Post on 22-Sep-2014
description
Farming Systems Ecology Group
Farming Systems Ecology
6 Scientific staff, 2.5 Postdocs, 15 PhD Students, 4 Support staff1, 2 Guest researchers
Vision: To be an internationally leading player in the fields of research and education that, through a farming systems approach, contributes alternative answers to the major problems facing current agriculture, namely:
(i) global food security; (ii) provision of ecological services; (iii) food and environmental health; (iv) adaptation to climate change; (v) preservation of the biological and cultural diversity of agricultural landscapes.
Analysis
Design
Agroecological design Experiments
ModellingNetwork analysis
Landscape ecologyCo-innovation
Social learning gamesAgent-based systemsEvolutionary systems
design
Sustainable Food Baskets
Multifunctional Landscapes
Agro-ecosystem
properties & functions
Social-ecological
Interactions
Ecological intensificationOrganic farmingConservation agricultureCrop-livestock integrationPure graze animal productionComplex adaptive systemsPest suppressive landscapesEcosystem servicesResilience and adaptation
How?
What?
Integration level
Human-nature
Territory
Agro-ecological resilience
Farming systems
Soil biology and manure decomposition
Biology of decomposition and nitrogen mineralization of solid cattle manure in production grasslands
Muhammad I. Rashid Peat (FYM) Peat (slurry) Sand (FYM) Sand (slurry)
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10000
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80000 MitesSpringtailsSpringtails+Mites
Manure management history
Mic
ro-a
rthr
opod
s de
nsity
(#/m
2)
Tying stall: farmyard manure +some liquid manure
Background
Improving the agro-environmental value of cattle straw manure
Shah, G.A.
Nutrient cycling and N emissions
Ground beetle dispersal – The Netherlands
Video tracking
Mark-release recapture
Simulations
5 m2 36 m2 2500 m2
105 m2 day-1 3 m2 day-1 18 m2 day-1
No effect of crop type, gender or feeding level
No effect of vegetation density No effect of gender
Bas AllemaQuantifying ground beetle dispersal in an agricultural landscape
Supervisors: Walter Rossing, Wopke van der Werf, Joop van Lenteren
Rice-ducks-fish-azolla - Indonesia
Uma Khumairoh
Designing intensive production systems
Michoacan, Mexico
Intensification pathways
Cortez-Arriola et al., subm.
Productivity per animal
Productivity per unit labour
Evolutionary systems design
Ecological intensification of livestock grazing systems in the East of Uruguay
Student: Andrea Ruggia
Supervisors:Santiago Dogliotti (FAGRO)Walter Rossing
Promotor:Pablo Tittonell
Impact of structural and functional changes in smallholder landscapes on pest incidence
Case of maize stem borers in Ethiopia
Yodit Kebede
Felix Bianchi, Fred Baudron, Diego Valbuena, Katrien DescheemaekerPromoter: Pablo Tittonell
PhD Thesis: Spatially Explicit Multifunctional Landscape Assessment: A Case Study in Llano Bonito, Costa Rica
Sanjeeb Bhattarai
Bruno Rapidel (CIRAD), Jacques Wery (SupAgro), Jenny Ordonez (ICRAF), Walter Rossing & Pablo Tittonell (WUR)
Simulation and gaming for improving local adaptive capacity;The case of a buffer-zone community in Mexico
E.N. Speelman (2008-2013)Supervisory team
J.C.J. Groot, L.E. Garcia-Barrios, P. Tittonell
Mapa de la Reserva de la Biosfera de la Sepultura. Fuente: CONANP
Simulation and gaming - Mexico
Kondwani Khonje
Social networks and knowledge systems
How does the nature and strength of social networks affect adoption of soil and water conservation technologies?
Scales and dimensions
Biophysical
Field & cropping system
Farm & farming system
Landscape & territory
Regions & sectors
Soil-Plant/ organism
Socio-economic
Renewed FSE research strategy• Ecological intensification as a structuring concept;• Reinforce ‘Design’ as our core business;• Focus on farming systems, ecological services and the landscape;• Develop boundary approaches to interface Ecology and Society;• Deploy parallel strategies for North and South;
Farming systems ecology
Crop & weed ecology
Soil quality group
Organic plant breeding
Animal production systems
Plant production systems
Farm technology group
Innovation & communication
studies
Rural sociology
New challenges, new developments
Analysis
Design
Sustainable Food Baskets
Multifunctional Landscapes
Agro-ecosystem
properties & functions
Social-ecological
Interactions
Our guiding paradigm
Yield potential Soil quality
Precision agriculture
Ecological Intensification(Cassman, 1999)
Produce more, but produce
differently
Ecological Intensification(Doré et al., 2010)
Make intensive use of the natural functionalities that ecosystems offer...
