The diversity and distribution of wild bees are dramatically changing due to habitat fragmentation, agricultural intensification and climate change. In cities, urban gardens are proposed ‘island’ habitats for bees offering floral and nesting resources. Yet, it is largely unclear how gardens play a role in changes in species diversity and distribution. This paper reports on the discovery of a bee species to our knowledge previously undocumented in the region of Berlin, Germany. We discovered Lasioglossum limbellum in a community garden created on concrete slabs of annual and perennial vegetation. As a cavity nester in soft rock cliffs—a natural habitat functionally not existent in urban areas—the life history of this species makes this discovery particularly interesting, and an opportunity to explore the role of urban gardens in biodiversity change. This report aims to spur future research, reporting and discussion on the changes in diversity and distribution of wild bees specifically in urban areas.

Crops emit a variety of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that serve as attractants or repellents for pests and their natural enemies. Crop rotations, off-farm chemical inputs, and mechanical and cultural tactics – collectively called cropping systems – alter soil nutrients, moisture content, and microbial communities, all of which have the potential to alter crop VOC emissions. Soil legacy effects of diversified cropping systems have been shown to enhance crop VOC emissions in greenhouse studies, but how they influence emissions under field conditions remains virtually unknown. To determine the effect of cropping systems on plant VOC emissions in the field, air samples were collected from the headspace of wheat (Triticum aestivum L. Judee) grown in simplified wheat-fallow rotations or diversified wheat-cover crop rotations where cover crops were terminated by grazing cattle. Across two growing seasons, wheat grown in rotation with fallow emitted greater amounts of Z-3-hexenyl acetate and β-ocimene, key attractants for wheat stem sawfly (Cephus cinctus Norton), a major pest of wheat. While overall VOC blends were relatively similar among cropping system during the first growing season, emissions varied substantially in the second year of this study where wheat grown in rotation with cover crops emitted substantially greater quantities of volatile compounds characteristic of abiotic stress. Below-average precipitation in the second growing season, in addition to reduced soil water content in cover crop rotations, suggests that cropping system effects on wheat VOCs may have been driven primarily by water availability, a major factor limiting crop growth in dryland agriculture. While the specific mechanisms driving changes in VOC emissions were not explicitly tested, this work shows that agricultural practices applied in one growing season can differentially influence crop VOC emissions in the next through soil legacy effects, illustrating additional avenues through which cropping systems may be leveraged to enhance pest management.

Late blight, caused by the oomycete Phytophthora infestans, poses a significant challenge to organic tomato and potato production systems across the globe. To enhance education and outreach programming pertaining to tomato organic late blight management in Wisconsin, we sought to identify grower strategies and needs through an online survey conducted during spring 2018. Our findings demonstrated that organic growers emphasized crop diversity, crop rotation and soil health in their late blight management decisions. Grower concerns about biopesticides were identified and suggest that the use of input-based products within integrated management programs could be enhanced by further research on effectiveness and modes of actions. Additionally, stronger emphasis on oomycete pathogen biology and the significance of late blight as a community disease were identified as important areas of emphasis in the development of organic disease management education programming and resources that promote more effective cultural and chemical disease management strategies that adhere to the regulation and principles underlying the USDA National Organic Program. The integration of a live polling questionnaire conducted in winter 2019 allowed us to corroborate findings from the online survey and underscored the importance of two-way learning to enhance outreach efforts between Extension and organic growers in Wisconsin and the surrounding upper Midwestern states.

