Conventional Production Practices Research Articles

Harnessing controlled environment systems for enhanced production of medicinal plants.

Medicinal plants (MPs) are valued for their contributions to human health. However, the growing demand for MPs and the concerns regarding their quality and sustainability have prompted the reassessment of conventional production practices. Controlled environment cropping systems, such as vertical farms, offer a transformative approach to MP production. By enabling precise control over environment factors, such as light, carbon dioxide, temperature, humidity, nutrients, and airflow, controlled environments can improve the consistency, concentration, and yield of bioactive phytochemicals in MPs. This review explores the potential of controlled environment systems for enhancing MP production. First, we describe how controlled environments can overcome the limitations of conventional production in improving the quality of MP. Next, we propose strategies based on plant physiology to manipulate environment conditions for enhancing the levels of bioactive compounds in plants. These strategies include improving photosynthetic carbon assimilation, light spectrum signalling, purposeful stress elicitation, and chronoculture. We describe the underlying mechanisms and practical applications of these strategies. Finally, we highlight the major knowledge gaps and challenges that limit the application of controlled environments, and discuss future research directions.

Putting food in the driver’s seat: aligning food-systems policy to advance sustainability, health, and security

Food is a basic need, but seldom a basic policy area. Food systems are widely governed by disconnected policies distributed across a range of sectors including agriculture, education, health, environment, economy, and security. Failure to align food system strategies often results in these disparate policies operating at cross-purposes. Conventional food production and consumption practices contribute to biodiversity decline and climate change, cause diet-related health problems, are associated with worker exploitation, and create national security risks. Drawing on agroecology for cohesive national food strategies can provide benefits across all these sectors: supporting public health, environmental sustainability, economic stability, social cohesion, and national security and sovereignty.

Tillage, green manuring and crop residue management impacts on crop productivity, potassium use efficiency and potassium fractions under rice-wheat system

The conventional crop production practices including intensive tillage and open field crop residue burning in world’ largest rice-wheat system (RWS) are adversely affecting crop productivity besides deteriorating natural resources and ecosystems’ sustainability. In order to improve system productivity, potassium (K) use efficiency and apparent K balance, adoption of conservation tillage in a RWS with residue management is considered highly effective. We therefore, studied the effect of wheat straw retention and green manure (GM) in rice (main plot treatment), and tillage and rice residue management in subsequent wheat (sub-plot treatments) on crop productivity, K use efficiency and its transformation amongst different fractions of variable solubility. These results revealed that rice straw retention along with GM significantly (p < 0.05) increased the rice yields by ∼5.3–6.7% and wheat yields by ∼10.2–16.9%, compared to the conventional tillage (CT) without GM. Green manuring during the intervening period (CTRW0+GM) significantly increased the rice grain K uptake by ∼36.2% than in plots with no-GM (CTRW0). However, it increased by ∼29.8% under CTRW25+GM, compared with CTRW25-GM treatment. As compared with CTRW0, CTRW0+GM significantly increased the reciprocal internal use efficiency of K of rice by 3.8 kg Mg−1 grain yield (∼29.5%). However, CTRW25+GM increased the RIUEK of rice by 3.3 kg Mg−1 grain yield (∼22.4%), compared with no-GM (CTRW25). Although, apparent K balance was net negative for CTRW25, ZTWR100 treatments, yet there was decreased K mining of 56–262 kg K ha−1 (∼11.9–61.2%) for CTRW25 and ZTWR100 over CTRW0 and ZTWR0. The increased crop yield, K uptake and K use efficiency were significantly related to K enrichment in water soluble K, exchangeable K, non-exchangeable-K, hydrochloric acid extractable-K, lattice-K and total K fractions by ∼1.3, 3.4, 18.6, 11.0 and 34.1%, respectively due to residue retention, compared with no residue. Therefore, conventional tillage with puddled transplanted rice (CTR) with wheat residue and green manure during intervening period (CTRW25+GM), and zero tillage wheat with rice residue retention (ZTWR100) were emerged as highly valuable technological options for mitigating soil degradation effects under intensive RWS for food grains in north-western India.

