Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 May 2017
Over the last several decades, agriculture in industrialized countries experienced a significant intensification as a result of the diffusion of mechanization, the widespread use of genetically improved genotypes, and the large-scale use of off-farm inputs, mainly in the form of fossil fuel energy and synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. Under the pressure of the growing agro-industrial sector, which has been oriented to promote models based on large volumes and long-distance supply chains, intensification was accompanied by progressive specialization of farms and cropping systems (Ratnadass et al., 2012). Indeed, the reduction of diversity at the field, farm, and territory level, a result of a low number of crops, the shortening of crop rotations, and a decrease in the number of cultivated genotypes, is becoming evident in many agro-environments in developed countries.