Institut für Bodenkunde und Standortslehre

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A new framework to assess sustainability of soil improving cropping systems in Europe
(2022) Alaoui, Abdallah; Hallama, Moritz; Bär, Roger; Panagea, Ioanna; Bachmann, Felicitas; Pekrun, Carola; Fleskens, Luuk; Kandeler, Ellen; Hessel, Rudi
Assessing agricultural sustainability is one of the most challenging tasks related to expertise and support methodologies because it entails multidisciplinary aspects and builds on cultural and value-based elements. Thus, agricultural sustainability should be considered a social concept, reliable enough to support decision makers and policy development in a broad context. The aim of this manuscript was to develop a methodology for the assessment of the sustainability of soil improving cropping systems (SICS) in Europe. For this purpose, a decision tree based on weights (%) was chosen because it allows more flexibility. The methodology was tested with data from the SoilCare Horizon 2020 study site in Germany for the assessment of the impact of the integration of cover crops into the crop rotation. The effect on the environmental indicators was slightly positive, but most assessed properties did not change over the short course of the experiment. Farmers reported that the increase in workload was outweighed by a reputation gain for using cover crops. The incorporation of cover crops reduced slightly the profitability, due to the costs for seeds and establishment of cover crops. The proposed assessment methodology provides a comprehensive summary to assess the agricultural sustainability of SICS.
Soil-improving cropping systems for sustainable and profitable farming in Europe
(2022) Hessel, Rudi; Wyseure, Guido; Panagea, Ioanna ; Alaoui, Abdallah; Reed, Mark S.; van Delden, Hedwig; Muro, Melanie; Mills, Jane; Oenema, Oene; Areal, Francisco; van den Elsen, Erik; Verzandvoort, Simone; Assinck, Falentijn; Elsen, Annemie; Lipiec, Jerzy; Koutroulis, Aristeidis; O’Sullivan, Lilian; Bolinder, Martin A.; Fleskens, Luuk; Kandeler, Ellen; Montanarella, Luca; Heinen, Marius; Toth, Zoltan; Hallama, Moritz; Cuevas, Julián; Baartman, Jantiene E. M.; Piccoli, Ilaria; Dalgaard, Tommy; Stolte, Jannes; Black, Jasmine E.; Chivers, Charlotte-Anne
Soils form the basis for agricultural production and other ecosystem services, and soil management should aim at improving their quality and resilience. Within the SoilCare project, the concept of soil-improving cropping systems (SICS) was developed as a holistic approach to facilitate the adoption of soil management that is sustainable and profitable. SICS selected with stakeholders were monitored and evaluated for environmental, sociocultural, and economic effects to determine profitability and sustainability. Monitoring results were upscaled to European level using modelling and Europe-wide data, and a mapping tool was developed to assist in selection of appropriate SICS across Europe. Furthermore, biophysical, sociocultural, economic, and policy reasons for (non)adoption were studied. Results at the plot/farm scale showed a small positive impact of SICS on environment and soil, no effect on sustainability, and small negative impacts on economic and sociocultural dimensions. Modelling showed that different SICS had different impacts across Europe—indicating the importance of understanding local dynamics in Europe-wide assessments. Work on adoption of SICS confirmed the role economic considerations play in the uptake of SICS, but also highlighted social factors such as trust. The project’s results underlined the need for policies that support and enable a transition to more sustainable agricultural practices in a coherent way.

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