Medium-Term Effect of Organic Amendments on the Chemical Properties of a Soil Used for Vegetable Cultivation with Cereal and Legume Rotation in a Semiarid Climate

The response of a Petrocalcic Palexeroll dedicated to the cultivation of vegetables (Apium graveolens L.) with a rotation of a mixture of cereals and legumes when organic amendments are added has been studied; specifically, three fertilization treatments were experimented with: two organic (LSM and COA) and one with chemical fertilizers (I). The LSM and COA plots were managed according to the regulations governing organic production, while in I, conventional agricultural production practices were used. Over a three-year period, monthly samples were taken from the topsoil and analyzed for organic carbon (OC), total nitrogen (TN), C/N ratio, total P (P), electrical conductivity of the saturation extract (ECext) and extract ions, pH in water (pHw) and 1 M KCl (pHKCl), cation exchange capacity (CEC), exchangeable bases (Mg2+, K+, Na+), and assimilable elements (Fe, Cu, Mn, Zn). The results obtained indicated significant differences between the treatments for the OC, TN, C/N, and P; specifically, in the case of OC the mean concentrations were 22.2 &gt; 20.1 &gt; 17.5 g kg−1 for the LSM, COA, and I, respectively. The addition of organic amendments also improved the soil function for food production, evidenced by the higher concentrations of K, Mg, and micronutrients. The ECext and extracted ions were also sensitive to the treatments such that the sequence of ECext in the third year was COA = LSM &gt; I, with values of 5.0, 4.8, and 3.3 dSm−1, which forced a rethink of the doses of the amendments applied. These results suggest that the LSM-based agronomic model had a beneficial effect on the soil properties and contributed to its function as a C sink.

The implementation of the FAO Carbon Protocol (GSOC-MRV) in the experimental farm of the Ural State Agrarian University

The introduction of various methods of conservation and maintenance of soil organic carbon (SOC) reserves in soils is directly related to the active development of carbon trading markets, the evidence base for which is, in particular, the GSOC-MRV Protocol. This article presents the first results of the practice of implementing the carbon protocol on the territory of the educational farm of the Ural State Agrarian University. In particular, sites were selected to assess the carbon pool in soils under conventional agricultural production practices (BAU), as well as when implementing Sustainable Soil Management (SSM) practices. The first studies showed that as a result of applying the soil-protective agriculture practice in the form of sideration, 64 tons of Sorghum ha-1 for a layer of 0-10 cm and 48 tons for a layer of 10-20 cm were accumulated in 5 years on experimental plots. The approximate rate of soil organic carbon accumulation for the conditions of the Middle Urals when using sideral crops is about 11 carbon units per year. The work was carried out within the framework of the State Task of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, number FEUZ-2023-0023 Ural-Carbon project.

The gap between university studies and labour market in journalism: opening educational community example in China

With the rapid development of information and communication technology, conventional news production practices have been disrupted and have evolved to meet the needs of new media era. The labor market also puts forward new requirements for journalism education. This article aimed to investigate the contradiction between supply and demand of journalism talent training and how to cope with it. Universities curricula and labor market demands was examined by the method of online survey, content analysis and interviewing students.Findings show that companies are increasingly keen to employ the people who have new media skills, video production/data analysis skills, previous experience, good communication ability and the ability to work under pressure. Despite difference that existed, some universities offer burgeoning practical and interdisciplinary courses. There is still a gap between the universities curricula and market demand. Finally, this study proposes the concept of "Opening educational community" to cope with the changes of media labor market and bridge the gap between them.

Advanced practice-aided tile drain configuration: A solution to achieving environmentally sustainable agricultural production

Alternatives to conventional crop production practices are needed to achieve environmental sustainability. Because tile-drained crop production systems in the Midwestern United States are one of the single largest contributors to environmental degradation, we explored alternative tile drain configurations by changing the tile spacing and depth of tile-drained fields in central Illinois and then by evaluating comprehensively the impacts of different tile drain configurations on crop productivity and environmental sustainability using the Root Zone Water Quality Model 2 (RZWQM2). An analytic hierarchy process (AHP), which is a multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) tool, was used to evaluate the optimum tile spacing and depth scenario. The model simulations and AHP tested three management schemes designated as “agricultural productivity” (AP), “environmental sustainability” (ES), and “advance in technology” (AT). The schemes were designed based on three criteria: operational cost, crop profit, and environmental control. Analysis showed that deeper tiles and narrower tile spacing resulted in decreases in flow and nitrate loss from runoff, seepage (SP), and lateral flow (LF), and increases in tile flow, total nitrate loss, and crop yields. On the basis of MCDA, the AP management scheme resulted in higher CP and total nitrate loss, whereas opposite outcomes were generated by the ES management scheme. Under the AT management scheme, higher ranked scenarios resulted in higher CP and lower total amounts of nitrate entering streams. Our analysis indicates that the AT scheme can simultaneously enhance crop production and ES through advances in tile drainage water treatment.

