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”.
Highlights
Global population growth and rising yield risks pose an increasing challenge to global food security [1,2,3]
The optimization of cropping systems in terms of related ecosystem services seems most feasible at the level of cultivation measures (Table 2). Site factors such as landscape structure, which are important determinants of biodiversity regardless of cropping practices, determine the level of ecosystem services provided by agricultural landscapes [54,56,66,67]
In the design of this new cropping system, new and existing technologies are combined with agroecological practices [26] to promote natural regulatory processes, and to optimize mineral fertilization and non-chemical curative crop protection. This aims at improving the overall ecosystem services of agricultural landscapes based on (i) improved provision of regulating ecosystem services compared to conventional cropping systems and (ii) improved supply of provisioning ecosystem services compared to organic cropping systems
Summary
Global population growth and rising yield risks pose an increasing challenge to global food security [1,2,3]. In addition to reducing food waste and changing dietary habits [13,14,15], agriculture is challenged to develop longterm sustainable, site-appropriate cropping systems that are able to meet local and global requirements in terms of environmental protection and food security. At the level of cultivation measures, the potential provision of ecosystem services [17,18,19] by the new MECSs is analyzed and compared to alternative cultivation measures applied in organic and conventional cropping systems. Expectations for these new cropping systems are discussed from economic, ecological, and social perspectives, based on literature and expert knowledge of the research consortium. This contribution is intended to stimulate further research on MECSs under varying natural and economic conditions
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