PowerPoint Presentation 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: global food security; provision of ecological services; food and environmental health; adaptation to climate change; preservation of the biological and cultural diversity of agricultural landscapes. Analysis Design Agroecological design Experiments Modelling Network analysis Landscape ecology Co-innovation Social learning games Agent-based systems Evolutionary systems design Sustainable Food Baskets Multifunctional Landscapes Agro-ecosystem properties & functions Social-ecological Interactions Ecological intensification Organic farming Conservation agriculture Crop-livestock integration Pure graze animal production Complex adaptive systems Pest suppressive landscapes Ecosystem services Resilience 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 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 Allema Quantifying 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 ASK JOSE ABOUT RELATION TO PRODUCTION COSTS 8 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 Descheemaeker Promoter: Pablo Tittonell Busseola Fusca Technology / innovation adoption ? Combining spatio-temporal, socio-economic and institutional and policy settings 10 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? 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 » 19 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 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 23 Example from a Dutch dairy landscape Landsacape level interactions 24 Biocontrol Pesticide use Current landscape? Natural biocontrol pollination Profitable agriculture Landscape aesthetics biodiversity Water quality Groot and Rossing, 2010 Designing pest suppressive landscapes Nectar Aphids Lepidoptera Felix Bianchi 12/02/13 25 A methodological framework Fields, landscape elements Farms Landscapes FarmIMAGES FarmDESIGN FarmSTEPS FarmDANCES FieldIMAGES NDICEA RotSOM RotErosion LandscapeIMAGES ActorIMAGES Spatial coherence Landscape metrics Nutrient balance Labor balance Water balance Economic results Nutrient balance Crop yield Organic matter Nutrient uptake Soil erosion Nutrient losses Feed balance Nutrient losses Water balance Plant diversity Economic results Nutrient losses 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 cycles Action: 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? 27 Farm design Describe Design Explore Explain Validate Groot et al., 2012. Agricultural Systems. 28 FSE in the world (PhD theses) Current theses ‘Inherited’ theses Start in 2013 29 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 Ecological intensification must be precised in terms of how much, where and how Farming systems research (analysis) is not the same as farming systems design (synthesis) Agroecological innovation can draw inspiration from nature and from local knowledge systems Ecological intensification depends on patterns-functions operating at the landscape level Moving across scales implies meeting trade-offs concerning resource allocation decisions Five guiding heuristics 31 Thanks for your attention