The Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT) crop modeling ecosystem: evolution and advances

This chapter describes the Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT) Crop Modeling ecosystem, its origin, advancements in model capabilities, addition of models for new crops, examples of model simulations of genetic improvement, and tools for data entry, calibration, analysis, ...

Soil biology, soil health and ecosystem services: an overview

This chapter provides an overview of soil biology, health and ecosystem services. The authors present an update on previous work by integrating the chemical and physical components of soil health with that of the biologically mediated processes and further define how environmental conditions may ...

DSSAT crop modeling ecosystem

This chapter describes the DSSAT Crop Modeling ecosystem, its history, creation of multiple crop models, and tools for data preparation, analysis and applications. The chapter provides an overview of the structure and science of the crop simulation models that are included in DSSAT, as well as th...

impact of sociocultural factors on women smallholder farmers: Middle East and North Africa

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Life cycle assessment (LCA) of poultry meat production

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Challenges facing alpine/mountain grasslands

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Macrofauna as indicators of soil health: earthworms and enchytraeids

Soil fauna represent a substantial portion of life in soils and play a critical role in providing ecosystem services and maintaining and enhancing soil quality. This chapter focuses on the potential of two key soil faunal ecosystem engineers—earthworms and enchytraeids—as soil health indicators i...

Adjusting photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD) to improve the quality of leafy vegetables in vertical farms

Extending shelf life, improving quality, and reducing waste of leafy vegetables during transport and storage are key to tackling the global food challenge. Leafy vegetables – as the most popular crop grown in indoor vertical farms – are considered an important contributor to a healthy diet but ge...

Implementing a digital twin for flexible operation of agricultural robotics

use of Bacillus spp. as bacterial biocontrol agents to control plant diseases

Biocontrol agents (BCAs) based on plant growth promoting rhizobacteria have recently been developed as alternatives to chemical pesticides. Among those beneficial bacteria, Bacillus spp. are one of the most promising BCAs. A wide range of bioactive secondary metabolites (BSMs) are involved in bio...

Nutritional and anti-methanogenic potentials of macroalgae for ruminants

The livestock production sector is facing challenges to find alternative feed resources and nutritional strategies to mitigate enteric methane (CH4) emissions from ruminants. Recently, marine macroalgae have emerged as potential anti-methanogenic feed ingredients due to their ability to suppress ...

Managing housing and stocking density to optimize health, welfare and production in pig herds

This chapter describes major husbandry- and management-related factors affecting health, welfare and production efficiency in different swine husbandry systems. Given the current transformation in pig production, there are several conflicting goals which need to be addressed during design and ada...

Environmental impacts of seaweed cultivation: kelp farming and preservation

This chapter provides an overview of the environmental impacts of the supply chain for preserved seaweed. The supply chain includes the hatchery, marine infrastructure, deployment of juveniles and monitoring during cultivation (grow-out of seaweed), harvest, transport back to shore and preservati...

Developments in the use of hermetic bags for grain storage

Smallholder farmers’ interest in hermetic bags has been driven by the need to reduce grain storage losses due to insect pests and challenges (inefficacy) of current storage methods. Hermetic bags commercially available for grain storage include single-, double- and triple-layer plastic bags. For ...

Developments in proximal crop sensing for precision agriculture

This chapter presents an overview of proximal sensing techniques used in practical precision agriculture, with the overall aim of contributing to more sustainable crop production. To provide perspective on the usefulness of crop sensors, the chapter starts with an example of why site-specific cro...

Cultured meat technology: an overview

This chapter provides an overview of current cultured meat technology. It starts by first discussing the limitations of conventional food systems, focusing on the environmental, social and economic impacts these systems can have. The chapter moves on to provide a rationale for a transition to cel...

Bioreactors for cell multiplication in cultured meat product development

Cultured meat holds a great promise with its potential to satisfy the growing demand for meat while reducing harm to animals and the negative environmental impact of livestock husbandry at the same time. However, high cell numbers are required for sufficient meat production. Consequently, high ce...