To promote sustainability, multistakeholder initiatives (MSIs) are an emerging form of private governance that brings together diverse stakeholders across the agrifood system to advance sustainable agriculture practices. Previous research on MSIs focuses on the organization and structure of various MSIs through coordinator and management perspectives. In this paper, we examine farmers' experiences of participating in a leading MSI metrics program for U.S. agriculture, Field to Market. Through survey and interview methodology, this paper examines farmers' motivations, perceived benefits and power dynamics within Field to Market's metrics program. We find that although being open to sharing sustainability metrics with buyers, farmers struggled to gain tangible benefits. The majority of farmers considered themselves ‘already sustainable’ in that they made economically efficient farming decisions. As such, participating in Field to Market resulted in little to no changes in farming practices. Because MSI metrics programs work to assist farmers in becoming aware of inefficiencies and encourage changes, the lack of utilizing data generated from the sustainability metrics highlights a significant shortfall of this MSI metrics program. Farmers also perceived buyers as the primary beneficiaries of sustainability metrics since the buyers could now make claims about the sustainability of their products. Additionally, our findings provide nuance related to economic benefits as farmers broadly conceptualized the primary economic benefits as continuing a relationship with buyers who were now asking farmers to join the metrics program and report data. Although the metrics program appears ‘voluntary,’ farmers perceived few other options when asked to report data since sharing data became an apparent baseline for doing business. This paper contributes an understanding of farmers' experiences of engaging with an MSI metrics program, which helps to illuminate the potential implications of these newly emerging approaches to promoting sustainability. Our findings demonstrate that proponents of this newly emerging approach to promoting sustainability may want to consider the distribution of benefits and the power dynamics embedded in these programs since these programs may carry unintended consequences as they are scaled up. Finally, we posit several additional avenues for future research to further elucidate the potential social implications of MSI metrics programs.

State-level reimbursement programs are increasingly being used to incentivize procurement of local foods by US K-12 school food authorities (SFAs), which are schools or school districts that administer a food service program. However, few studies have explored the characteristics of SFAs that are associated with applying for and receiving reimbursement incentives. We consider reimbursement incentive programs in two states, Oregon and Michigan. In 2018–2019, the school year we study, Oregon used an opt-in model in which all SFAs were eligible to receive reimbursement incentives. In contrast, Michigan used a competitive funding model in which only some SFAs were eligible to apply and only some SFAs that applied received support. Using data from the Farm to School Census, as well as data from the two states' Departments of Education, we estimate discrete choice regressions to explore the factors that are associated with SFAs' application for and receipt of these reimbursement incentives. We find that SFAs that opted into Oregon's procurement program are larger, in metropolitan areas, and more likely to purchase fruits and vegetables locally. Thus, the reimbursement incentives are directed toward SFAs with characteristics that complement F2S program development, instead of SFAs with greater structural impediments. In Michigan, we find that SFAs with past F2S experience and community support for F2S were the most likely to apply for reimbursement incentives. However, conditional on applying, the SFAs most likely to receive funding in Michigan were those located in rural areas, more likely to source meat and seafood locally, and more likely to source directly from producers. Thus, Michigan's support, which was more budget constrained, appeared to target SFAs with distance-based challenges and non-traditional procurement strategies.

Deep placement of briquette urea (BU) is environmentally friendly and promotes for better nitrogen use efficiency. Nonetheless, its farm-level adoption is low. This paper contributes to the existing literature on climate-smart technology adoption by examining the factors that affect the BU adoption decision using the national representative Bangladesh Integrated Household Survey (BIHS-15) dataset consisting of 3384 rice farmers in Bangladesh. BU adoption probability is higher for farms that specialize in rice production, have more assets, use mobile phones for farming and have better access to extension services. Also, empowered women have a higher propensity to adopt BU. However, living in the feed the future zone decreases adoption probability. BU adoption probability is inversely correlated with rainfall and salinity vulnerability, while the opposite is observed for cyclone and drought vulnerability. Compared to the prilled urea (PU) users, the BU adopters applied a significantly lower amount of urea. The adopters produce more and have a relatively higher return, though the differences are insignificant. The relatively high price of BU compared to PU and the associated high labor requirement dampers the benefit of adopting the technology. Reallocation of subsidies from PU toward BU could be an effective way of promoting BU technology.

