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This paper explores the interplay between risk aversion, crop diversification, and food security. In poor agrarian countries, farmers' risk aversion is inherently linked to their food security, yet empirical evidence regarding this relationship remains scarce. Using field experiment data from rural Ethiopia, I find that crop diversity is a mediating mechanism through which farmers' risk aversion negatively affects food security. This finding highlights the importance of factoring in farmers' risk preferences when formulating policies aimed at promoting crop diversification among impoverished smallholder farmers as a strategy to mitigate food insecurity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Minimum Support Price (MSP) is one of the many important aspects related to agricultural development. Farmers have been demanding MSP for decades, but the demand for legalisation of MSP has been raised prominently by the contemporary farmers movement. On the one hand, farmers had been engaging in protests in Tikri, Singhu (Delhi–Haryana border) and Ghazipur (Delhi–UP border) throughout the year (2020–2021) for legalisation of the MSP. On the other hand, the government is in favour of neoliberal policy and saw the MSP as an agro-ecological and financial risk. This article uses quantitative and qualitative methods to establish a relationship between MSP, agrarian issues and the farmers movement in India. The result shows that the MSP policy has had a very negative impact on agro-ecology and groundwater conditions in Punjab, Haryana and Western UP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable pest management requires growers and regional land managers to consider the relationships among pest management practices, pest and natural enemy communities, crop loss, and multi-scalar habitat complexity. However, the causal links among these variables, in particular potential interactions between landscape and local-scale habitat complexity, remain underexplored. In the context of organically managed strawberry crops in California's Central Coast, we tested the independent effects of landscape and local habitat complexity gradients on arthropod communities and crop loss using a piecewise structural equation model (PSEM). We found that landscape-scale woody habitat proportion indirectly decreased crop loss through its positive effect on natural enemy abundance, while grassland proportion had the opposite effect due to its association with an important strawberry pest (Lygus spp.). We detected a pattern suggesting that on-farm diversification practices are most effective at reducing crop loss at an intermediate level (26%) of woody habitat proportion. Both organic-compliant insecticide application and tractor vacuuming negatively impacted natural enemies, and therefore had qualified effects on crop loss. Our study shows the key roles of native woodlands and natural enemy communities in reducing crop loss and highlights the importance of managing habitat complexity at both landscape and local scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous studies have investigated bird diversity-environment relationships in agricultural landscapes. While many studies have emphasized the importance of natural/semi-natural elements and their diversity within or surrounding farmlands, it remains unclear how crop diversity impacts birds. There is also a significant gap in our knowledge regarding the effects of temporal changes in crop composition on bird diversity. Using small farmlands in a sub-tropical city of China, we examined how spatial and temporal variation of crops and other local farmland features was linked to species diversity of birds and their traits. In small peri‑urban agricultural areas of Guangzhou, we collected bird and crop/non-crop data approximately bimonthly from December 2021 to October 2022. Overall crop diversity and seasonal crop changes were indexed by alpha diversity (Shannon-Wiener index) and beta diversity, respectively. Both alpha and beta crop diversities were positively associated with Shannon-Wiener diversity of birds. Alpha crop diversity also tended to have a positive impact on species richness. Percent cover of woody vegetation showed a positive effect on all three bird diversity indices, i.e., species richness, Shannon-Wiener diversity, and evenness. Percent cover of rice affected species richness positively and evenness negatively, whereas the effects of percent cover of corn were the opposite. In a fourth-corner analysis, the abundance of plant/seed-eating birds was negatively associated with alpha crop diversity, whereas the abundance of ground-foraging birds was positively associated with beta crop diversity. These patterns indicate that seasonally dynamic crop changes as well as local crop diversity can influence bird diversity and traits in small farmlands. They also suggest that natural/semi-natural woody vegetation, such as trees and shrubs, play a critical role in enhancing species diversity of birds in farmlands dominated by herbaceous edible crops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Relationships between crop genetic and functional diversity are key to addressing contemporary agricultural challenges. Yet, there are few approaches for quantifying the relationship between genetic diversity and crop functional trait expression. Here, we introduce 'functional space accumulation curves' to analyze how trait space increases with the number of crop genotypes within a species.We explore the potential for functional space accumulating curves to quantify genotype–trait space relationships in four common annual crop species: barley (Hordeum vulgare), rice (Oryza sativa), soybean (Glycine max), and durum wheat (Triticum durum). We also employ these curves to describe genotype–trait space relationships in the wild annual Arabidopsis thaliana, which has not been subjected to artificial selection.All five species exhibited asymptotic functional space accumulation curves, suggesting a limit to intraspecific functional crop diversity, likely due to: dominant phenotypes represented by several genotypes; or functional redundancy that might exist among genotypes. Our findings indicate that there is a diminishing return of functional diversity with increasing number of genotypes.Our analysis demonstrates the efficacy of functional space accumulation curves in quantifying trait space occupancy of crops, with implications for managing crop diversity in agroecosystems, and genetic diversity in crop breeding programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous studies have investigated bird diversity-environment relationships in agricultural landscapes. While many studies have emphasized the importance of natural/semi-natural elements and their diversity within or surrounding farmlands, it remains unclear how crop diversity impacts birds. There is also a significant gap in our knowledge regarding the effects of temporal changes in crop composition on bird diversity. Using small farmlands in a sub-tropical city of China, we examined how spatial and temporal variation of crops and other local farmland features was linked to species diversity of birds and their traits. In small peri‑urban agricultural areas of Guangzhou, we collected bird and crop/non-crop data approximately bimonthly from December 2021 to October 2022. Overall crop diversity and seasonal crop changes were indexed by alpha diversity (Shannon-Wiener index) and beta diversity, respectively. Both alpha and beta crop diversities were positively associated with Shannon-Wiener diversity of birds. Alpha crop diversity also tended to have a positive impact on species richness. Percent cover of woody vegetation showed a positive effect on all three bird diversity indices, i.e., species richness, Shannon-Wiener diversity, and evenness. Percent cover of rice affected species richness positively and evenness negatively, whereas the effects of percent cover of corn were the opposite. In a fourth-corner analysis, the abundance of plant/seed-eating birds was negatively associated with alpha crop diversity, whereas the abundance of ground-foraging birds was positively associated with beta crop diversity. These patterns indicate that seasonally dynamic crop changes as well as local crop diversity can influence bird diversity and traits in small farmlands. They also suggest that natural/semi-natural woody vegetation, such as trees and shrubs, play a critical role in enhancing species diversity of birds in farmlands dominated by herbaceous edible crops.