Ecological intensification: how?
1. Mobilising advances in plant sciences
2. Lessons from natural ecosystems
3. Valorisation of farmers’ knowledge and lay expertise
4. Synthesising knowledge through meta- and comparative studies
5. Ecological intensification in the ‘agronomy’ curricula
Recent advances in plant sciences
… making intensive use of the natural functionalities that ecosystems offer…
Definitions of ‘design’
Goewie, 1993
To decide upon the look and functioning of an object by making a detailed drawing of it:
« a number of architectural students were designing a factory»
To do or plan (something) with a specific purpose in mind:
« the tax changes were designed to stimulate economic growth »
Research Design
Analysis
Synthesis
Structure
Function
Purpose
Structure
Function
Purpose
Structure
Function
Purpose
Purpose
Function
Structure
Purpose
Function
Structure
Purpose
Function
Structure
New facts, new reality
ConclusionsDecisions
Knowledge
Questions
Problems
Reality (agroecosystems)
Designing agricultural systems by mimicking nature
The SCV (systèmes sous couverture végétale)
Non-disturbed soil structure Permanent vegetation cover Biomass inputs to the soil Nutrient recycling Exploration of multiple strata above and below
ground
Structure
Function
Fernando Funes-Monzote
Intensive low-input systems in Cuban agriculture
Input Output
Input Output
Specialized System
Agro-diverse System
Externalities
Externalities
Re-desin: Produce more, but produce differently…
Ecoefficiencies
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Africa Asia Europe Latin America North America Oceania
Mill
ion
ton
ne
s o
f N p
er
yea
r
Fertiliser use
N fixation (agriculture)
N fixation (natural)
Dry deposition
Wet deposition
Magnitude of anthropogenic and natural nitrogen inflows per continent
Seufert et al., 2012
Organic vs. Conventional crop yields
Conversion to organic farming in La Camargue, France
Innovative cropping systems
Systems analysis
(i) Bio-economic models (BEM): Plausible futures
(iii) Land use/cover change models (LUCC): Most probable spots for change
(ii) Multi-agent models (MAS): Possible pathways Delomtte, 2011
How can agricultural intensification and wildlife be best accommodated in a village territory?
Baudron, Delmotte, Herrera, Corbeels, Tittonell
Landsacape level interactions
Intensification through conservation agriculture to preserve habitats and biodiversity
Agent-based modelling
Example from a Dutch dairy landscape
Landsacape level interactions
Bio
contr
ol
Pesticide useCurrent landscape?
• Natural biocontrol• pollination• Profitable agriculture• Landscape aesthetics• biodiversity• Water quality
Groot and Rossing, 2010
Designing pest suppressive landscapes
Nectar
Aphids
Lepidoptera
Felix Bianchi
A methodological framework
Fields, landscape elements
Farms
Landscapes
FarmIMAGESFarmDESIGNFarmSTEPSFarmDANCES
FieldIMAGESNDICEARotSOMRotErosion
LandscapeIMAGESActorIMAGES
Spatialcoherence
Landscapemetrics
Nutrient balance
Labor balance
Waterbalance
Economicresults
Nutrient balance
Crop yield
Organicmatter
Nutrient uptake
Soilerosion
Nutrient losses
Feedbalance
Nutrientlosses
Waterbalance
Plantdiversity
Economicresults
Nutrientlosses
Co-innovation and Modeling Platform for Agro-ecoSystem Simulation – Groot et al., 2012
COMPASS
Land use systems
Collective decisions
Trade-offs across scales
Attic Agro-ecosystem diversity, Trajectories and Trade-offs for Intensification of Cereal-based systems
A Cimmyt-Wageningen collaboration in the context of the CRP Maize and Wheat
Diego Valbuena (WUR)
Bruno Gerard (CIMMYT) Jeroen Groot (WUR)Santiago Lopez Ridaura (CIMMYT)Fred Baudron (CIMMYT) Andy McDonald (CIMMYT)Tim Krupnik (CIMMYT)Katrien Descheemaker (WUR)Pablo Tittonell (WUR)
3 new PhD to start in 2013
Evolutionary learning cyclesAction:
Implementing a ‘bright idea’
Observation:Find out
consequences
Analysis:What are
implications?