The choice between organic and inorganic farming is an exciting debate in scholarly literature. A large number of studies has enriched the discussion. However, this particular study adds to this debate in unique ways. This study uses a hybrid model based on analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS), a methodological contribution to the debate of organic and inorganic farming by using multicriteria decision analysis. Also, this study uses several conflicting criteria (such as health benefits, environmental benefits, soil fertility, consumer awareness, etc.) that have not been combined in a single research study earlier to consider the choice of organic and inorganic farming. The study is based on a questionnaire survey undertaken by consumers, farmers and agriculture experts. After the application of the AHP-TOPSIS based hybrid model, several interesting results have been founded that have important policy implications for farming in Pakistan and other developing countries.

The sustainability of an agricultural field is largely influenced by crop growth habit and management practices such as tillage. Both strongly interact to shape ecosystem properties such as the fluxes and stocks of carbon and nitrogen. Recently, researchers have worked to develop perennial grain crops in order to enhance key ecosystem processes, such as carbon cycling and nitrogen fixation, with the use of perennial crops rather than traditionally used annual crops. In this study, we aimed to understand how soil disturbance combined with vegetation type [annual monoculture crops vs. perennial monocultures (intermediate wheatgrass (IWG)) vs restored native vegetation (RNV)] influenced the soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics. We collected soil samples at two depths (0–15 cm and 15–30 cm) from each vegetation treatment and incubated the soils in the laboratory for 120 days to determine the efflux of carbon and also analyzed the mineralization of both carbon and nitrogen. The results demonstrated the soils from the IWG had the greatest carbon flux, as well as carbon and nitrogen storage (annual monoculture < RNV < IWG). The differences in carbon flux, carbon and nitrogen storage from the IWG to the annual monoculture were 27, 40, 20%, respectively, while the IWG to the RNV was 11, 20, 10%. Shallow soil samples exhibited greater differences in all C and N comparisons between treatments compared to deeper soil samples. Taken together, our findings indicate that crop vegetation type and soil depth strongly influence carbon and nitrogen dynamics.

Double-cropping winter rye cover crops (CC) with soybean in the North Central US could help with the global effort to sustainably intensify agriculture. Studies addressing the management of these systems are limited. Therefore, a field study was conducted from 2017 to 2019 in Central Iowa, US to evaluate winter rye CC biomass production, aboveground N accumulation, estimated economics, estimated within-field energy balance and estimated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions under three N application rates (0, 60, 120 kg N ha−1) and three planting methods (pre- and post-harvest broadcast and post-harvest drilling). Averaged over N rates, all planting methods resulted in >5.0 Mg ha−1 year−1 rye aboveground biomass dry matter. Averaged over the 2-year study and compared with unfertilized treatments, applying 60 kg N ha−1 produced 1.1 Mg ha−1 more aboveground biomass (6.1 vs 5.0 Mg ha−1), accumulated 30 kg ha−1 more N in aboveground biomass (88 vs 58 kg N ha−1), and led to 20 GJ ha−1 more net energy. Biomass production was not significantly higher with 120 kg N ha−1 compared with the 60 kg N ha−1 rate. Even when accounting for an estimated 0.75 Mg ha−1 of above ground rye biomass left in the field after harvesting, more N was removed than applied at the 60 kg N ha−1 rate. The minimum rye prices over the 2-year study needed for double-cropping winter rye CC to be profitable (breakeven prices) averaged $117 and $104 Mg−1 for the 0 and 60 kg N ha−1 rates, which factors in estimated soybean yield reductions in 2019 compared with local averages but not off-site transportation. GHG emissions were estimated to increase approximately threefold between the unfertilized and 60 kg N ha−1 rates without considering bioenergy offsets. While environmental tradeoffs need further study, results suggest harvesting fertilized rye CC biomass before planting soybean is a promising practice for the North Central US to maximize total crop and net energy production.