Agricultural diversity, productivity, and human well-being have been popular topics in recent decades, partly fueled by our quest for sustainability. However, the exact nature of the interconnections among these global priorities remains an area yet to be fully understood and explored. We contribute to this literature by examining how community well-being interacts with distinct levels of diversity and productivity in cropping systems across multiple U.S. communities. Using data at the county-level from 2010 to 2019, we first analyze how well-being varies across communities that differ in their levels of crop diversity and productivity. Then, we investigate how well-being varies across both diversity–productivity characteristics and farming intensity levels. We employ mapping techniques in conjunction with descriptive statistics to uncover and visualize patterns in well-being across contexts. Study findings show a consistent pattern of high levels of well-being across most diversity–productivity categories, with the notable exception of areas that are both highly diverse and highly productive. In addition, places with substantial commercial operations, and where agriculture contributes greatly to overall GDP and employment generally appears to have higher well-being scores compared to other places. Our analysis also reveals that there is more variability in the index of community well-being within each group than across groups of counties. Overall, the results suggest that the differences in community well-being are not solely determined by agricultural indicators, such as diversity–productivity characteristics and farming intensity levels, but also depend on contextual factors, such as social infrastructure, non-agricultural job opportunities, or local economic diversification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efficient conservation and sustainable use of crop diversity is critical to support global food and nutritional security with ex situ collections stored in over 800 genebanks in 115 countries. The challenge is to manage those collections for long-term conservation of crop diversity and sustainable use to respond to global challenges of food security and climate change. The Genebank Standards for Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agricutlure (Genebank Standards) form the overall framework for curation of ex situ crop collections, allowing considerable flexibility to develop customized approaches to conserving different crops. Stratified curation involves strategically tailoring curation to specific genebank goals, crops, priorities and resources for each accession based on all available information to prioritize accessions for long-term conservation. It implies using scarce resources where they are most needed and recognizes that accessions can be (a) fully curated to international standards; (b) partially curated for storage for a limited time; (c) archived and stored but no longer curated and available from the genebank; or (d) historical and removed entirely from the genebank. The stratified approach is consistent with the Genebank Standards and the policy framework of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Stratified curation encourages curators to make difficult decisions on accession management to better respond to challenges of curating large collections of crop diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the environmental and socioeconomic challenges associated with monoculture rubber plantations, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) emphasized the importance of utilizing and protecting crop diversity for sustainable development of rubber industry in Thailand. However, the adoption of such technology remains relatively low that makes rubber crop diversity highly controversy in Thailand. Based on data collected from 2,159 rubber households between 2012 and 2014, this study aims to investigate the impacts of crop diversity adoption on the net income of rubber farmers in Thailand by using propensity score matching models. The findings reveal that adopting rubber crop diversity has a statistically significant negative effect on rubber farmers' net income. Specifically, those engaged in rubber crop diversity experience a lower net income per person ranging from − 11,785.29 baht to -10,887.21 baht comparing their counterparts practicing monoculture rubber farming. Furthermore, such significant negative effects are exclusively observed among smallholders and rubber farmers in southern regions. Given the implementation of rubber crop diversity system usually grants environmental benefits to the local eco-systems as positive externalities without market rewards, it is imperative to provide additional incentives and support mechanisms to steam up wider adoption of rubber crop diversity for ensuring long-term sustainability of rubber industry in Thailand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers an insight on present status of on-farm conservation of landrace diversity in the European Union. The review initially examines the types of materials that are the object of on-farm conservation, assesses the current status of maintenance and reproduction within farms and gardens, explores the motivations that drive ongoing conservation efforts as a foundation for future enhancement and identifies the key actors involved and their respective roles. Secondarily, it reviews European Union policies and their provisions supporting the conservation of crop diversity in the fields, with a particular focus on regulations pertaining to the commercialization of landrace seeds. Given that the availability of propagation material remains a primary constraint to the widespread dissemination of landraces, the review also includes current achievements and identifies constraints that could be mitigated. The discussion highlights how to continue and intensify the development and implementation of agro-environmental and seed policies as well as how further collection, documentation, study and promotion of the traditional farmers' knowledge ̶ associated with the development, production and utilization of the traditional local products ̶ can improve the present situation. It is hoped that the model applied in the European Union could be also useful in other regions of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food insecurity is rising across sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where undernourishment continues to affect a large portion of the population, particularly young children. Studies examining the associations between crop diversity and childhood nutrition