Agriculture practices to improve soil carbon storage in upland soil

Increasing carbon storage in soils is one way of mitigating climate change. Carbon sequestration in agricultural soils through improved management is particularly interesting, because of low costs and technical readiness. In this chapter, we synthesize current knowledge on the impact of managemen...

Advances in mechanical weed control technologies

Mechanical weed control can be grouped into three categories: full-width cultivators, inter-row cultivators and intra-row cultivators. This chapter will highlight the most recent and relevant advances within each category. The focus will be on novel inventions and developments of mechanical devic...

Advances in measuring soil organic carbon stocks and dynamics at the profile scale

Accurate estimation of soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks and dynamics along the soil profile is challenging due to the immense diversity and complexity of soils leading to the spatio-temporal variability of the parameters of interest. It is conducted in a wide range of different frameworks with di...

effects of plant-soil-animal interactions on nutrient cycling in grazed grasslands

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Developments in precision weed management systems for precision agriculture

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Campylobacter in poultry meat

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Advances in the genetic improvement of sow longevity

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Soil management practices to prevent and manage wheat disease

This chapter reviews recent advances in soil management to prevent and manage diseases in wheat. The chapter begins by first providing an introduction to some of the key integrated strategies such as optimized nutrient use, improved residue handling, better soil structure, and microbial approache...

Regional and international farmland biodiversity monitoring programmes: biodiversity indicators in the FAO agroecology indicator framework

This chapter describes a new biodiversity index developed for the Tool of Agroecology Performance Evaluation (TAPE), a tool from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO). The goal of TAPE is to assess the sustainable performance of farms. Since TAPE covers several sustain...

Techniques for controlling mycotoxin contamination of animal feed products

Mycotoxins are toxic secondary metabolites produced by mycotoxigenic fungi that infect cereals, oilseed nuts, and other animal feed components. Mycotoxins can compromise feed quality and safety, leading to significant reductions in farm animal health, production performance, yield, and other econ...

Grasslands in Europe: current status, emerging challenges, and pathways to sustainable futures

This chapter provides a coherent, integrated overview of grasslands in Europe, addressing: (i) their current status and use, (ii) the ecosystem services they provide, (iii) the major drivers and trends affecting them, and (iv) promising innovations and research directions. These are illustrated b...

Advances in understanding, detection and management of genetic defects in dairy cattle

Genetic anomalies are severe, often lethal, conditions determined by a harmful variant in a single gene, typically with little or no influence from the environment. Genetic anomalies originate from a mutation event in the genome and spread in the population by genetic drift. There are several typ...

Environmental control in next-generation plant factories

This chapter explores ways of optimizing environmental control of cultivation rooms (CRs) in next-generation plant factories. After considering design issues for CRs, the chapter focuses on measurement, analysis and control of three-dimensional (3D) distributions of environmental variables within...

Collective natural resource management

Agriculture depends heavily on common pool resources. However, the viability of such resources is jeopardized by complex social and ecological relationships, as exemplified by protecting pollinators and allocating groundwaters that span ownership and political boundaries. Management options inclu...

Pesticide residues as contaminants in agricultural soils

In this chapter, the authors focus on soil-pesticide monitoring data, emphasizing key findings and challenges such as legacy contamination and the interpretation of results. The chapter discusses the dual role of soils, as both a sink and source of pesticide residues, underlining the need for reg...

Optimizing manure and slurry application from intensive dairy farming operations

Manure is an important resource of carbon and nutrients, especially nitrogen and phosphorous, for soils. However, using manure effectively is beset with technical and logistical challenges. This chapter discusses the many of these issues and advances in using dairy manure, especially slurry, to r...

use of machine vision technologies to monitor the behaviour of dairy cattle

The dairy industry faces increasing pressure to enhance productivity, welfare, and sustainability. Precision Livestock Farming, integrating advanced technologies, has emerged as a key strategy. Within this framework, computer vision (CV) systems enable continuous, non-invasive, automated monitori...

