La Montaña region, in southern Mexico, is characterized as a highly human-modified landscape with a rough topography, extreme poverty and structural violence. In this region, Xuajin Me'Phaa, an Indigenous non-governmental organization conformed by ca. 300 peasants, implements productive restoration projects and trades organic hibiscus (Hibiscus sabdariffa L.) as its main monetary income. Nonetheless currently, organic hibiscus yield is low compared to the potential yields in the region. Thus, it is necessary to explore alternative sustainable land management systems which enable farmers to increase hibiscus crop productivity, while halting land degradation. This study assessed the impact of six different agroecological fertilization protocols (AFPs) on hibiscus productivity planted in an alley cropping system with Calliandra houstoniana trees. The AFPs were based on the combination of three local plant amendments: C. houstoniana mulch, Mucuna pruiriens var. utilis green manure and hibiscus stover, and a commercial bio-fertilizer (Azospirillum + Rhizophagus). Simultaneously, the performance of C. houstoniana trees was assessed. The AFPs were applied in the alley cropping system and evaluated from 2016 to 2018. After 3 years, in the AFPs which included C. houstoniana mulch, hibiscus yielded significantly more (419 ± 27 kg dry calyxes ha−1 in average) than AFPs which did not include this species (264 ± 15 kg ha−1). The 18-month-old C. houstoniana trees yielded 0.6 t ha−1 of dry biomass and 1.12 t ha−1 of wooden stakes, a relatively low production. In conclusion, our results show that alley cropping with a denser arrangement of C. houstoniana trees in combination with mulching of this tree species, and use of mucuna green manure represent a promising agroforestry system for organic hibiscus production.

Faced with a society that demands the reduction of negative environmental impacts of agriculture while producing high-value, healthy food for local and export markets, Argentina is currently in a debate on the alternative paths toward sustainability in agricultural production. Argentina is ranked second in the world in terms of land under organic certification. Extensive sheep production in Patagonia natural grasslands accounts for most of this area and harvested organic area remains a very small fraction of total harvested land (0.6%). This paper aims to contribute to the discussion of opportunities and limitations in organic farming as an ecological intensification alternative for Argentina's Pampas. A case study was conducted on Pampa Orgánica Norte. This is a group of nine organic farmers that manages field crops and livestock-certified organic production. Farmers interviewed in this study considered different criteria including economic and environmental attributes when choosing to produce organically. However, the main drivers for conversion to organic production are related to environmental factors, in particular ecosystem protection. The main limitations in organic production are related to crop management practices, primarily weed control. To achieve the goal of increasing organic production a more active role of the public sector in technology generation and transfer was demanded by farmers.

Worldwide, voluntary agri-environmental programs encourage farmers to adopt environmentally friendly practices. However, the impact of program design on farmers’ participation and long-term practice persistence is unclear. Toward improving program effectiveness, this study illustrates the value of a tailored practice-specific approach to agri-environmental program design. We present a case study of programs promoting cover crops, a conservation practice that can improve soil health and reduce nutrient pollution, drawing from five focus groups with farmers (n = 20) and program administrators (n = 14) in the U.S. Midwest (Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana). Participants perceived cover crop programs to best support farmers is characterized by flexibility and minimal transaction costs. Participants suggested a more data-driven approach to program design particularly for understanding the farm-level economic implications of cover crop use. Integrating financial planning and participatory research components alongside traditional financial incentives and technical assistance were proposed as valuable strategies to enhance program design and broaden the appeal of conservation practices like cover crops.