have recently proliferated but are characterized by inconsistent results and two key limitations. First, many studies focus only on the household level, overlooking the prospect that more diverse crops at village and regional levels may contribute to household food security. Second, many studies pool data from multiple countries, which may obscure important context-specific aspects of nutrition outcomes. Drawing on Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data from 10 SSA countries, in combination with agricultural production estimates for 112 crop species, this study explores the associations between crop diversity at multiple scales (10-, 25-, and 50-kilometer radii) and children's dietary diversity (HDDS). In addition to producing overall estimates across our sample, we measure country-specific associations to account for spatial heterogeneity. Results of the overall model show a negative association between crop diversity and dietary diversity. However, the country-specific analyses uncover extensive variability in these associations: in some cases, diversity is highly positively correlated with HDDS, while in others the estimated effect is negative or nonexistent. Our findings suggest that country-level analyses provide important nuance that may be masked in pooled analyses. Moreover, these findings foreground the importance of looking beyond household-level analyses to understand the dynamic role that local crop diversity, and its exchange across space, can play in supporting children's dietary diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diversifying agricultural systems by growing more than one crop species in an area can decrease pest and disease pressure and increase crop yields. However, there is a lack of information on how crop diversity at larger spatial scales influences pest and disease pressure. Here, we investigated how landscape‐scale crop diversity affects aphid vector communities and prevalence of non‐persistently transmitted potato virus Y (PVY).To test the influence of landscape‐scale crop diversity on PVY prevalence and aphid communities, we conducted a field study during the 2020 and 2021 field seasons in the San Luis Valley, Colorado, where we quantified aphid communities and PVY incidence at multiple sites. We then determined the association between aphid species richness and abundance and PVY incidence with landscape variables (crop diversity metrics and percentage cover of crop species) within 1, 2 and 3 km buffers from study sites.Higher crop diversity (measured as Shannon Diversity Index) led to decreased aphid species richness at a 3 km buffer in the 2021 field season. We only detected a positive association between percentage of alfalfa crop cover and aphid species richness in 2020 and aphid abundance in 2021 within a 1 km buffer.Higher crop diversity led to increased PVY incidence at a 2 km buffer in 2021 and 3 km buffer in 2020 and 2021. At a 3 km buffer in 2021, we found a positive influence of crop species richness on PVY incidence and a negative influence of crop species evenness on PVY incidence. Also in 2021, we found a positive influence of percentage of potato (virus host) on PVY incidence and a negative influence of percentage of barley (virus non‐host) on PVY incidence.Synthesis and applications. In summary, we found that landscape‐scale crop diversity impacts plant virus prevalence at spatial scales of >1 km. This suggests that potato growers could reduce PVY prevalence by geographically isolating potato fields from other potato or other PVY hosts. Crop diversity had a negative influence on aphid vector communities, so growers could reduce risk of virus spread by aphid vectors by using certified potato seed in a diversified landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

European farmland serves as a crucial habitat for many organisms, but the transition from extensive to intensive agriculture has led to a loss of biodiversity that also concerned farmland birds. Intensification has various aspects including landscape homogenisation, whereby large field blocks are created in once heterogeneous landscapes that traditionally consisted of small fields. However, some farmland specialists may indeed benefit from homogeneous landscapes, as they contain a greater share of preferred open habitats. To elucidate this paradox, we focused on a farmland specialist ground-nesting insectivorous bird, the Eurasian Skylark (Alauda arvensis), unravelling its abundance in different landscape structures. The contrasting landscape structures are found in a lowland region along the border between two countries: Slovakia with large fields and Austria with small fields. In this ''natural experiment'', bird censuses, food supply assessments, and vegetation structure analyses were carried out during the Skylark breeding season. Austria showed significantly higher local abundance of Skylark compared to Slovakia, which persisted whole season. The Skylark numbers were positively correlated with an increasing number of crop types. This positive effect of crop number was likely associated with higher food availability at sites with more crops, highlighting the role of diverse crop compositions in fostering a stable food supply for farmland birds. These results indicate that even open-habitat farmland specialists benefit from the landscape heterogeneity provided by small fields composed of different crops. Slovakia-Austria differences highlight the need for context-specific conservation that should also be a concern for agri-environmental measures within the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy.

Technologies like genetic modification and editing (GME) present exciting opportunities to improve ecological sustainability and biodiversity. They do, however, have several ethical quandaries. The advantages and challenges of using GME in the context of ecosystem restoration and strategies for mitigating climate change remained poorly unknown. This review highlights the current use of GME technologies in biodiversity, ecological integrity, and wildlife conservation for protecting a species’ genetic integrity and promoting environmental adaptation. We found that the slow use of GME technologies was due to the public's varied ethical perspectives, which are influenced by cultural, religious, and ethical consumerism factors. This study emphasizes the critical need for open and honest regulations, stakeholder involvement, and moral standards to successfully negotiate the morally complex dilemmas of genetic modification and editing technologies for biodiversity conservation and a sustainable future.

