Organic heterogeneous material – opportunities and challenges

The presentation explores the opportunities presented by the use of organic heterogeneous material, how this has worked in the context of the recent temporary marketing experiment and how its use can be expanded more broadly. The presentation, given at Biofach 2019, is part of the activities of the LIVESEED project

Farm-based organic variety trials: A collective experiment with an organic farmers network

An overview of current research into organic wheat variety trials via on-farm testing in the U

The potential of biofumigation to control soil borne pests, pathogens and weeds (DiverIMPACTS Practice Abstract)

A reduction in soil borne pests and pathogens and weeds - due both to the release of natural toxic substances and the effect of the biofumigation cover crop. Incorporating brassicas biomass into the soil creates a compost effect. This substrate, when used by microorganisms, can deliver volatile compounds acting as biofumigants limiting pathogen and pest development. Growing deep-rooted brassica cover crops can also bring other benefits such as improving soil structure, drainage and nutrient capture and providing a refuge for auxiliaries. The isothiocyanates produced by the biofumigation process can also reduce weed burdens

Overcoming barriers to crop diversification uptake in Europe: A mini review

Crop diversification (CD) encompasses practices such as extending crop rotation, cover cropping and intercropping practices, and growing minor crops. It has attracted increasing interest because it can produce both private benefits for farmers, including improved crop and soil health, and reduced inputs, and public goods for society, including greater biodiversity, carbon sequestration, and climate resilience. Nevertheless, CD is not widely practiced in Europe. This paper uses a conceptual framework based upon the literature on barriers to agricultural innovation and CD to guide a systematic-like literature review of existing review articles on the barriers to CD in Europe and a review of research from the European Crop Diversification Cluster, comprising six EU research projects. We compare barriers to CD uptake and identify opportunities to accelerate CD uptake, drawing four main conclusions. First, the barriers to CD are influenced by many factors: the specific crop, cropping method, geographical region, the farmer, the supply chain or market, and the institutional environment. Second, the barriers to CD uptake are interconnected and occur at multiple points along the supply chain; addressing barriers to CD uptake therefore requires a simultaneous and coordinated approach. Third, the inclusion of farmers' perspectives in the CD cluster research revealed novel barriers and solutions demonstrating that participatory and transdisciplinary agricultural research is needed to understand the on-farm reality and its influence on CD uptake. Lastly, farmers' decision-making warrants greater attention. The results highlight that farmers' decision-making is unpredictable and likely to focus on utility rather than profit maximization

Increasing Access to Surgical Services in Sub-Saharan Africa: Priorities for National and International Agencies Recommended by the Bellagio Essential Surgery Group

In this Policy Forum, the Bellagio Essential Surgery Group, which was formed to advocate for increased access to surgery in Africa, recommends four priority areas for national and international agencies to target in order to address the surgical burden of disease in sub-Saharan Africa

Proposal for a toolbox for identification and description of organic heterogeneous material

This document aims to aid in the interpretation and implementation of the New Organic Regulation text and to be considered as scientific input in the discussion of associated delegated acts relating to Organic Heterogeneous Material

A Participatory Wheat Variety Testing Programme With British Organic Farmers

In organic farming, crop adaptation to the growing environment and resilience towards changing climate are key in ensuring a sustainable and profitable agriculture in the absence of external inputs. Varietal choice is the major crop specific management decision organic farmers can make on a short-term basis to manage crop performance. Here, we present the results of two years of field-scale variety testing of winter wheat in England, which is the arable crop with the largest acreage, yet with a very small and shrinking organic acreage. In the framework of the H2020 LIVESEED project, we started a collective experiment in which varieties were tested by organic farmers at a commercial field scale. This programme is currently in its third year and expanding, it involves 14 farmers and has tested 15 varieties.In the first two years, this work has paved the way to better understand winter wheat production and thereby build decision support frameworks and feedback to breeders on useful traits. It has also been a powerful tool for co-learning between researchers, farmers and supply chain stakeholders. Collective experiments can empower the organic sector to independently produce the evidence needed for on-farm decision making

Supply Chain Perspectives on Breeding for Legume–Cereal Intercrops

Compared to sole crops, intercropping—especially of legumes and cereals—has great potential to improve crop yield and resource use efficiency, and can provide many other ecosystem services. However, the beneficial effects of intercrops are often greatly dependent on the end use as well as the specific species and genotypes being co-cultivated. In addition, intercropping imposes added complexity at different levels of the supply chain. While the need for developing crop genotypes for intercropping has long been recognized, most cultivars on the market are optimized for sole cropping and may not necessarily perform well in intercrops. This paper aims to place breeding targets for intercrop-adapted genotypes in a supply chain perspective. Three case studies of legumes and cereals intercropped for human consumption are used to identify desirable intercrop traits for actors across the supply chains, many of which are not targeted by traditional breeding for sole crops, including certain seed attributes, and some of which do not fit traditional breeding schemes, such as breeding for synchronized maturity and species synergies. Incorporating these traits into intercrop breeding could significantly reduce complexity along the supply chain. It is concluded that the widespread adoption and integration of intercrops will only be successful through the inclusion and collaboration of all supply chain actors, the application of breeding approaches that take into account the complexity of intercrop supply chains, and the implementation of diversification strategies in every process from field to fork