Smallholder farming systems need climate-proofing and sustainable intensification practices such as conservation agriculture (CA), are promising options. However, there is a general perception that the adoption of CA systems in southern Africa is low. Sentinel sites, where CA has been promoted for a long time, offer forward-looking new insights. This paper, thus, takes a deep dive at Nkhotakota district of Malawi to understand what could have led to the success of CA promotion and subsequent perceived high adoption. We use survey data from 620 farmers, with 298 farmers sampled from treatment areas – known to have had contact with host farmers and 320 from a control group. Overall, 31% of the farmers in both groups adopted full CA over at least a 2-year period. We also find that about 57% of farmers in the treatment area adopted full CA and only 7% of farmers in the control areas. This highlights that longer-term CA promotion with dedicated extension support can enhance the uptake of CA practices. In essence, this paper offers a different perspective to the current narrative that CA systems are too complex and knowledge intensive to be adopted despite its long-term promotion and significant investments. However, there are some nuances: sustained adoption even in sentinel sites is neither 100% nor persistent over the long term. We find an appreciable adoption decay, showing large declines from highs of 57 and 7% in adoption for at least 2 years for treatment and control, respectively, to 12% in the treatment group and practically zero in the control when we condition full CA adoption to at least 7 years. This means that fewer farmers adopted CA for a longer period and suggests some dis-adoption over time even in sentinel sites. The key adoption enablers in the sentinel sites include the availability of training, dedicated longer-term extension support coupled with farmer experiential learning through demonstration plots managed by host farmers. Based on our findings, there is need to consistently promote CA using farmer-centric approaches that include peer-to-peer learning over long periods. This allows farmers time to experiment with different CA options, enable behavioral and lasting change. At policy level, there is need to build and strengthen farmer groups to facilitate easier access to inputs like leguminous crop seeds for farmers practicing CA and to offer market-smart incentives to induce initial adoption in the short term to facilitate sustained adoption.

Diversifying the simplified landscape of corn and soybeans in the Midwest is an emerging priority in both the public and private sectors to reap a suite of climate, social, agronomic, and economic benefits. However, little research has documented the perspectives of farmers, the primary stakeholders in diversification efforts. This preliminary report uses newly collected survey data (n = 725) from farmers in the states of Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa to provide descriptive statistics and tests to understand what farmers in the region think about agricultural diversification, including their perspectives on its benefits, barriers, and opportunities. For the purposes of the study, we define diversification as extended rotations, perennials, horticulture, grazed livestock, and agroforestry practices. We find that a majority or plurality of farmers in the sample believe that diversified systems are superior to non-diversified systems at achieving a range of environmental, agronomic, and economic goals, although many farmers are still forming opinions. Farmers believe that primarily economic barriers stand in the way of diversification, including the lack of affordable land, low short-term returns on investment, and lack of labor. Farmers identified key opportunities to increase diversification through developing processing capacity for local meat and specialty crops, increasing demand for diversified products, and providing more information on returns on investment of diversified systems. Different interventions, however, may be needed to support farmers who are already diversified compared to non-diversified farmers. Building on these initial results, future studies using these data will develop more detailed analyses and recommendations for policymakers, the private sector, and agricultural organizations to support diversification.

Traditional cultural landscapes play an important role in providing environmental, economic, social, and cultural values. These sustainable landscapes originate from extensive agricultural activities and need regular maintenance for preservation. They often lack economic viability and are threatened by the huge pressure of agricultural intensification. This study follows the idea of a market-based way of compensation for the cultivation of multifunctional agricultural landscapes by marketing the products of these landscapes. In order to increase consumer demand for products from traditional cultural landscapes, this article aims to identify appropriate communication measures by assessing consumers’ associations and knowledge of juice from orchard meadows (OM). Willingness to pay (WTP) was measured by using the contingent valuation method. The results show that specific product attributes of products from traditional cultural landscapes result in an additional WTP of consumers. In communication of a traditional cultural landscape product like OM juice, it is important to highlight especially three product attributes to consumers: the local origin, the environmentally friendly and organic production, and the naturalness of the landscape.