Advances in hemp breeding

Renewed interest in growing hemp has led to the need for new, robust varieties that are profitable for farmers to grow. As the demand for locally adapted varieties increases, innovative breeding solutions must be employed to meet this demand. Depending on the class of hemp being bred some methods...

Revisiting the contribution of cover crops to weed management in Conservation Agriculture

The evolution and spread of herbicide resistant weeds in conservation agriculture is a significant sustainability challenge. Currently, there is a critical need for advancing adoption of integrated weed management (IWM) strategies to improve weed management outcomes, slow herbicide-resistance evo...

Internet of Things technologies in precision dairy farming

This chapter describes the concept of Internet of Things and its components. Data processing and exchange is put into a historic perspective in the Dutch and Flanders perspective. History covers the decades since the eighties. The identified periods include the Dutch national Informatics National...

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) as contaminants in agricultural soils

This chapter focuses on per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) as contaminants in agricultural soils. It begins by highlighting key PFAS characteristics followed by PFAS environmental entry modes and fate in agricultural fields. The chapter includes sections on human and ecological exposure ...

Advances in the use of hemp fibre in the construction industry

The embodied carbon of building materials is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Hemp is widely recognized as the most used vegetal insulation materials due to its comparable mechanical properties and much better environmental performance than that of traditional insulation mat...

role of cover crops in optimising nutrient cycles

Using cover crops to improve nutrient cycling is essential to develop sustainable cropping systems. This chapter provides an overview of how cover crops optimize macronutrient cycling, in terms of nitrogen, sulfur, and phosphorus, by summarising four mechanisms. These four mechanisms include biol...

Advances in Epichloë endophyte plant secondary metabolites in grasslands

In this chapter, the authors describe the biology of the Epichloë-grass association, the secondary metabolites that are linked to the bioactivity, control of invertebrate pests, occurrence of mammalian toxicity globally, toxic responses in terms of animal productivity, health and welfare, utilisa...

Conclusion: pathways to resilient temperate grasslands

The aim of this book has been to bring together the best available knowledge on temperate grasslands and to frame this knowledge in such a way that is useful to those who manage, advise on, study and make policy for these systems. The individual chapters of the book describe different scales goin...

Modelling and optimising associated biodiversity in alley cropping systems

The mechanisms shaping biodiversity in agroecosystems and particularly in agroforestry are difficult to understand and predict. The relation between planned biodiversity, the species chosen by the farmer, and associated biodiversity, the species that are able to adapt and thrive in agroforestry s...

Perennial grains: From moonshot to farmers' fields

Recent advancements in breeding perennial rice and the perennial grain Kernza® illustrate progress in converting an agroecology moonshot into a deeply rooted reality. In this chapter we highlight research efforts underway to advance the scientific and sociocultural development of new perennial gr...

Types of silvoarable system: multifunctional windbreaks and riparian buffers

In this chapter, the authors summarize historic and current research on multifunctional biomass production, and provide insights in current research trends and future possibilities. The chapter is oriented around a case study in which widespread deployment of riparian buffers and windbreaks is mo...

The role of women smallholder farmers in achieving global food security: an overview

Women smallholder farmers across the globe play pivotal roles in enhancing global food security by contributing to food production, accessibility, stability and utilisation. These roles lack sufficient recognition in global food policies and are hindered by prevailing structural gender inequaliti...

Soil health: definitions, history, key concepts and hurdles

This chapter reviews the history and trajectory of soil quality and soil health as global scientific objectives. Sections review definitions and drivers, key concepts, and hurdles that change this field of effort before considering evolving methodologies.

Digital phenotyping and genotype-to-phenotype (G2P) models to predict complex traits in cereal crops

The revolution in digital phenotyping combined with the new layers of omics and envirotyping tools offers great promise to improve selection and accelerate genetic gains for crop improvement. This chapter examines the latest methods involving digital phenotyping tools to predict complex traits in...

Assessing the environmental impact of ruminant production systems

One of the most common methods to evaluate environmental footprints of farming systems is life cycle assessment (LCA). Although LCA itself is suitable for and adopted by a wide range of industries far beyond agriculture, what separates agriculture, and in particular pasture-based ruminant product...

