Organic Agriculture: Building up Sustainable Agroecosystems by Improving Soils and by Taking Advantage of Biodiversity
A special issue of Agriculture (ISSN 2077-0472).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 June 2019) | Viewed by 300
Special Issue Editors
Interests: soil fertility; plant nutrition; soil organic matter; soil use
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
In plant-based ecosystems, both biodiversity and soil quality are key factors in order to sustain good productivity. Based on this principle, organically-managed systems aim at using plant–soil ecosystem services in improving yield and food quality. Organic farms are often in the process of achieving a new status of equilibrium in plant-soil systems that can be reached over the mid or long term. In order to build up towards this equilibrium different farming practices may be applied to such agroecosystems. Among these practices, we can find (1) the use of locally available fertilizing resources (mostly organic), (2) the stimulation of plant growth promoting organisms (mostly microbiota), (3) tillage reduction, and (4) designing the plant component to include crops and accompanying plants that have been selected for their abilities to directly or indirectly benefit crops. This includes crop rotations, polycultures, cover crops, green covers and agroforestry. In this Special Issue we welcome works that show the functioning (successful or not) of organic farms in any local context throughout the world, emphasizing the changes taking place in plant-soil systems during the process of implementing organic farming practices. Well replicated mid or long-term field results are encouraged.
Prof. Dr. Joan Romanyà
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- Soil fertility building
- Agroecosystem services
- Biocontrol
- Use of legumes
- N fixation
- Crop rotations
- Reduced tillage
- Cover crops
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