There is a growing interest among farmers and consumers in increasing production and consumption of grain legumes in Sweden. This requires better knowledge among farmers and advisors about suitable species, varieties and management practices for different conditions. Since cultivar suitability and management practices are highly site-specific, farmers need to gain their own experience of new crops and practices. This paper describes a farmer–researcher collaboration in which cultivation of grain legumes for food was investigated in on-farm experiments designed, managed and evaluated jointly by a group of farmers and researchers. Farmers tested innovative practices using within-field species diversity, comparative performance of varieties and methods for weed control. Post-harvest steps such as cleaning and selling the crops were considered by farmers to be integral components of the experiments. The process generated different types of knowledge, including practical knowledge on crop management, strategic knowledge on economic sustainability and knowledge about joint learning through collaboration. The on-farm experiments combined advantages of ‘pure’ farmer experiments (i.e., context specificity) and ‘pure’ researcher experiments (i.e., scientific inquiry), facilitating deeper analysis and understanding of outcomes. This enabled efficient knowledge building, adoption of new crops and innovative practices and stimulated further experimentation. The outcomes of this study are that farmer–researcher collaborations using on-farm experiments can stimulate collective learning by stimulating the exchange between participants and combining complementary perspectives throughout the experimentation process. The study also provides recommendations for facilitating on-farm experiments in future work, for instance using collective settings to evaluate the results.

Two prevailing trends in livestock production include increasing farm sizes and higher recycling rates of manure. Using beef cattle farms in China as a case study, we examine the impact of farm size on farmers' choice of manure disposal modes. Three forms of manure disposal modes are identified: (1) selling to neighboring farmers, (2) giving away to neighboring farmers and (3) self-use. Based on primary data from a field survey of beef cattle farmers in China, we estimate the choice of the above-mentioned three disposal modes using the constrained singular Seemingly Unrelated Regression (SUR) model. We find a significant and nonlinear impact of farm size on farmers' choice of manure disposal modes. Specifically, there is a significant and inversed U-shaped relationship between farm size and manure giving away, and a significant U-shaped relationship between farm size and manure selling or self-use. We additionally find several other factors that affect farmers' choice of manure disposal: the educational level of a farmer has a positive impact on manure selling; the better a farmer's physical health condition, the more likely the farmer self uses manure and less likely gives it away; land acquisition, as well as engagement in crop farming, increases manure self-use and reduces manure giving away and selling; the availability of manure treatment facilities reduces manure self-use; and the willingness of nearby crop growers to accept manure significantly decreases manure self-use and increases manure selling and giving away. Policy implications are also discussed.

Determining an effective approach to replacing chemical fertilizer with organic fertilizer is a difficult challenge for the Chinese government. This paper constructs a dynamic analysis framework with broader application than previous statistical and case studies by theoretically deriving the impact of farmers' participation in contract farming on their organic fertilizer application behavior. The framework analyzes farmers' intertemporal organic fertilizer application behavior under the two scenarios of participation and nonparticipation in contract farming. Participation in contract farming positively impacts organic fertilizer application behavior in both the short and long terms. Survey data from 473 vegetable farmers in Shandong province of China were used to conduct an empirical analysis, and the endogenous switching probit model was used to solve the endogeneity problem of farmers' participation in contract farming. The empirical analysis supports the above results: farmers' participation in contract farming increases their probability of applying organic fertilizer by 50.7%. Robustness tests conducted using the recursive bivariate probit model and replacing the dependent variable (the intensity with which farmers replace chemical fertilizer with organic fertilizer) confirm the research results. Further heterogeneity analysis shows that farmers' participation in contract farming has a more obvious promoting effect on organic fertilizer application behavior in the older group, the group with an education level of primary school or below and the small-scale farming group. Therefore, the government should promote participation in contract farming, especially among elderly, low-education and small-scale farmers, to improve the adoption level of organic fertilizer in China.

