCA assumption of linear substitution is not necessarily valid. Moreover, fertiliser restrictions/accessibility should be included in land use modelling and the relation between crop demand and intensification should be further explored. In addition, environmental impacts of land use intensification should be included in LCA, the powerful concept of land use curves should be further improved, and so should the modelling of diminishing returns in crop production