The current agroecological transition of agriculture pushes to a diversification of cropping systems, which requires quantified data describing crop successions. “Crop successions indicators 2015-2021” dataset provides a set of twenty synthesis indicators to characterize crop diversity, crop seasonality, particular components of crop successions and duration of crop rotations. Indicators are computed for a seven-year period from 2015 to 2021. Data source are raw crop sequences open access dataset. Indicators are available for municipalities, departments, regions and the whole mainland France, for arable land. A group of experts in agronomy has been associated to this work, in order to define relevant themes, relevant indicators and relevant indicator definitions. This dataset could be useful to characterize agricultural practices on a given territory, for researchers, local actors as decentralized state services, water agencies, territorial collectivities, chambers of agriculture, or agricultural cooperatives. Proposed indicators could be useful for policy makers to monitor the evolution of cultivation practices, in order to design, implement or evaluate measures targeting cultivation practices.

Sustainable pest management requires growers and regional land managers to consider the relationships among pest management practices, pest and natural enemy communities, crop loss, and multi-scalar habitat complexity. However, the causal links among these variables, in particular potential interactions between landscape and local-scale habitat complexity, remain underexplored. In the context of organically managed strawberry crops in California’s Central Coast, we tested the independent effects of landscape and local habitat complexity gradients on arthropod communities and crop loss using a piecewise structural equation model (PSEM). We found that landscape-scale woody habitat proportion indirectly decreased crop loss through its positive effect on natural enemy abundance, while grassland proportion had the opposite effect due to its association with an important strawberry pest (Lygus spp.). We detected a pattern suggesting that on-farm diversification practices are most effective at reducing crop loss at an intermediate level (26%) of woody habitat proportion. Both organic-compliant insecticide application and tractor vacuuming negatively impacted natural enemies, and therefore had qualified effects on crop loss. Our study shows the key roles of native woodlands and natural enemy communities in reducing crop loss and highlights the importance of managing habitat complexity at both landscape and local scales.

Increasing cropping system diversity has great potential to address environmental problems associated with modern agriculture, such as erosion, soil carbon loss, nutrient runoff, water pollution, and loss of biodiversity. As with other agricultural sciences, plant breeding has primarily been conducted in the context of dominant monoculture cropping systems, with little focus on multicrop systems. Multicrop systems have increased temporal and/or spatial diversity and include a diverse set of crops and practices. In order to support a transition to multicrop systems, plant breeders must shift their breeding programs and objectives to better represent more diverse systems, including diverse rotations, alternate-season crops, ecosystem service crops, and intercropping systems. The degree to which breeding methods need to change will depend on the cropping system context in question. Plant breeding alone, however, cannot drive adoption of multicrop systems. Alongside shifts in breeding approaches, changes are needed within broader research, private sector, and policy contexts. These changes include policies and investments that support a transition to multicrop systems, increased collaboration across disciplines to support cropping system development, and leadership from both the public and private sectors to develop and promote adoption of new cultivars.

This paper analyses the potential impacts of a hypothetical implementation of the Income Stabilisation Tool (IST) in France for the field crops sector. The IST is a risk management tool available within the 2014–2020 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to support farmers facing a severe drop in their incomes. This analysis was conducted using a farm‐level model relying on expected utility theory and based on positive mathematical programming with risk. The model was applied to a sample of 1375 field crop farms in France derived from Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) data. Simulation results show that the uptake rate of the tool is relatively low, less than 37% in all scenarios. It is strongly dependent on CAP public support and on how much premium farmers have to pay. Highest uptake rates are observed in farms specialising in Other Field Crops, such as potatoes, pulses and sugar beet, and farms located in regions highly exposed to climatic risks. Previous experience with insurance favours the acceptance of the IST. Model results also show that the IST improves adopters' income and reduces income inequality. However, its impacts on crop diversity, measured by the Shannon index, are negative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sweet potato [Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.] varieties can be distinguished by their flesh and skin colors (white, yellow, orange, and purple). The present study was undertaken to assess on-farm diversity and the status of genetic erosion of sweet potatoes in Haramaya district, Ethiopia. Data were collected for similarity/dissimilarity index, preference index, and genetic erosion. The result of the preference index indicated the highest preference index (25.60) with preference rank 1 recorded for the BeelaBochol genotype as the lowest preference index (12.10) was recorded for the BeelaBaleyso genotype. About 66% of the respondents use the intercropping system for sweet potato cultivation. The majority of respondents 97% observed loss of sweet potato varieties. Eighty-two percent of the respondent farmers suggested the use of their seed source for planting. About 73% of the respondents suggested the cultivation of sweet potato as a subsistence crop. The major constraints of sweet potato cultivation, as suggested by the respondents, were tiresome land preparation 37%, lack of improved variety 26%, land scarcity 23%, and market demand 15%. It can be concluded from the result of the present study that farmers can identify and prefer sweet potato genotypes frequently using storage root yield and boiled quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Managing landscapes to increase multiple services provision in search of higher agricultural yield can be an alternative to agricultural intensification. Nonetheless, to properly guide management, we need to better understand how landscape structure affects multiple services at different scales. Objectives: Focused on synergies and trade-offs in real-world landscapes, we investigated how and at which scale landscape features related to the supply, demand and flow of services act as a common driver of pollination and pest control in coffee plantations. Methods: Considering landscapes in an important coffee-producing region in Brazil, we tested the effects of forest and coffee cover, distance to forest, forest-coffee edge density and coffee edge diversity at multiple scales on pollination and pest control by birds, bats and ants. Results: Coffee edge diversity (number of land uses in contact with coffee) was an important driver of pollination and pest control, being consistently relevant at local scales (up to 300 m). However, services were also affected by other landscape features and the ‘scale of effect’ of these relationships varied. Additionally, results show the complex nature of pest