Decisions on land-use sustainability are particularly critical in fragile semi-arid regions of the world, especially those involving the social factor: people and communities. Typical of such an area is the Middle East region, especially Jordan which is beset by climatic constraints. New land-use alternatives were introduced by the Jordan Arid Zone Productivity Project (JAZPP) to improve land productivity in the arid to semi-arid (transitional Badia) land in Jordan. These alternatives were verified within experimental stations under controlled conditions. Dissemination of these findings would be successful if they suit the needs and resources of farmers. Therefore, verification of the success of these techniques under a wide range of biophysical and socio-economic conditions was necessary to judge their suitability to the target area. Various interventions were implemented on 14 sites that represent different biophysical and socio-economic conditions over the study area. With close monitoring and follow-up, successful and encouraging results were reported during the first season, even with lower rainfall than average, suggesting that these techniques were biophysically suitable for the target area. During the second season, maintenance and guarding were assigned to the farmers. Seven out of the 14 sites failed for various reasons: multiownership regime, reluctance of farmers to adopt new land use and insufficient protection and/or guarding measures. The study highlighted the importance of the farmers' comments and discussion of their specific problems and needs. This helped to improve these interventions to suit the farmers' requirements and may be important in facilitating widespread adoption and sustainability of these new land-use alternatives in the Jordanian Badia as well as in other areas of similar environment.

Cost-effective, laborsaving, and environmentally sound weed management practices are needed for sustainable vegetable production. Organic production, in particular, precludes the use of synthetic herbicides and requires that organic farmers utilize practices that reduce harmful environmental impact. Although polyethylene film mulch is used extensively in vegetable production in Florida, its use has a number of drawbacks, among which is the susceptibility of opaque polyethylene mulch to penetration by yellow and purple nutsedge. Appreciable labor and disposal/environmental costs are associated with its removal. A durable mulch material that would effectively control nutsedge and other weeds but with no associated environmental and disposal costs is highly desirable. Hydramulch, a paper-like material applied as a slurry consisting of cotton waste, newsprint, gypsum and a proprietary adhesive, was tested as a biodegradable alternative to polyethylene mulch during the spring of 2003. Experiments were conducted in southeastern and north-central Florida to compare the effects of three hydramulch formulations, polyethylene mulch and a no mulch control on soil temperature, soil moisture and weed infestation. Soil temperature under hydramulch was 1–4°C lower than that under polyethylene. In the absence of rain, the use of hydramulch resulted in soil moisture levels that were 1–4% lower than with polyethylene mulch. Higher soil moisture with hydramulch than polyethylene was coincident with rainfall. Hydramulch remained intact on most beds and suppressed broadleaf weeds and grasses, particularly at the north-central site where the mulch was applied at a greater thickness. However, purple nutsedge readily penetrated hydramulch. Therefore, hydramulch may be applicable for use for the suppression of broadleaf weeds and grasses at sites with little or no nutsedge pressure in fall or in crops for which cooler soils are desirable or crops that are rainfed or overhead irrigated.

This is a tale, over 500 years in the making, of how a university–community farm collaborative research project turned corn smut into gold.

The influence of farm management practices on ground-dwelling natural enemy communities and predation of insects and weed seeds was investigated over the first 2 years of the transition from conventional to organic production. Three transition strategies were selected that differed in their management and input intensities, and were characteristic of pasture/ley systems (low intensity), cash grain systems (intermediate intensity), and vegetable production (high intensity). Beneficial arthropods (insectivores and granivores) were monitored using pitfall (arthropod activity) and quadrat (arthropod density) samples. The frequency of predation on restrained larvae of Galleria mellonella and the species observed feeding were recorded. Weekly removal rates of weed seeds representative of abundant species at our site were monitored over a 3-week period during fall. Management intensity affected the activity and abundance of biological control agents. In year two of the transition, biological control agent densities were higher in the low-intensity treatment than in the other two treatments, but activity of insectivores and granivores was reduced in this treatment relative to the higher intensity systems. The patterns in the abundances of biological control agents may be explained by habitat stability within the different cropping systems. Quadrat samples were strongly correlated with the insectivory index, although pitfall samples were not. Insectivory rates were highest (>80% of G. mellonella larvae) in the low-intensity treatment. Predation patterns over a 17-h period differed substantially among the management treatments, indicating behaviorally distinct insectivore communities. Seed removal was also highest in the low-intensity treatment. We conclude that low-intensity cropping systems are most favorable to the abundance and function of beneficial ground-dwelling arthropod communities (insectivores and granivores) during the transition process.

Organic agriculture is regarded as one important approach to agriculture and food production that is environmentally sustainable and can generate several positive impacts to rural society. However, organic agriculture development is still limited in Taiwan and the major reason is lack of economic incentives to farmers. Hence, one approach to link organic agriculture with agro-ecotourism is proposed in this study to maximize the economic benefit of organic agriculture.