Key concepts for conserving biodiversity in agricultural landscapes

Agricultural lands that produce food, fibre and biofuels to sustain the human population represent the most widespread land use on Earth. Conserving global biodiversity will depend, largely, on how effectively species, communities and ecological processes are sustained in agricultural landscapes ...

impact and management of hedgerows in promoting biodiversity in agricultural landscapes

Farm hedgerows supply diverse benefits to agriculture including pollination, pest control and improved production related to biodiversity. They also provide additional ecosystem services including carbon sequestration, shelter for crops and livestock, human well-being, and a bucolic aesthetic. Th...

Forest certification – an answer to the challenge of sustainable forest management?

Eco-labelling forest products through forest certification is a market-driven tool with a global influence. It is also met with challenges in acceptance and diffusion among stakeholders. Here the authors aim to provide a synthesis of forest certification impact and place this in the context of sm...

Social and ethical considerations for agricultural robotics

Advances in the use of robotics in livestock production

Economics of agricultural robotics

Advances in visual perception for agricultural robotics

Advances in connectivity and distributed intelligence in agricultural robotics

Antibiotic residues as contaminants in agricultural soils

Antibiotics, which are extensively used to treat or prevent microbial diseases in animals and humans, can pose significant environmental risks when they enter soil ecosystems. This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of the pathways through which antibiotics reach the soil, the processes th...

Wheat stem sawfly (Cephus cinctus)

This chapter reviews wheat stem sawfly and its effect on wheat production. The chapter first reviews the pest's historical distribution, then moves on to examine how it damages crops, focusing specifically on life cycle driven losses and yield losses. A section on ways to manage the pest is also ...

Wheat flour fortification and human health

Using varied study designs (none of which can confirm causality), investigators assessed the health impact of wheat flour fortification after it was implemented at large scale in countries. Folic acid was the most studied nutrient and the most studied outcomes were neural tube defects, cancer, fo...

What is agricultural ethics and why does it matter?

This chapter begins by first providing an overview of the key concepts of ethics and common morality, then moves on to review common morality in agriculture and food systems. The chapter also highlights some of the topics involved agricultural ethics, before reviewing the various social science r...

Viruses as vectors for the delivery of gene-editing reagents

A significant challenge for plant gene editing is the delivery of editing reagents to germline or regenerable cells to recover heritable genetic modifications. Reagent delivery using biolistics or Agrobacterium is only possible with a limited range of species and genotypes, and inefficient editin...

Using machine learning to identify and diagnose crop diseases

Crop diseases can cause major yield losses and the ability to detect and identify them in their early stages is important for disease control. Machine learning methods, in particular deep learning, have shown promise in classifying multiple diseases across many different crop types. In this chapt...

use of tannins as dietary supplements in dairy cattle nutrition

This chapter focuses on the use of tannins as dietary supplements in dairy cattle nutrition. It begins by first identifying sources of tannins for supplementation, focusing specifically on the tropics and temperate climates. It then moves on to discuss the effects of tannins in dairy cows, such a...

use of Pseudomonas spp. as bacterial biocontrol agents to control plant diseases

Most Pseudomonas biocontrol strains are associated with the rhizosphere of plants, where they control soil pathogens by antibiosis or competition, and leaf pathogens via induced systemic resistance. Genome mining and the division of the vastly heterogeneous genus Pseudomonas in phylogenomic (sub)...

Understanding the value of and reasoning behind farmer adoption of carbon centric practices

Understanding how to promote farmers’ use of carbon (C) centric practices known to increase soil C sequestration is needed to design information systems and orient policy, investment and environmental markets. Farmers undertake individual and collective actions using techniques that have varied o...

Understanding the effects of humidity/ air composition on embryo and post-hatch chick development

Incubational conditions influence embryo growth and viability, which subsequently affect egg hatchability. Along with temperature, environmental factors in the incubator that are of primary importance for optimum hatchability and chick quality include humidity and vital gas (carbon dioxide (CO2) ...