Agroforestry plantings offer a promising ecologically based solution to address agricultural resource concerns while simultaneously achieving conservation goals, because they provide multiple benefits including reduced soil erosion, decreased nutrient runoff, increased biodiversity and greater farm income stability. Despite these benefits, the adoption of agroforestry practices remains low throughout the United States. One approach intended to increase the implementation of these ecologically beneficial practices is to offer financial incentives for landowners. Several USDA conservation programs provide applicant landowners with financial and technical resources to implement approved conservation practices, including tree planting. Missouri offers a unique socio-political context for the application of agroforestry tree plantings in established conservation programs as it is currently the only state with an Environmental Quality Incentives Program fund pool dedicated to agroforestry and woody crop establishment. To gather initial information on the potential for agroforestry in Missouri, seven conservation professionals from prominent agencies, including Natural Resource Conservation Service and University of Missouri Extension, were interviewed. The purpose of these interviews was to gather in-depth knowledge on (1) the current dialogue around trees in conservation programs between natural resource professionals and landowners (2) the relationships between landowners and conservation agencies and (3) the professionals' knowledge of and familiarity with agroforestry practices. Preliminary findings suggest there are misconceptions about the requirements and regulations for conservation programs among landowners and conservation professionals. Another common theme was that conservation agencies face challenges in forming long-term connections with landowners, and they rely primarily on landowners to reach out for assistance. Lastly, conservation professionals are supportive of agroforestry but wish for greater knowledge of the practices before promoting them to landowners. Due to the small sample size of interview participants, these insights provide one perspective into the agroforestry knowledge of natural resource professionals. These initial findings will help direct future research on how well natural resource professionals understand agroforestry concepts and how they are engaging with Missouri farmers to support them in planting trees on their land.

One of the most incredible aspects of the Mexican Baja Peninsula is the immense wealth of plant and animal diversity it holds. The human communities living alongside this richness have boundless intimate knowledge of its natural history, potentially with novel insights into the ecological and evolutionary processes shaping the diversity of plants and animals. These same human communities have likely also witnessed changes to these natural environments over their lifetimes, particularly as the effects of global change are being felt by similar rural communities around the world. However, because the area is so remote, they often have little access to scientific data or current information about the causes or effects of the changes they observe. Using a thematic analysis of recorded conversations, this project seeks to connect remote rural ranches in Mexico with scientists, to gather data on the issues that matter most to the community members, and work to find collaborative solutions. Through thematic analysis of recorded conversations, our research reveals that unpredictable climate variability, including droughts, hurricanes, and shifting seasonal patterns, poses significant challenges to ranching livelihoods. Ranchers’ deep ecological knowledge provides critical insights into the stresses of changing and increasingly unpredictable environmental trends. By integrating local perspectives with scientific approaches, this study highlights the potential for collaborative biodiversity research.

Emerging farmers, including immigrant farmers, play an increasingly important role in the food system of the Upper Midwestern United States but face significant barriers to success. One important barrier is the lack of culturally relevant and system-specific training and technical assistance, particularly related to soil health and nutrient management. A team of researchers and farm support professionals was convened to conduct a farmer engagement process consisting of a survey and focus groups to better understand the experiences and wisdom that emerging farmers already have, and their educational needs related to soils. The broader goal was to inform the development of culturally relevant tools and training. Here we identify key takeaways related to content needs and learning style preferences. While emerging farmers are already skilled in assessing physical and biological aspects of soil health, they often need support in understanding chemical properties of soil, how to do soil testing, and how to translate soil test results into actionable practices. Additionally, many emerging farmers have experience in other countries and in agricultural systems based on practices such as shifting cultivation. Supporting farmers as they adapt these practices to a Midwest context requires educators to learn about these systems and value the expertise of farmers from diverse farming backgrounds. There is a particular need for more nuanced and farm scale-specific training about inputs in highly diversified, mostly organic systems, especially related to compost and manure management. In terms of learning styles, farmers preferred hands-on training opportunities with as much mentorship and peer learning as possible. Many Midwestern emerging farmers participate in incubator farm programs for beginning growers. While such programs provide valuable access to land and infrastructure, they often lack the capacity to provide tailored participant mentorship. This leaves program graduates unsure about how to utilize soil health and nutrient management practices when they start their own farms. To improve soil health and nutrient management outcomes for emerging farmers, we propose investing in train-the-trainer type programs for farmer leaders and staff with beginning farmer organizations. These programs should include tailored one-to-one mentorship and peer learning with an emphasis on organic inputs, chemical aspects of soil health, and diversified production systems.