Plan:Which
improvements?
Describe: What?
Explain: Why?
Explore Diversify What if?
Design Select Which?
Farm design
Describe
Design
Explore
Explain
Validate
Groot et al., 2012. Agricultural Systems.
FSE in the world (PhD theses)
Current theses
‘Inherited’ theses
Start in 2013
1. Affholder, F., Tittonell, P., Corbeels, M., Roux, S., Motisi, N., Tixier, P., Wery, J., 2012. Ad Hoc Modeling in Agronomy: What Have We Learned in the Last 15 Years? Agronomy Journal 104, 735-748. 2. Tittonell, P., Scopel, E., Andrieu, N., Posthumus, H., Mapfumo, P., Corbeels, M., van Halsema, G.E., Lahmar, R., Lugandu, S., Rakotoarisoa, J., Mtambanengwe, F., Pound, B., Chikowo, R., Naudin, K., Triomphe, B., Mkomwa, S., 2012. Agroecology-based aggradation-conservation agriculture (ABACO): Targeting innovations to combat soil degradation and food insecurity in semi-arid Africa. Field Crop Res., 1-7. 3. Baudron, F., Tittonell, P., Corbeels, M., Letourmy, P., Giller, K., 2012. Comparative performance of conservation agriculture and current smallholder farming practices in semi-arid Zimbabwe. Field crops Research 132, 117-128. 4. Lahmar, R., Bationo, B.A., Lamso, N. D., Guéro, Y., Tittonell, P., 2012. Tailoring conservation agriculture technologies to West Africa semi-arid zones: Building on traditional local practices for soil restoration. Field Crops Research 132, 158-167. Berg, 5. W. van den, Grasman, J. & Rossing, W.A.H., 2012. Optimal design of experiments on nematode dynamics and crop yield . Nematology 14(7): 773-786 6. Berhe, A.A., Stroosnijder, L., Habtu, S., Keesstra, S.D., Berhe, M. & Hadgu Meles, K., 2012. Risk assessment by sowing date for barley (Hordeum vulgare) in northern Ethiopia. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 154-155 (March): 30-37. 7. Groot, J.C.J., Oomen, G.J.M. & Rossing, W.A.H., 2012. Multi-objective optimization and design of farming systems. Agricultural Systems 110: 63-77. DOI: 10.1016/j.agsy.2012.03.012. 8. He, M., Tian, G., Semenov, A.M. & van Bruggen, A.H.C., 2012. Short-term fluctuations of sugar-beet damping-off by Pythium ultimum in relation to changes in bacterial communities after organic amendments to two soils. Phytopathology 102(4): 413-420. 9. Khumairoh, U., Groot, J.C.J. & Lantinga, E.A., 2012. Complex agro-ecosystems for food security in a changing climate. Ecol Evol 2 1696-1704. DOI: 10.1002/ece3.271. 10. Shah, G.M., Shah, G.A., Groot, J.C.J., Oenema, O. & Lantinga, E.A., 2012. Irrigation and lava meal use reduces ammonia emission and improves N utilization when solid cattle manure is applied to grassland. Agriculture Ecosystems and Environment 160: 59-65. DOI: 10.1016/j.agee.2011.07. 017. 11. Shah, G.M., Rashid, M.I., Shah, G.A., Groot, J.C.J. & Lantinga, E.A., 2012. Nitrogen mineralization and recovery by ryegrass from animal manures when applied to various soil types. Plant and Soil (Online first) DOI 10.1007/s11104-012-1347-8. 12. Zotarelli, L., Dukes, M.D., Scholberg, J.M.S., Femminella, K. & Munoz-Carpena, R., 2011. Irrigation Scheduling for Green Bell Peppers Using Capacitance Soil Moisture Sensors. Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering-Asce 137(2): 73-81.
Publications appeared during 2012
FSE: Systems approaches to ecological intensification
1. Ecological intensification must be precised in terms of how much, where and how
2. Farming systems research (analysis) is not the same as farming systems design (synthesis)
3. Agroecological innovation can draw inspiration from nature and from local knowledge systems
4. Ecological intensification depends on patterns-functions operating at the landscape level
5. Moving across scales implies meeting trade-offs concerning resource allocation decisions
Five guiding heuristics
Thanks for your attention