1. Mineral-Ecological Cropping Systems—A New Approach to Improve Ecosystem Services by Farming without Chemical Synthetic Plant Protection
- Author
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Beate Zimmermann, Ingrid Claß-Mahler, Moritz von Cossel, Iris Lewandowski, Jan Weik, Achim Spiller, Sina Nitzko, Christian Lippert, Tatjana Krimly, Isabell Pergner, Christian Zörb, Monika A. Wimmer, Markus Dier, Frank M. Schurr, Jörn Pagel, Adriana Riemenschneider, Hella Kehlenbeck, Til Feike, Bettina Klocke, Robin Lieb, Stefan Kühne, Sandra Krengel-Horney, Julia Gitzel, Abbas El-Hasan, Stefan Thomas, Martin Rieker, Karl Schmid, Thilo Streck, Joachim Ingwersen, Uwe Ludewig, Günter Neumann, Niels Maywald, Torsten Müller, Klára Bradáčová, Markus Göbel, Ellen Kandeler, Sven Marhan, Romina Schuster, Hans-W. Griepentrog, David Reiser, Alexander Stana, Simone Graeff-Hönninger, Sebastian Munz, Dina Otto, Roland Gerhards, Marcus Saile, Wilfried Hermann, Jürgen Schwarz, Markus Frank, Michael Kruse, Hans-Peter Piepho, Peter Rosenkranz, Klaus Wallner, Sabine Zikeli, Georg Petschenka, Nicole Schönleber, Ralf T. Vögele, and Enno Bahrs
- Subjects
food security ,pesticide-free agriculture ,biological control ,nutrient efficiency ,resistance breeding ,equidistant seeding ,Agriculture - Abstract
The search for approaches to a holistic sustainable agriculture requires the development of new cropping systems that provide additional ecosystem services beyond biomass supply for food, feed, material, and energy use. The reduction of chemical synthetic plant protection products is a key instrument to protect vulnerable natural resources such as groundwater and biodiversity. Together with an optimal use of mineral fertilizer, agroecological practices, and precision agriculture technologies, a complete elimination of chemical synthetic plant protection in mineral-ecological cropping systems (MECSs) may not only improve the environmental performance of agroecosystems, but also ensure their yield performance. Therefore, the development of MECSs aims to improve the overall ecosystem services of agricultural landscapes by (i) improving the provision of regulating ecosystem services compared to conventional cropping systems and (ii) improving the supply of provisioning ecosystem services compared to organic cropping systems. In the present review, all relevant research levels and aspects of this new farming concept are outlined and discussed based on a comprehensive literature review and the ongoing research project “Agriculture 4.0 without Chemical-Synthetic Plant Protection”.
- Published
- 2021
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