Understanding plant-pathogen interactions in Septoria tritici blotch infection of cereals

Zymoseptoria is a major fungal pathogen of wheat, responsible for the Septoria Tritici Blotch (STB) disease. Recently, STB has been the subject of intensive molecular studies. Notably, massive transcriptomic analyses have helped to explore this particular bi-phasic (asymptomatic/necrotrophic) inf...

Towards an early warning system for wheat blast: epidemiological basis and model development

Wheat blast is caused by the fungus Pyricularia oryzae Triticum pathotype (PoT). Significantly damaging wheat blast epidemics are sporadic and limited to tropical wheat growing areas in South America. Unexpectedly, wheat blast was reported in Bangladesh and Zambia in 2016 and 2020, respectively. ...

Tools for pest and disease management by stakeholders: a case study on Plantwise

This chapter presents Plantwise as an innovative process for pest management in small holder crop production systems. The tools and applications developed under Plantwise constitute innovations that have potential to contribute to broad aspects of pest management. They can be easily repurposed to...

Talking points on the cultural politics of cultured meat

Cultured meat is a technology that seeks to change the world for the better, by making meat products with a much lower burden on the environment, our health, and animals, compared to conventional meat production. However, any intervention that may cause significant changes to our planet and socie...

Surveillance on swine farms using antemortem specimens

In the recent past, disease control on swine farms was based on vaccination or intentional exposure to pathogens to stimulate immunity and protect against clinical disease. This one-dimensional strategy became increasingly inadequate as farms increased in size and as pathogens resistant to immune...

Strategies for CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genome editing: from delivery to production of modified plants

Despite the conspicuous and rapid development of genome editing tools, implementing this technology in plants often remains constrained by our inability to regenerate fertile genome-modified plants. Finding a viable combination of delivery method, genome editing reagents, and plant regeneration s...

Sampling and statistics in assessment of fresh produce

New measurement technologies are facilitating new approaches to the improvement of safety and quality in agri-food supply chains. However, measurement uncertainty and choice of sampling strategy can influence the outcomes of assessment programmes. This chapter provides a sampler of calculations ...

role of bioprotectants for disease control in integrated crop protection approaches

Bioprotectants have the potential to replace chemical pesticides in agricultural cropping systems and crop protection approaches. Development of new bioprotectants in combination with more restricted use of chemical crop protection will result in their much stronger market position in the future....

Relaxing non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) to improve photosynthesis in crops

Sunlight intercepted by crop plants drives photosynthesis and growth. However, the light-harvesting antenna complexes that capture light energy for photosynthesis can also absorb too much light, which enhances the formation for reactive oxygen species and can result in damage to photosynthetic re...

Quantifying captures from insect pest trap networks

In this chapter a high-level overview of the goals of trap networks, some examples and details for tephritid fruit flies, and then a detailed description of the TrapGrid model are given. TrapGrid can be used to quantify the probability of capturing insects instantaneously or over time using a fun...

Progress in precise and predictable genome editing in plants with base editing

Base editors are gene editing tools that allow targeted nucleic acid conversions, most commonly C>T and A>G, through pairing of deamination domains with impaired nucleases. Multiple deaminase domains and architectures have been demonstrated in planta across a wide array of species, with bot...

Origins and drivers of crop phenotyping

Plant phenotyping has seen rapid recent development in methods and technologies. This chapter outlines how plant phenotyping has developed over recent decades, driven by factors such as advances in optical sensors, image analysis and automation as well as multidisciplinary cooperation in establis...

New technologies to improve the ex situ conservation of plant genetic resources

Access to plant genetic resources is fundamental to the development of more resilient and nutritious crops. The efficient and effective conservation of plant genetic resources is therefore key to ensuring global food security. There are more than 1750 genebanks around the world, storing various t...

Molecular evolution and mechanisms of fungicide resistance in plant pathogenic fungi

Since the introduction in the late 1960s of systemic fungicides with modes of action involving inhibition of single target sites, resistance to many of these products has evolved in populations of fungal pathogens. Many important pathogens have developed reduced sensitivity to many of the major c...

