Catálogo de publicaciones - revistas

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Due to war conditions, the local farmers had to largely rely on their own crop production, mainly by subsistence farming, in Tigray, North Ethiopia. We assessed the crop stands in 2021 and evaluated the level of resilience of the indigenous farming system. Quantitative data were collected from 161 farm parcels in various ecoregions of this tropical mountain region, in order to detect the share of sown land, crop types, and their status. This participatory monitoring was accompanied by semi-structured interviews. Farmers cultivated their farms late, left it uncultivated or marginally sowed oil crops as improved fallow (28%), due to lack of farming tools, oxen, fertilizer, seeds, or manpower. As compared to peace years, only few lands were sown with sorghum as there was active warfare in the sorghum planting period. The relatively good stands of wheat and barley (47%) are in line with the farmers’ priority given to cereals. Teff got a large land share because it could be sown up to the middle of the main rainy season and because farmers had consumed the seeds of their major cereal crops (wheat and barley) when hiding for warfare. Seeds left from consumption were only sown by late June, when troops had retreated, and the communities could revive. With almost no external support, the local farming system has proven to be remarkably resilient, relying on indigenous knowledge and local practices, block rotation, manure, improved fallow, changes in relative importance of crops, seed exchange, and support for one another. This is the first analysis of the socio-agronomic roots of the 2021–2022 Tigray hunger crisis, with a cereal harvest that could not at all sustain the local population as the planting season had been largely missed. The ability of the indigenous farming system to partially rebounce in times of autarky is another novel finding.</jats:p>

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>The convergence among the rise of digital technologies, the attention paid to the localized issues of transitions in practices toward agroecology, and the emergence of new open innovation models are renewing and reviving the scientific community’s interest in on-farm experimentation (OFE). This form of experimentation is claimed to be enhanced by digital tools as well as being an enabler of production of credible, salient, and legitimate science insofar as it embraces a farmer-centric perspective. However, the forms of research in which some experimental activities on farms are anchored vary greatly, notably with regard to the actual forms that interventions on farms take, the legitimacy of the actors involved and their roles, or the observations and instruments applied for interpretation. We propose a systematic review of the literature and an analytical framework in order to better understand this diversity of practices behind on-farm experimentation. Our analysis segregated six major publication clusters based on themes appearing in titles and abstracts. These themes guided a more in-depth analysis of representative articles, from which we identified seven types of OFE practices that are described and discussed here with regard to the knowledge targeted, roles of the various actors, and on-farm experimental space. Our typology provides an original basis for supporting reflexivity and building alignment between the above-mentioned dimensions and the ways in which new tools can support the experimental process.</jats:p>

<jats:title>Abstract </jats:title><jats:p>Despite being located within a primary region of crop diversity, documentation of Tajik crop and crop wild relative (CWR) resources is far from comprehensive, particularly regarding CWR. Here, we compile the first inventory of food CWR of Tajikistan. A total of 549 food CWR taxa belonging to 36 families and 125 genera were documented as occurring in the country. Among them, 71 taxa were recognized as native close relatives of globally important crops (category 1A), 67 as native distant relatives of these crops (1B) and 411 as native taxa with an undetermined relationship to these crops (1C). This documented CWR diversity far exceeds previous scientific assessments for the country and, in doing so, distinguishes the Tajik region from surrounding countries. Within the country, the results indicate a clear gradient of food CWR taxonomic richness from the eastern part of the country (least diversity) to the western part (greatest diversity). This trend adds important new information to the body of literature published by N. I. Vavilov and others, who mainly stressed the importance of the Pamir region (Eastern Tajikistan) for crop and CWR diversity.</jats:p>

<jats:title>Abstract </jats:title><jats:p>Both from the environmental and economical perspective, reducing the use of mineral nitrogen and herbicides is one of the future challenges in cereal production. Growing winter cereals on perennial legume living mulch such as white clover (<jats:italic>Trifolium repens</jats:italic> L.) or lucerne (<jats:italic>Medicago sativa</jats:italic> L.) is one of several options to reduce the need for mineral nitrogen fertilizer and herbicides in winter cereal production. Given the importance of winter cereals in the world, adopting this technique could greatly improve the sustainability of crop production. Through competition with the crop however, the living mulch can negatively affect cereal yield. Here, we (i) review how living mulch can be introduced in the system, (ii) synthetize potential advantages and disadvantages of that system, and (iii) explore different strategies to control the competition between the crop and living mulch. The major findings are that (i) competition between cereals and mulch can lead to significant yield reductions if not controlled properly and (ii) perennial legume varieties used as living mulch so far are varieties bred for forage production. We hypothesize that a dedicated breeding program might lead to living mulch varieties with a smaller impact on cereal yield compared to forage varieties, allowing to grow cereals with reduced nitrogen and herbicide inputs. We propose the main characteristics of an ideotype for such a perennial legume variety.</jats:p>