Over the last century seed systems have undergone a process of commercialization, resulting in the transformation of seed from a common good into a commodity. Countries such as the United States are dominated by the private seed industry, which has succeeded in reducing crop diversity and increasing farmer dependency on commodity seed (i.e., seed that is bought and sold) through such mechanisms as seed hybridization, intellectual property protections, and the proliferation of genetically engineered crop varieties. Commodity seed has become necessary to support food production, but concurrently has created a positive feedback loop that solidifies corporate control within the seed industry while concurrently disincentivizing traditional agricultural practices such as seed saving. In contestation, growers nationally and globally have called for change both within and outside of market structures – advocating for the revalorization of the vast array of social, cultural, and environmental benefits that seeds have that are not being properly protected by those with the most power in the seed industry. Using insight from 31 semi-structured interviews with growers involved in Vermont's farmer seed systems, this study elucidates some of the non-commodity values that growers hold for the seeds they source from both non-commercial and commercial sources. Our results highlight how growers appreciate such non-commodity values as provenance and diversity and are working to provide a social and environmental safeguard for seeds through seed saving. At the same time, many growers also acknowledge the convenience and modern necessity of commodity seed, highlighting the importance of supporting alternative seed industry structures that are more socially and environmentally responsible. These findings stress the importance of acknowledging the multidimensionality of US farmer seed systems, whereby market and non-market exchanges can coexist and work toward creating more just and sustainable seed systems without ceding to complete commodification devoid of social import.

Honeybees (Apis mellifera) and native bee species have ecological, economic, social, and cultural importance to smallholder coffee farmers. While the ecological contributions of bees to the sustainability of coffee systems are well documented, particularly in relation to the coffee crop, fewer studies have examined socio-economic dimensions of beekeeping for honey as an agroecological diversification strategy for coffee producers. Yet, understanding the multiple values of different diversification strategies is important as many coffee farmers in different parts of the world are finding it increasingly difficult to make a living on coffee alone and are adopting alternative strategies, such as on-farm diversification. In this Participatory Action Research (PAR) study, we examined the opportunities, limitations, and trade-offs of beekeeping (with A. mellifera) as an agroecological diversification option for smallholder coffee farmers in Chiapas, Mexico. We applied a mixed-methods approach, which consisted of monthly surveys with 25 beekeepers of Campesinos Ecológicos de la Sierra Madre de Chiapas (CESMACH)/Apicultores Miel Real del Triunfo (ART) producer cooperatives for 12 months and five focus groups between 2018 and 2019. We found that beekeeping is less labor-intensive than coffee, and there are opportunities to integrate beekeeping into the annual farming cycle of coffee and maize production without causing competing labor demands or additional time pressures. We also found that beekeeping could generate economic gains for peasant families; however, profitability hinged on various factors, such as the price for honey, yield per hive, and the number of beehives. Our results further show that beekeeping yielded multiple non-monetary benefits by contributing to the nutrition and health of farmer families and their communities, serving as a vehicle for horizontal learning and relationship building, and contributing to the emotional well-being of beekeepers. Finally, producers who hoped to gain economically from beekeeping were generally interested in growing their apiaries but expressed concerns about limited technical knowledge and the impacts of climate change. Given the multiple social, economic, and ecological benefits of beekeeping, it has great promise as a part of agroecological food and farming systems. We argue that efforts to promote beekeeping as a diversification strategy should take a holistic approach, underscoring the potential of apiculture to enhance the well-being and resilience of beekeeping families and strengthen food sovereignty and local economies (including solidarity economies) in peasant communities. These findings can be useful in supporting beekeepers and their organizations in strategic planning for enhancing the long-term sustainability of beekeeping.