Biodegradable and biobased mulch films and fabrics (BDMs) are potentially sustainable alternatives to polyethylene plastic mulch film (PE) in vegetable production because BDMs can be incorporated into the soil by tillage at the end of the growing season for decomposition. However, grower adoption has been limited in part by concerns about slow degradation rates and possible adverse effects on soil health and productivity. The objective of this study was to measure the effects of soil incorporated residues from two BDMs and compost on soil chemical and physical properties and vegetable crop yield across two diverse locations [Lincoln (LNK) and Scottsbluff (SBF), NE, USA] during a 2-yr study. The BDMs, including a polylactic acid biofabric with embedded wood particles (PLA; 1.14 mm thick and 298 g m−2), and a starch-polyester bioplastic mulch film (STP; 0.015 mm thick and 20 g m−2), were applied in May 2017 for vegetable production. Mulches were incorporated in soil by tillage in September 2017 in half of the experimental plots and removed in the other half as a control. Compost was applied in fall 2017 and 2018 at rates between 42 and 60 Mg ha−1 to establish high and low (no compost) fertility soil environments within each location. Sweet corn (Zea mays) was grown in 2018 and cabbage (Brassica oleraceae) in 2019, and yield data were collected. The soil was sampled at ~6 month intervals for two years. The BDM residues had little effect on soil pH, organic matter or physical properties, but the incorporation of PLA in the soil at SBF reduced soil nitrate 6 months after the incorporation of residues. Nitrogen immobilization likely contributed to the 16% ± 5% reduction in sweet corn yield observed at SBF in plots without compost where BDM residues were incorporated compared to removed. No additional yield differences were detected in sweet corn (2018) or cabbage (2019) across locations or treatments, which suggests that BDM residues are less likely to immobilize nitrogen and reduce yield in high fertility soil environments. Given the potential environmental benefits of BDMs as an alternative to PE, future research should seek to mitigate the negative effects of BDM residues on crop yield, particularly in lower fertility soils.

Conservation practices in agricultural landscapes can greatly mitigate biodiversity loss. However, agricultural landscapes are embedded in complex, social-ecological systems and therefore require a strong social-ecological approach for effective conservation measures. The Galapagos Islands are globally recognized for their high levels of biodiversity. Nevertheless, in recent years, Galapagos landbirds have suffered rapid declines, specifically in the agricultural zone. Our study is the first to examine the farmers’ perception of landbirds in the agricultural zone of Santa Cruz, Galapagos Islands. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 38 farmers to characterize the relationship between farmers and landbirds including how landbirds affect farmers and farmers’ perceptions of landbirds. The interviewed farmers managed a diverse array of farm types including coffee in agroforestry settings (23.7%), small-scale fruit and vegetable (60.5%) and livestock production (15.8%). We found that 86.9% of farmers had a positive or neutral perception of birds despite 52.6% of farmers finding finches bothersome. The most common techniques farmers employed to deter birds were putting out food and water, using nets to protect seedbeds and crops and using protective tubes around young plants. Our results suggest a positive potential for future conservation work targeted on farmland biodiversity. Future conservation projects should also address disservices and the mitigation of crop raiding by landbirds, the uninformed use of pesticides and other pest issues such as ants and rats.

Food production on ever-dwindling agricultural land is a severe problem in Ethiopia, necessitating the adoption of more efficient and sustainable land-use strategies to feed the country's growing population. The benefits of intercropping are known to be limited by a variety of factors such as companion crop sowing date and variety. The present study was therefore initiated to evaluate the effect of varieties and planting dates of lupines in bread wheat-lupine under an additive design intercropping system in Northwest Ethiopia. Field experiments were conducted for two years in Adet and Debre Tabor experimental sites. The treatments consisted of four planting dates of lupines and two varieties of lupine. Moreover, the sole crop of bread wheat (Triticum aestivume L.), local lupine (Lupinus albus L.) and sweet lupine (Lupinus angustiflolius L.) were also included. The experiments were laid out in factorial randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. The results showed that at the Adet experimental site, the highest land equivalent ratio (LER) was recorded in the simultaneous planting of sweet lupine and bread wheat (1.3), followed by the planting of sweet lupine two weeks after bread wheat (1.23). While at Debre Tabor experimental site, the highest LER was recorded in planting sweet lupine two weeks after bread wheat (1.67). A greater area time equivalent ratio (ATER) was reported in the simultaneous planting of sweet lupine and bread wheat (1.29), followed by the planting of sweet lupine after bread wheat (1.22) at the Adet experimental site. A greater ATER was also recorded in the planting of sweet lupine after bread wheat (1.53) had the highest ATER in Debre Tabor, followed by simultaneous planting of sweet lupine after bread wheat (1.39) intercropping. This revealed that sole cropping would necessitate 29 and 53% more area, respectively, to attain the same yield as intercropping. In Adet, the simultaneous planting of sweet lupine and bread wheat intercropping, while in Debre Tabor, planting of sweet lupine two weeks after bread wheat boosted productivity, and production efficiency and is a viable option for increasing household food security.