Assessment of rapid low-cost isotope (δ15 N, δ18 O) analyses of nitrate in fruit extracts by Ti(III) reduction to differentiate organic from conventional production.

The isotopic composition (δ15 N, δ18 O) of nitrate in fruits and vegetables differentiates organic from conventional food production practices. Organic systems do not use synthetic nitrate fertilizers high in 18 O and low in 15 N and thereby help reveal producers' fertilization claims. Isotope analyses of nitrate extracted from fruits and vegetables are done by bacterial reduction which is costly and by specialized laboratories. Rapid, low-cost methods are needed to promulgate nitrate isotope analyses of food products to support organic food product certification and to verify the authenticity of production claims. Fresh strawberry samples were obtained from certified organic and conventional growers in Andalucía, Spain. We applied a new, rapid, one-step Ti(III) reduction method to convert the nitrate from strawberry extracts to N2 O gas for headspace isotope analyses using isotope-ratio mass spectrometry. Using the Ti(III) reduction method, 70 samples, controls and references were prepared and analyzed for NO3 - , δ15 N and δ18 O per 48 h. We also analyzed extracts and solids for anions and cations and for bulk δ15 N for multivariate chemometric evaluation. The Ti(III)-based isotope analyses of nitrate in strawberry extracts revealed clear differentiation between organic and conventional production with mean δ18 O and δ15 N values of +18.3 ± 1.2 ‰ and +17.6 ± 1.2 ‰ versus +28.2 ± 4.5 ‰ and +14.9 ± 3.0 ‰, respectively. The δ15 N of strawberry dry mass differed slightly (+3.0 ± 1.4 ‰ versus +4.0 ± 1.4 ‰) between organic and conventional samples, respectively. Chemometric analyses of nitrate isotopes and extract chemistry revealed that the δ18 O of nitrate along with δ15 N and Ca2+ fully differentiated organic from conventional strawberry production. Our results show the Ti(III) reduction method provides a new low-cost and rapid analytical method to facilitate compound-specific δ15 N and δ18 O isotope analyses of nitrate in selected fruit types, and likely other food products, for the purposes of assessing nitrate fertilization practices of organic versus conventional production claims and to support authenticity investigations.

The Potential of Bison Restoration as an Ecological Approach to Future Tribal Food Sovereignty on the Northern Great Plains

Future climate projections of warming, drying, and increased weather variability indicate that conventional agricultural and production practices within the Northern Great Plains (NGP) will become less sustainable, both ecologically and economically. As a result, the livelihoods of people that rely on these lands will be adversely impacted. This is especially true for Native American communities, who were relegated to reservations where the land is often vast but marginal and non-tribal operators have an outsized role in food production. In addition, NGP lands are expected to warm and dry disproportionately relative to the rest of the United States. It is therefore critical to identify models of sustainable land management that can improve ecological function and socio-economic outcomes for NGP communities, all while increasing resilience to a rapidly changing climate. Efforts led by Native American Nations to restore North American Plains bison (Bison bison bison) to tribal lands can bring desired socio-ecological benefits to underserved communities while improving their capacity to influence the health of their lands, their people, and their livelihoods. Ecological sustainability will depend on the restoration of bison herds and bison’s ability to serve as ecosystem engineers of North America’s Plains. The historically broad distribution of bison suggests they can adapt to a variety of conditions, making them resilient to a wide range of management systems and climates. Here we review bison’s ecological, cultural, and economic value using four case studies from tribal communities within the NGP. We discuss the potential contributions of bison to food sovereignty, sustainable economies, and conservation of a working landscape with limited protections and significant risk of conversion. The ecological role of bison within this setting has potential due to cultural acceptance and the vast availability of suitable lands; however, it is critical to address tribal needs for funding support, enhanced community capacity, and solving complex landownership for these goals to be achieved.