The pastoral systems of Eastern Africa have been affected by the alternated incidence of recurrent drought and flood for the last decades, aggravating poverty and local conflicts. We have introduced an innovation to convert floods to productive use using water spreading weirs (WSW) as an entry point to capture and spread the torrential flood emerging in the neighboring highlands into rangelands and crop fields of low-lying pastoral systems in Afar, Ethiopia. The productivity and landscape feature have changed from an abandoned field to a productive landscape within 3 years of intervention. The flood patterns and sediment loads created at least four different crop management zones and productivity levels. Based on moisture and nutrient regimes, we developed land suitability maps for integrating crops and forages fitting to specific niches. The outcome was a fast recovery of landscapes, with 150% biomass yield increment, increased access to dry season feed and food. These positive outcomes could be attributed to the proper design of weirs, joint planning and execution between pastoralists, researchers and development agents, identification and availing best-fitting varieties for each management zone and developing simple GIS-based parcel level maps to guide development agents and pastoralists. The major ‘agents’ were community leaders (‘Kedoh Abbobati’) who keenly debated potential benefits and drawbacks of innovations, enforced customary rules and byelaw and suggested changes in approaches and choices of interventions. In general, an innovation system approach helped to create local confidence, attract attention of government institutions and helped local actors to identify investment areas, develop implementation strategies to increase productivity, define changes as it occurs and minimize conflicts between competing communities. However, the risk of de facto use of a plot of communal land translating into long-term occupation and ownership may be impacting a communal territory and social cohesion that was subject to other collective choice customary rules.

Organic matter water extract, or so-called ‘tea’, may be used to correct nutrient deficiencies in crops or enhance their defense systems. Such tea mixtures are prepared locally by Mediterranean farmers to offset a multitude of constraints, particularly a scarcity of organic manure or high synthetic input costs. However, the diverse range of tea production and usage practices and farmers' underlying rationales have yet to be thoroughly studied. Yet locally they constitute real alternatives that allow farmers to maintain their income levels while reducing reliance on chemical inputs. The main objective of this study was to gain insight into farmers' rationale and practices regarding the production of homemade dry manure tea (HMT) in North Africa, while also highlighting the benefits perceived by farmers. Nearly 50 interviews with farmers were thus conducted in three irrigated cropping areas in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. Our results showed that HMT is widely used in intensified family horticultural cropping systems that usually rely on drip irrigation and chemical fertilization. The analysis of farmers' practices revealed that HMT was generally made from aged manure that was pure or consisted of a mixture of sheep, cow or poultry dung. The production protocol varied in terms of drenching techniques, maceration time, container volume and type, and filtration techniques. Farmers applied the derived tea via the drip irrigation system, regularly or with a limited number of applications. The analysis of farmers' rationales and perceptions regarding HMT clearly highlighted that they felt that these practices played a positive role. HMT was considered to improve vegetative growth, yield and, to a lesser extent, soil properties. These benefits could in turn lead to decreased use of synthetic fertilizers by farmers, while boosting their income. The increased understanding of HMT and the underlying rationales showcased in this study could help scientists better analyze and assess these practices in the future. The findings could also facilitate improvement and wider dissemination of these practices to achieve more sustainable irrigation systems in the intensified irrigated cropping areas that abound in North Africa.

Rapid changes in economic, environmental and social conditions generate both problems and opportunities in agriculture. The cycle from problem identification through discovery of potential solutions is lengthy. The objective of this study was to use collaborative methods to speed the cycle of discovery in sustainable organic strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa) production systems in the southeastern USA. This method, stakeholder-driven adaptive research (SDAR), combines farmers' experiential knowledge with scientists' experimental knowledge to develop rigorous research design collectively. Farmers evaluated our biological research and co-designed research experiments with scientists. Farmers and other stakeholders (1) evaluated on-station experiments individually and then made recommendations as a group, (2) served as advisory council members to direct our goals and objectives, and (3) conducted farmer field trials where they implemented aspects of our on-station experiments under their management regimes. The results eliminated potential solutions that were not feasible, ineffective or too costly for farmers to adopt. Key results included eliminating treatments using high tunnel systems altogether on one field trial on a University of Florida (UF) research facility, adding a leguminous cover crop mix treatment, adding companion planting, and eliminating strawberry cultivars Strawberry Festival and Florida Beauty from our research trials. Our proposed methodology allows farmers and other stakeholders to inform the biological research from design through dissemination to reduce the time needed to create research products in an era of rapid bio-physical, social and economic change. Accelerating the discovery cycle could significantly improve our ability to identify and address threats to the USA and global food and fiber production system.

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.

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.

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.