The exponential increase in population and economic activities has led to the intensification of agriculture and aquaculture in developing countries. The Green Revolution in the 1960s and Blue Revolution in the 1980s were giant steps in this direction to meet the food demand of the burgeoning population. It resulted in the increased use of modern technology for the intensification of agriculture and aquaculture in India. However, coping with the ever-increasing demand for food has adversely impacted our environment. Hence, it is imperative that we explore sustainable practices that enable us to produce more food without compromising environmental integrity and human health. Integrated rice-fish farming is one such solution that optimizes use of resources, maintains sustainable environmental conditions and provides socio-economic stability to the farmers. This review summarizes the various integrated rice-fish cultivation systems practiced in India including traditional practices, their importance, recent development in this area and the existing challenges.

Green roof technology can partially mitigate the adverse effects of urbanization by controlling stormwater runoff, pre-filtering water, minimizing climate change outcomes and reducing heat island effects. However, improvements to current green roof systems and innovative approaches are paramount to advancing environmental benefits and consumer acceptance of this technology. Regular green roofs are hindered by high cost and mass, as well as the incorporation of large amounts of polymers. Hydroponic green roofs (HGRs) require specific setups, maintenance and frequent replacement of plant-growing substrate, with limited energy savings in the heating and cooling load of the building due to the space between the roof surface and the hydroponic setup. In this review, a comparison of regular and HGRs is provided, and research into the environmental benefits of these technologies, including stormwater control, water purification and lifecycle assessment, is summarized. Following this, the prospect of porous concrete (PC), as a combined plant-growth substrate and structural layer in a novel extensive hydroponic green roof (EHGR) design is proposed, through a compilation and analysis of recent studies reporting the feasibility of this construction material for different applications. The mechanical, hydrological and vegetative properties of PC are discussed. Finally, a new green roof system that incorporates both PC and hydroponics, termed the EHGR system, is presented. This new green roof system may help offset the effects of urbanization by providing stormwater and pollution control, runoff delay and physical and thermal benefits, while concurrently producing biomass from a reusable substrate.

Overuse of fertilizer is detrimental to the sustainability of crop production from an economic and environmental perspective. While rice side-deep fertilization technology can significantly improve fertilizer utilization efficiency, improve crop yield and reduce environmental pollution caused by improper use of fertilizer compared with conventional fertilization methods. Therefore, side-deep fertilization technology has an important role in the sustainable development of agriculture. This article describes fertilizer selection, side-deep fertilization devices and the effects of side-deep fertilization technology on rice plants and soil. We summarize the types and characteristics of side-deep fertilizers and their ratios and modes. The basic principles and characteristics of the key components of mechanical fertilization devices are described in detail, including fertilizer discharging devices (rotating disc type, outer groove wheel type, screw type), fertilizer conveying devices (pneumatic, mechanical forced type) and sensors. The effects and mechanisms of side-deep fertilization on rice growth, yield, quality, fertilizer utilization efficiency and soil microorganisms are summarized. Finally, based on current research on side-deep fertilization, future directions are identified to aid the development of this promising technology.