Reconnecting Farmers with Nature through Agroecological Transitions: Interacting Niches and Experimentation and the Role of Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems

Sustainability transitions in agriculture are explored through an analysis of niche initiatives within a common production system, relying on sustainable transitions, multi-level perspectives, and agroecological frameworks, and involving multi-actor, agricultural knowledge, and innovation systems (AKIS). The article focuses on how experimental niches and sustainable activities affect farmers’ relationships with nature, and the reconceptualisation of the production system in which they operate, particularly where this system is embedded in less sustainable conventional or dominant regimes and landscapes. The need for fundamental changes, in the way that humans interact with nature, is widely argued for in order to achieve sustainable development, and farmers occupy a central role through participation in complex networks of agri-food systems. They have also found themselves disconnected from nature through conventional agri-industrial production practices. Four niches (biological control, ecological restoration, soil health, and ecological pond management) within the greenhouse sector of Almeria (SE Spain) are explored in a case study. Our results indicate that a farmer’s interaction with nature is functional, but through agroecological practices, a deeper understanding of the ecosystems in which greenhouse landscapes are embedded may be gained. As they become more connected to nature and benefit from ecosystem services, they can transition to more sustainable agricultural systems.

Desire over damage: Epistemological shifts and anticolonial praxis from an indigenous-led community health project.

This article offers an overview of an Indigenous-led participatory research project, The Future We Dream, co-developed by rural land defenders in Central America and the Caribbean. To engage in recent dialectics concerning complicity and decolonising methodologies, we centre Indigenous Maya conceptions of health, wellbeing and what 'living well' means to community members. For context, The Future We Dream responds to the 2015 landmark ruling made by the Caribbean Court of Justice affirming the land rights of the Maya people of Southern Belize. Amidst tensions with the state that followed the ruling, an autonomous movement composed of grassroots organisers turned their attention towards imagining and constructing a self-determined future. In turn, the communities initiated a research exercise inspired by desire-based methodologies (Tuck, 2009) to articulate a collective vision of a healthful Maya future outside of colonial-liberal worldviews, and notably, formulating Maya visions of healthful, sustainable worlds. In reporting on this one example of grassroots, anticolonial health research that departs from the hierarchal knowledge production practices of liberal academia, this paper details the collaborative process/project; the complexities/complicities of research involving Indigenous communities; and how Indigenous epistemologies are generative vis-a-vis unsettling conventional knowledge production practices in the contentious field of global health research.

Phenolic bioactive-linked antioxidant and anti-hyperglycemic functionalities of blackberry cultivars grown under organic and conventional production practices

ISHS VIII International Symposium on Human Health Effects of Fruits and Vegetables - FAVHEALTH 2021 Phenolic bioactive-linked antioxidant and anti-hyperglycemic functionalities of blackberry cultivars grown under organic and conventional production practices

Land use leverage points to reduce GHG emissions in U.S. agricultural supply chains

Recognizing the substantial threats climate change poses to agricultural supply chains, companies around the world are committing to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Recent modeling advances have increased the transparency of meat and ethanol industry supply chains, where conventional production practices and associated environmental impacts have been characterized and linked to downstream points of demand. Yet, to date, information and efforts have neglected both the spatial variability of production impacts and land use changes (LUCs) across highly heterogeneous agricultural landscapes. Developing effective mitigation programs and policies requires understanding these spatially-explicit hotspots for targeting GHG mitigation efforts and the links to downstream supply chain actors. Here we integrate, for the first time, spatial estimates of county-scale production practices and observations of direct LUC into company and industry-specific supply chains of beef, pork, chicken, ethanol, soy oil and wheat flour in the U.S., thereby conceptually changing our understanding of the sources, magnitudes and influencers of agricultural GHG emissions. We find that accounting for LUC can increase estimated feedstock emissions per unit of production by a factor of 2- to 5-times that of traditionally used estimates. Substantial variation across companies, sectors, and production regions reveal key opportunities to improve GHG footprints by reducing land conversion within their supply chains.