Chrshang Township in Taiwan was selected as an example to develop such eco-organic tourism based on organic agriculture. First, five appropriate activities were designed according to the fundamental principles for guiding the development of eco-organic tourism. In addition, the maximum willingness to pay (WTP) method was employed to estimate potential revenues from eco-organic tourism and then the economic value could be compared with that of other economic activities. Under a conservative scenario, the total annual revenue from eco-organic tourism is about NT$421,293,559, which is about 20 times that of the rice production in the study area.

In addition to the direct economic revenues, the following additional benefits can also be found: (1) the linkage can create additional value of organic agriculture; (2) organic agriculture can contribute to service economy and experience economy; (3) people can increase their confidence in organic products through better understanding; (4) a one-step relationship between organic producer and consumer can be established; and (5) local food supply will be connected with demands in the tourism industry. In summary, under a symbiotic relationship, organic agriculture is not only commodities and goods production, it can become one important service economy and even create experience economy within the tourism industry.

Integration of rye (Secale cereale L.) cover crops into the corn (Zea mays L.) soybean [(Glycine max (L.) Merr.] rotation of the upper Midwest USA can provide many agronomic and agroecological benefits. Integration is made difficult by short growing seasons, but may be facilitated by management of key agroecological interactions such as those between rye and soil microbiota. Rye growth was measured and colonization by arbuscular-mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) was determined in greenhouse experiments using soils from seven different management systems from a long-term cropping-systems experiment in southwest Minnesota. Microbial effects on rye growth were not evident before vernalization, but at final harvest (4 weeks after vernalization) soil microbial populations reduced rye shoot and root growth, relative to a pasteurized control inoculum. At final harvest, shoot biomass in 2-year rotations was 17% greater than 4-year rotations, indicating that microbial populations selected for by 4-year rotations may be more deleterious or pathogenic than those selected for by 2-year rotations. Growth of three rye cultivars was examined in all inocula; cultivars differed in their mean response to soil microbiota and their ability to host AMF. These findings suggest that management factors affect interactions between rye and soil microbiota resulting in altered rye growth.

Rice is the most important agricultural commodity of the Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), produced largely using traditional methods with limited inputs of fertilizers and other chemicals. The country has a wide diversity in rice production systems and rice varieties, with over 3000 different varieties recorded. The rich diversity and the production environment and methods are favorable for organic rice production. Investigations were carried out to describe soil fertility conditions, management practices, opportunities and problems associated with organic production methods for rice. Soils used for rice production are mostly of low fertility, with low organic matter and N-availability. In spite of this, virtually no fertilizer inputs are used for upland rice production. Inorganic fertilizer inputs for lowland rice production have increased rapidly over the past decade, but are still below 20 kg ha−1. The most important nutrient sources are rice straw and manure from buffalo and cattle. Chromolaena odorata plays an important role in nutrient cycling in upland rice systems and is sometimes added to lowland fields. In a range of fertility management studies, yield increase ranged from 2 to 89% for manure, straw or rice husk applied at modest rates (3 t ha−1), 32–156% for modest rates of inorganic fertilizer (60 kg N ha−1) and 36–167% for combined application of manure or crop residues with inorganic fertilizer. The response to locally produced commercial organic fertilizer was poor. The most promising inputs and strategies available to optimize yields in organic rice production systems are (1) optimizing use of locally available nutrients, mostly from manure, crop residues and weed biomass, (2) N addition through green manure and legumes growing in rotation and (3) additions of P through guano or rock-phosphate. The Lao PDR is fortunate to have substantial bat guano deposits in limestone caves. Extensive experience is available on straw and husk management for lowland systems and green manure species for upland production systems.

After decades of farm specialization, re-integrating crop and livestock farming systems is being reconsidered as a key step toward sustainable agriculture. The relative profitability of Maine farms integrating crops and livestock is compared to non-integrated or conventional farms. Crop and livestock integration in Maine occurs through either diversified on-farm integration or, more commonly, through coupled interactions between specialized crop and livestock producers. Potato and dairy systems coupled for only 2 years (short-term) had greater profitability compared to conventional systems. Profitability increased in the short term in two ways. First, potato farms grew more of their primary cash crop. Secondly, dairy farms expanded cow numbers, increasing profitability assuming increasing returns to scale. Coupled systems integrated for more than 10 years (long-term) had more favorable profitability than short-term couplers since greater manure-nutrient credits were taken for potatoes and silage corn. The advantages of potato–dairy integration were even greater if potato yields increased in the long term, as suggested by long-term rotation plot studies in Maine. Even if coupling is more profitable than non-integrated systems, it requires that farms be in close proximity and for farmers to have adequate working relationships and management skills. Despite these challenges to re-integrating crops and livestock, short- and long-term economic benefits may encourage farmers in appropriate areas to consider coupling with other producers.