Javascript is required
1.
Barbieri P, Pellerin S, Nesme T. Comparing crop rotations between organic and conventional farming. Scientific Reports. 2017;7. [Crossref]
2.
Stein-Bachinger K, Preissel S, Ku¨ hne S, Reckling M. More diverse but less intensive farming enhances biodiversity. Trends in Ecology & Evolution. 2022; [Crossref]
3.
Lacoste M, Cook S, McNee M, Gale D, Ingram J, Bellon-Maurel V, et al. On-Farm experimentation to transform global agriculture. Nature Food. 2021;3. [Crossref]
4.
Pelzer E, Mathilde B, Soulie´ M, Guichard L, Maude Q, Ballot R, et al. Participatory design of agronomic scenarios for the reintroduction of legumes into a French territory. Agricultural Systems. 2020 09;184:102893. [Crossref]
5.
Reckling M, Bergkvist G, Watson C, Stoddard F, Bachinger J. Re-designing organic grain legume cropping systems using systems agronomy. European Journal of Agronomy.2020;112:125951. [Crossref]
6.
Carton N, Swiergiel W, Tida˚ ker P, Ro¨ o¨ s E, Carlsson G. On-farm experiments on cultivation of grain legumes for food – outcomes from a farmer–researcher collaboration. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems. 2022;pp. 1–11. [Crossref]
7.
Lovatt Smith P, Nobes G. Carrying capacity of traditional farming in South East England: A case study. Organic Farming. 2020;6. [Crossref]
8.
Hansmann V, Volling O, Kro¨ mker V. Modified ’stable schools’ as a consulting tool for organic dairy herds. Organic Farming. 2020; 6(1): 2. [Crossref]
9.
Benzing A, Piepho HP. A proposal for improving organic group certification quantification of internal control systems’ performance and sample size determination. Organic Farming. 2021;7. [Crossref]
Search
Open Access
Editorial

On-farm Research to Diversify Organic Farming Systems

Moritz Reckling1,2*,
Meike Grosse3
1
Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research, Mu¨ ncheberg, Germany
2
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
3
Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), Frick, Switzerland
Organic Farming
|
Volume 8, Issue 1, 2022
|
Pages 1-2
Received: 06-13-2022,
Revised: 06-13-2022,
Accepted: 06-13-2022,
Available online: 06-13-2022
View Full Article|Download PDF

Diversification of organic farming systems is a key practice to address current challenges in crop and livestock production. It has the potential to increase the resilience to climate fluctuations and counteracts climate change to some extent by reducing emissions and increasing carbon storage. Diversified crop-livestock systems can also contribute to stop the dramatic loss of biodiversity. Organic farms are already more often mixed crop-livestock farms with more diverse crop rotations, including perennial leys, compared to conventional farms [1]. However, there is a need as well as potential for further increasing diversity on organic farms [2].

On-farm research is an emerging field aiming to transform global agriculture [3] by involving farmers and associated actors in the design and evaluation of farming systems. Research in organic farming could use this potential more widely and systematically to co-design solutions with farmers and advisors. There are inspiring examples of how “living collaborations” with farmers and other actors help to co-design diversified cropping systems e.g. with a focus on legumes [4], [5], [6]. However, the co-design process is complex, difficult to describe and often not reported in regular research papers.

The journal Organic Farming (ISSN 2297-6485; doi: 10.12924/librello.OF) provides a platform for contributions in diverse areas related to organic farming and food production and will especially welcome articles describing the process and results derived from on-farm research. Recent papers in the journal show a diversity of on-farm research such as farmers assessing the carrying capacity of traditional farming in South East England [7], insights from modified ‘Stable Schools’ as a consulting tool for organic dairy herds in Northern Germany [8] and related to on-farm organic group certification, a proposal for improving internal control systems’ performance [9]. We call for submissions from practically relevant work in organic farming especially with a systems’ perspective and integrated solutions for diversified crop-livestock systems.

Since 2021 the journal is led by a new team of two Editors-in-Chief, Dr. Meike Grosse and Dr. Moritz Reckling. We thank the former Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Dr. Thomas Felix Do¨ ring for his strong commitment to the journal.

References
1.
Barbieri P, Pellerin S, Nesme T. Comparing crop rotations between organic and conventional farming. Scientific Reports. 2017;7. [Crossref]
2.
Stein-Bachinger K, Preissel S, Ku¨ hne S, Reckling M. More diverse but less intensive farming enhances biodiversity. Trends in Ecology & Evolution. 2022; [Crossref]
3.
Lacoste M, Cook S, McNee M, Gale D, Ingram J, Bellon-Maurel V, et al. On-Farm experimentation to transform global agriculture. Nature Food. 2021;3. [Crossref]
4.
Pelzer E, Mathilde B, Soulie´ M, Guichard L, Maude Q, Ballot R, et al. Participatory design of agronomic scenarios for the reintroduction of legumes into a French territory. Agricultural Systems. 2020 09;184:102893. [Crossref]
5.
Reckling M, Bergkvist G, Watson C, Stoddard F, Bachinger J. Re-designing organic grain legume cropping systems using systems agronomy. European Journal of Agronomy.2020;112:125951. [Crossref]
6.
Carton N, Swiergiel W, Tida˚ ker P, Ro¨ o¨ s E, Carlsson G. On-farm experiments on cultivation of grain legumes for food – outcomes from a farmer–researcher collaboration. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems. 2022;pp. 1–11. [Crossref]
7.
Lovatt Smith P, Nobes G. Carrying capacity of traditional farming in South East England: A case study. Organic Farming. 2020;6. [Crossref]
8.
Hansmann V, Volling O, Kro¨ mker V. Modified ’stable schools’ as a consulting tool for organic dairy herds. Organic Farming. 2020; 6(1): 2. [Crossref]
9.
Benzing A, Piepho HP. A proposal for improving organic group certification quantification of internal control systems’ performance and sample size determination. Organic Farming. 2021;7. [Crossref]
Cite this:
APA Style
IEEE Style
BibTex Style
MLA Style
Chicago Style
Reckling, M & Grosse, M. (2022). On-farm Research to Diversify Organic Farming Systems. Org. Farming, 8(1), 1-2. https://doi.org/10.12924/of2022.08010001
M. Reckling and M. Grosse, "On-farm Research to Diversify Organic Farming Systems," Org. Farming, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 1-2, 2022. https://doi.org/10.12924/of2022.08010001
@editorial{Reckling2022On-farmRT,
title={On-farm Research to Diversify Organic Farming Systems},
author={Moritz Reckling and Meike Grosse},
journal={Organic Farming},
year={2022},
page={1-2},
doi={https://doi.org/10.12924/of2022.08010001}
}
Moritz Reckling, et al. "On-farm Research to Diversify Organic Farming Systems." Organic Farming, v 8, pp 1-2. doi: https://doi.org/10.12924/of2022.08010001
Moritz Reckling and Meike Grosse. "On-farm Research to Diversify Organic Farming Systems." Organic Farming, 8, (2022): 1-2. doi: https://doi.org/10.12924/of2022.08010001
cc
©2022 by the author(s). Published by Acadlore Publishing Services Limited, Hong Kong. This article is available for free download and can be reused and cited, provided that the original published version is credited, under the CC BY 4.0 license.