control once the direction of effect revealed services and disservices. Conclusions: Besides reinforcing the importance of known landscape effects, this study adds to previous studies by showcasing the relevance of diverse land uses around coffee crops as a common driver of pollination and pest control provision by different species. Moreover, we highlight how understanding the combined local and landscape effects may aid in offsetting disservices and tackling the variety of ‘scales of effect’ found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban gardening is becoming increasingly popular in the U.S., in metro and nonmetro communities alike, to address rapid urbanization and food insecurity. Urban gardens are incredibly diverse systems, and likely have equally diverse invertebrate communities. To support this growing trend, more information is needed on invertebrate communities that impact crop production. The primary objective of this study was to describe invertebrate community composition at 10 urban community gardens across two counties in Indiana. We also aimed to identify possible mechanisms that determine community assemblages, such as garden size, surrounding land use, ground cover management, and crop diversity. Using pitfall traps, sticky cards, and in-situ visual assessments, we determined that herbivores represent the dominant feeding guild at community gardens, and herbivore counts were highest on zucchini and tomato. However, sentinel prey releases suggested that predators and parasitoids are important regulators of pest populations. Overall, the assemblage of feeding guilds was similar across sites, suggesting a common metapopulation present in the surrounding landscape. On-farm practices that had the greatest influence on insect diversity were crop diversity, the presence of floral resources, and ground cover management. Insect diversity was positively correlated with crop diversity, and pollination activity was associated with flowering crops, namely dill. Parasitoid counts on sticky cards were often associated with sites that had more ground cover, such as straw mulch. This study provides useful insights on the dominant invertebrate groups present at urban community gardens in Indiana and accessible on-farm practices to improve farm biodiversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change increases stressors that will challenge the resiliency of global agricultural production. Just three crops, wheat, maize, and rice, are estimated to sustain 50% of the caloric demand of the world population, meaning that significant loss of any of these crops would threaten global food security. However, increasing cropping system diversity can create a more resilient food system. One crop that could add diversity to wheat-dominated cropping systems in the inland Pacific Northwest is proso millet, a climate-resilient, small-seeded cereal crop that is highly water efficient, able to grow in low fertility soils, and has a desirable nutritional profile. Proso millet shows potential for adoption in this region due to its short growing season, compatibility with regional equipment, and environmental requirements, however US cultivars have been developed for the Great Plains and little research has been conducted outside of this region. To better understand the potential for adoption in the inland PNW, seven commercially available varieties were planted in a researcher-run trial in Pullman, WA and in a series of producer-run trials across the region in 2022. Samples were analyzed for mineral concentration (Zn, Fe, Cu, Mn, Mg, Ca, P, and K), seed morphology phenotypes (seed area, seed eccentricity, thousand seed weight, and seed color), and agronomic phenotypes (grain yield, plant height, days to heading, days to maturity, and percent emergence). Varieties from the researcher-run trial showed significant differences for all traits excluding percent emergence. Samples from producer-run trials showed differences by location for concentration of all minerals and for all seed morphology traits but were not analyzed for agronomic phenotypes. Samples from producer-run trials showed no difference by variety for mineral concentration but showed varietal differences for all seed morphology phenotypes. Most minerals were positively correlated with one another (0.28

Agricultural intensification not only increases food production but also drives widespread biodiversity decline. Increasing landscape heterogeneity has been suggested to increase biodiversity across habitats, while increasing crop heterogeneity may support biodiversity within agroecosystems. These spatial heterogeneity effects can be partitioned into compositional (land‐cover type diversity) and configurational heterogeneity (land‐cover type arrangement), measured either for the crop mosaic or across the landscape for both crops and semi‐natural habitats. However, studies have reported mixed responses of biodiversity to increases in these heterogeneity components across taxa and contexts. Our meta‐analysis covering 6397 fields across 122 studies conducted in Asia, Europe, North and South America reveals consistently positive effects of crop and landscape heterogeneity, as well as compositional and configurational heterogeneity for plant, invertebrate, vertebrate, pollinator and predator biodiversity. Vertebrates and plants benefit more from landscape heterogeneity, while invertebrates derive similar benefits from both crop and landscape heterogeneity. Pollinators benefit more from configurational heterogeneity, but predators favour compositional heterogeneity. These positive effects are consistent for invertebrates and vertebrates in both tropical/subtropical and temperate agroecosystems, and in annual and perennial cropping systems, and at small to large spatial scales. Our results suggest that promoting increased landscape heterogeneity by diversifying crops and semi‐natural habitats, as suggested in the current UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, is key for restoring biodiversity in agricultural landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dominance of a few staple crops (maize, rice, and wheat) in most agricultural systems hampers the application of interventions to improve food security and nutrition. Research and development attention has focused on improving the production and utilization of these crops, leaving other crops under‐researched and underutilized. Subsequently, there have been high malnutrition rates due to poor diet diversity, yet there are "opportunity crops" that remain under researched. The opportunity crops can unlock solutions to food insecurity, malnutrition, a lack of biodiversity, and indeed poor climate adaptation. The study explored diversification in agricultural systems to analyze whether reorientation of research investment to include under‐researched crops can increase nutrient gain and enhance dietary diversity. Research outputs benchmarked as the number of publications from three leading African universities, Nairobi, Pretoria, and Ghana, were related to crop diversity and nutrition of crops in five clusters: cereals, vegetables, legumes, roots and tubers, and nuts. The findings show that maize was the predominantly researched crop across the three institutions. Low research outputs were observed for pearl millet, finger millet, and yam across the three institutions: amaranth and nightshade (Pretoria), sweet potatoes (Pretoria and Ghana), Marama bean (Nairobi), and soya bean (Nairobi and Ghana). There was nutrient gain across all five clusters, particularly from under‐researched indigenous crops such as finger millet, amaranth, nightshade, yam, sweet potatoes, Marama bean, and soybean. Nutrient gain was contributed more by cereals and root and tuber crops from Pretoria, vegetables and nuts (Ghana), as well as legumes (Nairobi). The findings demonstrate