Comparison of Conventional Production and Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) in Greenhouse Grown Strawberry

Today, the importance of safe food is increasing for all consumers. Increased consumer awareness has increased the importance of human health and environmentally sensitive systems. Environmentally friendly production systems, which have several different names, have increased and studies on this subject have become widespread.&#x0D; Increasing in Turkey gradually, approximately 15.00 per cent of strawberry production areas are located in Aydın, and more than 50.00 per cent of strawberry production have been maintaining in Sultanhisar, Aydın. In 2017, more than 400 producers produced strawberries on an area of 9000 decares in Sultanhisar. There are 306 strawberry producers registered in the farmer registration system. Among these 306 farmers, 90 farmers have implemented good agriculture practices while the rest 216 farmers maintain conventional agricultural production.&#x0D; The material of the research is the data obtained from the interviews conducted with the producers making greenhouse cultivation, who applied good agriculture and conventional production in the same production technology in Aydın in 2017. In this survey, 112 randomly selected producers were interviewed face to face.&#x0D; Producers who did not switch to good agricultural practice stated that they could not pass because of several reasons including the bureaucratic transactions, land owner unwillingness to make a lease agreement, and the deed of their land was held by more than one owner. However, they expressed that they were willing to move to good agricultural practice. On the other hand, the producers who applied good agriculture stated that they started good agricultural practice due to the support of the state, and that good agricultural practice increased the product quality.

Soil N2O emission from organic and conventional cotton farming in Northern Tanzania

The effort to increase the sustainable supply of food and fibre is challenged by the potential for increased greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from farming systems with intensified production systems. This study aimed at quantifying soil N2O emissions from smallholder organic and conventional cotton production practices in a semi-arid area, Meatu, Northern Tanzania. Field experiments were conducted to quantify N2O emissions under (i) current practices with organic (3 Mg ha−1 farmyard manure (FYM)) and conventional (30 kg mineral N ha−1) cultivation; (ii) a high input practice with organic (5 Mg ha−1 FYM) and conventional (60 kg mineral N ha−1) cultivation; and (iii) an integrated practice with organic (3 Mg FYM + legume intercropping) and conventional (30 kg N + 3 Mg ha−1 FYM) cultivation. In both organic and conventional farming, control treatments with no fertilizer application were included. The study was performed over two growing seasons, where season 1 was rather wet and season 2 was rather dry. Static chambers were used for in-situ measurement of N2O emission from soil. The current organic and conventional cotton farming practices did not differ (P > 0.05) in cumulative area-scaled and yield-scaled N2O emissions. High input conventional cotton showed higher area scaled N2O emissions than organic cotton during the wetter season, but not during the drier season. The inorganic fertilizer + FYM combination did not differ (P > 0.05) in area- and yield-scaled N2O emissions from conventional practice. Intercropping cotton and legumes did not affect (P > 0.05) N2O emission compared to 3 Mg FYM ha−1. The emission factors for both conventional and organic systems were generally above 1% in the dry season 2, but below 1% in the wetter season 1. The use of organic and inorganic fertilizers at rates up to 60 kg N ha−1, FYM-inorganic fertilizer combination, and cotton-legume intercropping increased yields, while N2O emissions stayed low, in particular with use of mineral fertilizers.

Antimicrobial resistance in Escherichia coli between conventional and organic broiler flocks

Antimicrobial resistance ( AMR ) is a growing concern for human and animal health. Public awareness of these issues has contributed to increased demand for organic food. In poultry production, there are 3 major production types: no antibiotic ever, organic, and conventional. Organics have been considered safer alternatives that carry fewer antibiotic-resistant bacteria and have less incidence of stable resistance. In this study, we examined the impact of organic and conventional production practices on the resistance patterns of the intestinal microbiome of chickens. Culture and sensitivity analysis performed on the cecal contents were compared between organic and conventionally grown chickens from identical parent stock collected in July and September. The results demonstrated that Escherichia coli isolated from conventionally produced chickens were significantly more resistant to neomycin ( P -value <0.0002) and tetracycline ( P -value = 0.0000) when compared with organically produced chickens in the July collection samples. However, there was no significant difference observed between groups in the September samples. These data demonstrate that AMR patterns of E. coli can differ significantly between organic and conventional chickens in the samples, but AMR pattern among E. coli isolates may not be consistent.

Sociotechnical Context and Agroecological Transition for Smallholder Farms in Benin and Burkina Faso

West Africa is facing the challenge of its population’s food insecurity in a context of accelerated degradation of natural resources. In order to efficiently face this double bottleneck, agroecological interventions were implemented as a way to promote best agricultural practices. Agroecology is a mode of production that nowadays questions our food system which, despite technological progress, still struggles to feed the world’s population. This systematic review is part of the vision of a deep agroecology and aims at analyzing the institutional, political, organizational, and social obstacles and levers for an agroecological transition and its amplification in Burkina Faso and Benin. For this purpose, a structured literature review was conducted using grey and published literature. It appears that despite the mitigated results of the implementation of the Green Revolution model of agricultural production in West Africa, African public authorities seem to have placed once again their faith in conventional production practices to respond to the challenges facing agriculture in the region. This situation goes beyond the regional framework to take root at the national level, (e.g., Burkina Faso, Benin), with the corollary of an apparent lack of institutional interest in sustainable modes of production. However, there is a network of stakeholders who are developing promising initiatives for scaling up agroecological practices.