<jats:title>Abstract </jats:title><jats:p>Despite the acknowledged benefits of crop diversification, the transition towards more diversified cropping systems needs to be supported, mainly due to socio-technical lock-ins favoring major dominant crop species. This calls for the development of new approaches to support the design of locally tailored diversified cropping systems. This paper aims to present an original participatory and multi-actor design approach, developed to support the introduction of camelina (<jats:italic>Camelina sativa</jats:italic>) into the cropping systems of northern France and to provide some insights about the characteristics, the specificities, and the limits of this approach to support its use and adaptation to other contexts. For 3 years, and in connection with the development of an oilseed biorefinery, we gathered a variety of actors (farmers, advisors, engineers in agronomy, researchers, and industrialists) to locally support the introduction of camelina in the cropping systems. First, we illustrate the diversity of the modalities that have been collectively imagined to introduce and manage camelina in the local cropping systems. Then, we describe the originality and the diversity of the knowledge produced on camelina, especially during the assessment of some of these modalities within on-farm experiments. Finally, drawing on concepts and theories from design sciences, we show that (i) the pre-existence of networks of actors, (ii) the rationale involvement of the actors, (iii) the implementation of a situated design process fueled by action and distributed among actors, (iv) the sharing and the circulation of knowledge among a diversity of actors involved in the production and use of the new crop, and (v) the implementation of an effective network management contributed to foster the three key elements that we identified as crucial to support crop diversification, namely, the production of actionable knowledge, the exploration of new ideas/concepts, and the active participation of a diversity of actors of the agri-food system.</jats:p>

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Legume-supported cropping systems affect environmental, production, and economic impacts. In Europe, legume production is still marginal with grain legumes covering less than 3% of arable land. A transition towards legume-supported systems could contribute to a higher level of protein self-sufficiency and lower environmental impacts of agriculture. Suitable approaches for designing legume-supported cropping systems are required that go beyond the production of prescriptive solutions. We applied the DEED framework with scientists and advisors in 17 study areas in nine European countries, enabling us to describe, explain, explore, and redesign cropping systems. The results of 31 rotation comparisons showed that legume integration decreased N fertilizer use and nitrous oxide emissions (N<jats:sub>2</jats:sub>O) in more than 90% of the comparisons with reductions ranging from 6 to 142 kg N ha<jats:sup>−1</jats:sup> and from 1 to 6 kg N<jats:sub>2</jats:sub>O ha<jats:sup>−1</jats:sup>, respectively. In over 75% of the 24 arable cropping system comparisons, rotations with legumes had lower nitrate leaching and higher protein yield per hectare. The assessment of above-ground biodiversity showed no considerable difference between crop rotations with and without legumes in most comparisons. Energy yields were lower in legume-supported systems in more than 90% of all comparisons. Feasibility and adaptation needs of legume systems were discussed in joint workshops and economic criteria were highlighted as particularly important, reflecting findings from the rotation comparisons in which 63% of the arable systems with legumes had lower standard gross margins. The DEED framework enabled us to keep close contact with the engaged research-farmer networks. Here, we demonstrate that redesigning legume-supported cropping systems through a process of close stakeholder interactions provides benefits compared to traditional methods and that a large-scale application in diverse study areas is feasible and needed to support the transition to legume-supported farming in Europe.</jats:p>

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Facing the ecological and social crisis that the agrifood systems cross, a profound transformation of food systems is required, necessitating systemic and sustainable innovations. Sustainability assessments are generally performed to identify and/or validate the improvement in sustainability conferred by a designed artifact relative to the current or standard situation. However, they can have many other benefits in the design process. Here, we review the place, role, and conditions of use of sustainability assessment in innovation design processes in agrifood systems. By cross-referencing published findings and our own experience, we formalize a design process highlighting the place of sustainability assessment, whether design is intended for the creation of an agricultural or food artifact. We identify three types of assessment: initial diagnosis, screening between solutions at the ideation stage, and evaluation at the prototyping and development stages. We discuss ways of performing each of these assessments and highlight general key points about sustainability assessment. A first set of key points relate to criteria and indicators, a second set to the role of stakeholders, a third one to the adaptive nature of the assessment, and the last one to the uncertainty consideration. These key points provide guidance for efficient assessment in the design of innovations to increase the sustainability of agrifood systems. Thus, we demonstrate that the design process of innovations for sustainable agrifood systems requires (1) to formalize the place and mode of assessment, (2) to make use of relevant sustainability criteria and indicators, (3) to reinforce participatory practices, and (4) to adapt the assessment to the context of the designed artifact, to facilitate choices between imperfect solutions. Such an approach aims to promote innovations that meet the expectations of the system’s direct stakeholders, but also integrate the needs of invisible actors such as the environment or the well-being of populations.</jats:p>