that incorporating research on the least researched crops with successful integration of other research and development initiatives (policy and dissemination) can increase nutrition and improve dietary diversity. The nutrient gain will positively affect food security and nutrition, contributing to the achievement of Africa Agenda 2063, the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals, and reducing food imports. The findings can inform research investment and decision across different institutions within the African continent. Research investment targeting crops such as finger millet, amaranthus, sweet potatoes, soya beans, and cashew nuts is needed considering the nutritional contribution, climate change adaptability, market potential, and biodiversity contribution. Further analysis should explore production, socio‐economic (marketability and income generation), and environmental gains (adaptive ability to climate change) for specific crops. The development of frameworks to guide the analysis of the nature and scope of factors affecting the contribution of these crops to food security and nutrition, as well as research on specific crops considering geographic distribution and institutional involvement, is also needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of marketization on crop diversity and dietary diversity is very contested. Therefore, more empirical work is needed to unpack the multidimensional factors that underpin these processes. This article expands the analytical understanding of the linkages between these dimensions by looking at the case of Uzbekistan. First, it uses quantitative methods to assess the hypotheses that (a) wealth leads to higher dietary diversity; (b) agricultural marketization leads to lower dietary diversity; and (c) crop diversity leads to higher dietary diversity. Regression analysis shows that only wealth is an independent determinant of dietary diversity. Second, the article uses qualitative data to argue that state policies and social norms, by influencing food availability, knowledge and nutritional values, are key to unpacking the relationships between marketization, crop diversity and dietary diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the robust literature base that has explored links between household crop diversity and children's dietary diversity, evidence continues to yield mixed results regarding the efficacy of crop diversity in improving childhood dietary outcomes. Given the variance in the association between agrobiodiversity and dietary diversity, we identified wealth and distance to markets as potential factors that may impact these relationships. Through a series of Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regressions, this study examines the associations between crop diversity and dietary diversity among households at different levels of wealth in 10 sub-Saharan African countries. Drawing on the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series and Demographic and Health Surveys system, we find that the significance and direction of the association between crop diversity (as proxied using the Simpsons Diversity Index) and children's dietary diversity (as measured using the Household Dietary Diversity Score) vary by wealth quintile across countries and households: in richer households, crop diversity has a negative effect on dietary diversity, and in poorer households, there is no significant effect. This study indicates the need to understand contextual factors that impact the relationship between agricultural diversity and dietary diversity to inform development policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small-scale farmers make up the majority of farmers worldwide yet experience particularly high rates of food insecurity. A growing body of literature explores pathways to food and nutrition security among small-scale farmers but has yet to reach consensus on the most effective pathways (e.g., crop specialization for market sale versus on-farm crop diversification for home consumption) to improve livelihoods. Using structural equation modelling (SEM) based on data drawn from the 2015/16 Uganda National Panel Survey, this study considers how farm and household characteristics including gender, age, education, farm size, region, and off-farm income relate to market engagement (farm sales, market purchases) and on-farm crop diversity (Simpson's diversity). We then further examine how market engagement and on-farm crop diversity relate to household livelihood outcomes including dietary diversity and food security (number of food secure months). Findings suggest that both higher levels of market engagement and on-farm crop diversity are associated with increased dietary diversity. Higher levels of crop diversity—whether for market sale or for self-consumption—are strongly associated with improved food security. Market engagement is positively associated with increased dietary diversity, and this association is particularly strong for market purchases. Together, these findings highlight the potential for both market-based strategies and on-farm crop diversity to contribute to food security goals in Uganda, providing further evidence that these strategies can be complementary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Societal Impact Statement The global success and expansion of a small pool of major crops, including rice, wheat and maize, risks homogenising global agriculture. Focusing on the agriculturally diverse Ethiopian Highlands, this study tested whether farm diversity tends to be lower among farmers who grow more introduced crops. Surprisingly, it was found that farmers have successfully integrated introduced crops, resulting in more diverse and heterogenous farms without negatively impacting indigenous crop diversity. This is encouraging because diverse farms, comprising indigenous agricultural systems supplemented by introduced crops, may help address global challenges such as food insecurity. Summary The global expansion of a handful of major crops risks eroding indigenous crop diversity and homogenising agroecosystems, with significant consequences for sustainable and resilient food systems. Here, we investigate the farm‐scale impact of introduced crops on indigenous agroecosystems. We surveyed 1369 subsistence farms stratified across climate gradients in the Ethiopian Highlands, a hotspot of agrobiodiversity, to characterise the richness and cultivated area of the 83 edible crops they contained. We further categorise these crops as being indigenous to Ethiopia, or introduced across three different eras. We apply non‐metric multidimensional scaling and mixed effects modelling to characterise agroecosystem composition across farms with different proportions of introduced crops. Crops from different periods do not differ significantly in frequency or abundance across farms. Among geographically matched pairs of farms, those with higher proportions of modern introduced crops had significantly higher overall crop richness. Furthermore, farms with a high proportion of modern introduced crops showed higher heterogeneity in crop composition. An analysis of socio‐economic drivers indicated that poverty is negatively associated with the cultivated area of introduced crops. In our Ethiopian case study, global patterns of major crop expansion are not necessarily associated with agrobiodiversity loss at the farm scale or higher homogeneity across indigenous agricultural systems. Importantly, socioeconomic factors may influence farmers' propensity to adopt novel species, suggesting targets for agricultural extension policies. Given the rapid climatic, economic and demographic changes impacting global food systems and the threats to food security these entail, robust indigenous agricultural systems enriched with diverse introduced crops may help maintain resilience.