English

The purpose of this study was to determine the duration from planting to reproductive phase, of wild blackberry (Rubus spp.) collected from the wild.It was carried out at the Horticulture Research and Teaching Farm, Egerton University, Njoro, Kenya. The experimental layout wasa randomized complete block design (RCBD) replicated three times; treatment was four wild blackberry species and one cultivated cultivar. The days to first flowering were significantly shorter in cultivated species Rubus fruiticosus at 126 days after planting while wild species Rubus pinnatus, Rubus steundneri Rubus volkensis and Rubus apetalu stook much longer time (341, 333, 332 and 227 days, respectively). Compared to other wild species R. apetalus took a significantly shorter time to flowering than all the other wild species. Analysis also showed that cultivated species, R. fruiticusos had significantly the longest harvesting duration compared to all wild species planted in the present study. It is concluded that wild blackberry species under conventional production practices have varying days to reproductive phase. However, more studies are necessary with a view to reducing the days to reproductive phase for the wild species to compare favourably with the cultivated types. &nbsp; Key words: Wild blackberry, reproductive phase, conventional production. &nbsp

Use of biosolids for sod production: Impact on the import/export of nutrients, heavy metals, and soil mineral matter

AbstractSod production has been criticized as being unsustainable because of the soil export that occurs at each harvest. Wastewater treatment residuals (biosolids) disposal is often limited by nutrient or metal accumulation in the soil. Biosolids‐based sod production may be a solution to minimize soil loss and land‐apply wastewater residuals. The objectives of this study were to assess biosolids‐based sod production impact on import and export of nutrients, heavy metals, carbon, and to quantify soil loss from sod harvest with and without biosolids. Anaerobically digested, dewatered sludge (Cake) and Cake mixed with sand and sawdust (MetroMix) were applied at three rates based on estimated plant available nitrogen (PAN). An additional treatment mimicked conventional sod production practices that rely on synthetic fertilizer. All biosolids rates and sources increased Mehlich‐3 extractable phosphorus (P) to &gt; 175 mg kg−1 in the harvested sod, which could contribute to P runoff or leaching at the site of establishment. Heavy metal concentrations from both biosolids sources were below EPA loading limits and would require over 200 years of regular application (22 Mg ha−1) to exceed EPA maximum cumulative loading limits. Biosolids at 22 Mg ha−1 did little to reduce soil mineral matter loss compared to conventionally grown sod. After two sod production cycles, soil carbon increased by 50% in the surface soil (0–10 cm), but was reduced at a depth of 20–30 cm. While high P concentrations in the biosolids limit repeated applications, moderate use of biosolids may alleviate reliance on synthetic fertilizers for N and P.

The perception of crop protection: Explicit vs. implicit association of the public and in agriculture

In the public discourse as well as in the agricultural sector itself, crop protection is a controversial discussion topic. So far, no study investigates the implicit association of crop protection methods. Therefore, this study aims to create a better understanding of the attitudes of both the public and agricultural sector by investigating implicit associations towards chemical, genetically modified, and mechanical crop protection. The implicit association was measured in an online survey using a single-target implicit association test. The test was conducted by a total of 658 participants: 284 public participants, 233 conventional agricultural students and 141 students of organic agriculture, representing future farmers and decision makers in the agricultural sector. Explicit attitudes are captured through survey techniques. Results reveal opposing explicit attitudes towards chemical and genetically modified crop protection for our sub-samples. Furthermore, the results demonstrate opposing associations. For example, a positive explicit and negative implicit association is prominent between the public and mechanical crop protection, as well as for conventional agricultural students towards chemical, genetically modified and mechanical crop protection. The explicit-implicit conflict of the conventional agricultural students could be due to their strategic answering behavior, in which explicit statements are adjusted to present conventional agricultural production practices in a positive light. Thus, attitudes on controversial topics, which are based solely on surveys, should be critically scrutinized.