Abstract The dominance of a few staple crops (maize, rice, and wheat) in most agricultural systems hampers the application of interventions to improve food security and nutrition. Research and development attention has focused on improving the production and utilization of these crops, leaving other crops under‐researched and underutilized. Subsequently, there have been high malnutrition rates due to poor diet diversity, yet there are “opportunity crops” that remain under researched. The opportunity crops can unlock solutions to food insecurity, malnutrition, a lack of biodiversity, and indeed poor climate adaptation. The study explored diversification in agricultural systems to analyze whether reorientation of research investment to include under‐researched crops can increase nutrient gain and enhance dietary diversity. Research outputs benchmarked as the number of publications from three leading African universities, Nairobi, Pretoria, and Ghana, were related to crop diversity and nutrition of crops in five clusters: cereals, vegetables, legumes, roots and tubers, and nuts. The findings show that maize was the predominantly researched crop across the three institutions. Low research outputs were observed for pearl millet, finger millet, and yam across the three institutions: amaranth and nightshade (Pretoria), sweet potatoes (Pretoria and Ghana), Marama bean (Nairobi), and soya bean (Nairobi and Ghana). There was nutrient gain across all five clusters, particularly from under‐researched indigenous crops such as finger millet, amaranth, nightshade, yam, sweet potatoes, Marama bean, and soybean. Nutrient gain was contributed more by cereals and root and tuber crops from Pretoria, vegetables and nuts (Ghana), as well as legumes (Nairobi). The findings demonstrate that incorporating research on the least researched crops with successful integration of other research and development initiatives (policy and dissemination) can increase nutrition and improve dietary diversity. The nutrient gain will positively affect food security and nutrition, contributing to the achievement of Africa Agenda 2063, the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals, and reducing food imports. The findings can inform research investment and decision across different institutions within the African continent. Research investment targeting crops such as finger millet, amaranthus, sweet potatoes, soya beans, and cashew nuts is needed considering the nutritional contribution, climate change adaptability, market potential, and biodiversity contribution. Further analysis should explore production, socio‐economic (marketability and income generation), and environmental gains (adaptive ability to climate change) for specific crops. The development of frameworks to guide the analysis of the nature and scope of factors affecting the contribution of these crops to food security and nutrition, as well as research on specific crops considering geographic distribution and institutional involvement, is also needed.

In the Northern Great Plains, organic production is often limited by creeping perennial weeds. Producers have typically relied on alfalfa to control these weeds but this is not always practical. Therefore, we investigated Canada thistle, field bindweed, and perennial sowthistle suppression from three diversified crop sequences: (i) ALF, three years of alfalfa followed by a fourth year of hard red spring wheat (HRSW); (ii) LENCL, lentil the first year, HRSW interseeded with yellow sweetclover the second year, yellow sweetclover green manure the third year, and HRSW the fourth year; and (iii) CCPLY, nine species cool-season cover crop (CC) polyculture the first year, HRSW the second year, nine-species cool and warm season CC the third year, and HRSW the fourth year. From 2019 to 2021, at peak weed emergence, Canada thistle density declined in ALF, but remained unchanged in LENCL and CCPLY. During peak weed vegetative growth, Canada thistle density in ALF was greatest during 2020 (7 shoots per m−2), then declined during 2021 and 2022 (1 and 0.6 shoots m−2, respectively). Within LENCL, Canada thistle density did not change from 2019 to 2020 (15 and 14 shoots m−2, respectively), but then declined to 0.3 shoots m-2 in 2021 before rebounding again to 5 shoots m−2 in 2022. Within CCPLY, Canada thistle density did not change over time (mean ​= ​9 shoots m−2). Canada thistle biomass at peak weed vegetative growth followed similar patterns. Likewise, ALF was shown to suppress perennial sowthistle and field bindweed more effectively than LENCL or CCPLY. Hence, alfalfa remains a good choice for creeping perennial weed management. However, none of these weed species increased substantially in LENCL and CCPLY, and the final year HRSW yield did not differ among cropping sequences. Therefore, these two sequences may provide crop diversification options along with creeping perennial weed management.

In recent decades, China has made significant strides in food and nutrition security, yet challenges persist in the western rural regions, especially in Guangxi. Farming households in this area face heightened vulnerability due to limited arable land and environmental hazards, leading to increased efforts to boost income through horticultural crop farming. This study explores the impact of citrus farming and crop diversification on household dietary diversity within the context of the existing literature, examining trade-offs between subsistence and income-generating farming. Using OLS regression techniques and a mediating effect model, the analysis focuses on distinct contexts within citrus farming, utilizing survey data from households engaged in the cultivation of both citrus and non-citrus. Results reveal that while citrus cultivation moderately contributes to dietary diversity, its primary influence lies in encouraging farmers to diversify food purchases, with the mediating effect from market purchases exceeding 50%. Diversifying crop production, including staple crops and vegetables alongside citrus, proves more effective in enhancing dietary diversity among citrus farming households. Crop diversification positively influences dietary diversity, partially addressing household self-sufficiency. While extensive crop diversification may not be the ultimate solution to food security challenges, promoting specific diversification systems shows promise in the context of sustainable agriculture goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crop variety mixtures can provide many benefits, including pathogen suppression and increased yield and yield stability. However, these benefits do not necessarily occur in all mixtures, and the benefits of diversity may be compromised by disadvantages due to increased crop heterogeneity. In-field development of mixtures by assembling many combinations of crop genotypes without prior expectation about which genotypes need to be combined to produce well-performing mixtures results in prohibitively large designs. Therefore, effective tools are required to narrow down the number of promising variety mixtures, and to then identify in experiments which of these deliver the highest benefits. Here, we first review current knowledge about the mechanisms underlying effects in ecological diversity experiments and in current agricultural applications. We then discuss some of the principal difficulties arising in the application of this knowledge to develop good variety mixtures. We also discuss non-conventional approaches to solve some of these issues. In particular, we highlight the potential and limitations of trait-based methods to determine good variety mixing partners, and argue that nontraditional traits and trait-derived metrics may be needed for the trait-based approach to deliver its full potential. Specifically, we argue that good mixing partners can be identified using modern genetic and genomic approaches. Alternatively, good mixtures may be obtained by combining varieties that respond differently to environmental variation; such varieties could easily be identified in standard variety testing trials. Preliminary analyses show that niche differences underlying the different environmental responses can indicate functional complementarity and promote mixture yield and yield stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Societal Impact Statement: The global success and expansion of a small pool of major crops, including rice, wheat and maize, risks homogenising global agriculture. Focusing on the agriculturally diverse Ethiopian Highlands, this study tested whether farm diversity tends to be lower among farmers who grow more introduced crops. Surprisingly, it was found that farmers have successfully integrated introduced crops, resulting in more diverse and heterogenous farms without negatively impacting indigenous crop diversity. This is encouraging because diverse farms, comprising indigenous agricultural systems supplemented by introduced crops, may help address global challenges such as food insecurity. Summary: The global expansion of a handful of major crops risks eroding indigenous crop diversity and homogenising agroecosystems, with significant consequences for sustainable and resilient food systems. Here, we investigate the farm‐scale impact of introduced crops on indigenous agroecosystems.We surveyed 1369 subsistence farms stratified across climate gradients in the Ethiopian Highlands, a hotspot of agrobiodiversity, to characterise the richness and cultivated area of the 83 edible crops they contained. We further categorise these crops as being indigenous to Ethiopia, or introduced across three different eras. We apply non‐metric multidimensional scaling and mixed effects modelling to characterise agroecosystem composition across farms with different proportions of introduced crops.Crops from different periods do not differ significantly in frequency or abundance across farms. Among geographically matched pairs of farms, those with higher proportions of modern introduced crops had significantly higher overall crop richness. Furthermore, farms with a high proportion of modern introduced crops showed higher heterogeneity in crop composition. An analysis of socio‐economic drivers indicated that poverty is negatively associated with the cultivated area of introduced crops.In our Ethiopian case study, global patterns of major crop expansion are not necessarily associated with agrobiodiversity loss at the farm scale or higher homogeneity across indigenous agricultural systems. Importantly, socioeconomic factors may influence farmers' propensity to adopt novel species, suggesting targets for agricultural extension policies. Given the rapid climatic, economic and demographic changes impacting global food systems and the threats to food security these entail, robust indigenous agricultural systems enriched with diverse introduced crops may help maintain resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Agricultural impacts on field margin plants vary with spatial resolution and extent. • Plant richness is explained locally by agricultural practices. • Plant richness is explained by climate and crop diversity at large-scales. • Plant composition responds more to fertilization and crop diversity at large-scales. • Agricultural effects are better detected at a regional scale and are region-specific. In recent decades, agricultural intensification has led to a strong decline in biodiversity. Field margins act as shelters and dispersal corridors for biodiversity in highly disturbed landscapes, and are critical to the maintenance of ecosystem services. However, they are also impacted by agricultural practices in neighboring fields. Agricultural impacts are often studied at field to landscape scales, and rarely across biogeographic regions. One of the challenges in large-scale studies is the lack of standardized monitoring schemes including both biodiversity and accurate estimation of agricultural practices. Here, we take advantage of a national monitoring scheme in 462 sites in France, to assess the effects of agricultural practices on field margin flora at different extents and resolutions. We used spatial simultaneous autoregressive and generalized dissimilarity models to assess the response of plant richness and composition to climatic, soil and landscape conditions, and to agricultural (fertilization, herbicides) and margin management drivers. Analyses were repeated at the site-level, 40 and 75 km resolutions, and at regional and national extents. We found that the impact of agricultural practices on species richness was most important at the site-level, whereas climate and crop diversity became more important at the 75 km resolution. Compositional variations responded differently, with climate being more important at the site-level, and fertilization and crop diversity at the coarsest resolution. There was a strong variation in the variance explained by models among regions, but climate effects were weaker within biogeographic units compared to the national level, and different agricultural practices stood out as influential in different regions, suggesting that the regional context is fundamental in determining plant community structure. To efficiently conserve biodiversity, we therefore recommend the implementation of agricultural measures adapted to each region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]