Modifying mesophyll conductance to optimise photosynthesis in crops

Mesophyll conductance (gm), the ease with which carbon dioxide can diffuse into and through plant cells, is a promising target for improving photosynthetic rates in plants. Barriers including cell walls, membranes, liquid phases and the anatomy and orientation of the cells and their subcellular o...

Mechanisms of soil organic carbon sequestration and implications for management

Organic carbon sequestration is delineated from the different mechanisms underlying the storage of organic matter in mineral soils. The scene is set with definitions of the major terms within the complex of organic matter formation in soils, followed by describing the types of organic matter ente...

Managing grasslands to optimize soil carbon sequestration

In this chapter, we will discuss the effect of different grassland management practices on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration. This includes comparison of grasslands with arable croplands, the role of N fertilization, and grazing strategies. Special emphasi...

Management of organic soils to reduce soil organic carbon losses

Organic soils of intact peatlands store 1/4 of the global soil organic carbon (SOC). Despite being an important source of methane (CH4), they are climate coolers because they continuously accumulate new organic carbon. However, when these organic soils are drained for agriculture, the resulting a...

Life cycle assessment of indoor vertical farms

Indoor vertical farms (IVF) have expanded rapidly in recent years as an approach to secure resilient food provisioning in urban areas. Sustainability is often promoted by IVFs, focusing primarily on farm-level metrics and information about work with packaging. However, there are few assessments o...

Integrated weed management in grasslands

This chapter describes the current status of IWM for grasslands. Its focus is on management practices available to influence transitions in a weed’s life cycle: from the soil seed bank to seedling establishment, from the seedling stage to the mature plant, and from the mature plant to the soil se...

In ovo vaccination of chicken eggs

This chapter reviews in ovo vaccination of chicken eggs. It first discusses the history and evolution of in ovo vaccination, then goes on to highlight the various interacting factors of in ovo vaccination success. A section on additional interactions and considerations are also provided, focusing...

Improving the global exchange of germplasm for crop breeding

Different norms, rules and practices organize the exchange of germplasm to address broader global challenges such as advancement of science and innovation, food security, sustainable agriculture or global equity. Some of these institutions are now embedded in various treaties and national regulat...

Improving data flow and integration in models assessing the impact of climate change on agriculture

This chapter examines improving data flow and integration in models assessing the impact of climate change on agriculture. It starts by first describing model-data integration, focusing on multi-criteria calebration of mechanistic agro-ecosystem models. The chapter moves on to review informing sp...

Improving biodiversity in agricultural grassland systems

Biodiversity conservation is a rapidly advancing research area in sustainable grassland management. This chapter explores evidence-based approaches to enhance biodiversity on agricultural grasslands. The biodiversity value of these grasslands varies widely, primarily influenced by production-driv...

Identifying and exploiting genes controlling root system architecture for improving drought tolerance in cereals

In water-limited environments, productivity is directly related to crop evapotranspiration: increased grain yield requires increased inputs of water, whether through rainfall, irrigation or removal of stored soil moisture. The supply of water to the shoot depends on the growth, development and fu...

Genetic factors affecting the composition and quality of cow’s milk

This chapter reviews the genetic factors affecting the composition and quality of cow's milk. It starts by discussing how different breeds of cattle can affect the composition of milk. The chapter then goes on to examine milk proteins, genetic variants and post-translational modifications. It the...

Development and scale-up of bioprotectants to keep staple foods safe from aflatoxin contamination in Africa

Aflatoxins pose a significant public health risk, decrease productivity and profitability and hamper trade. To minimize aflatoxin contamination a biocontrol technology based on atoxigenic strains of Aspergillus flavus that do not produce aflatoxin is used widely in the United States. The technolo...

Creating frameworks to foster soil carbon sequestration

Restorative land management has potential to remove atmospheric carbon dioxide and store carbon in stable forms in soils contributing to climate change mitigation, healthier soils and food security supporting Paris Agreement targets and Sustainable Development Goals. We examine the evidence for a...

Creating an infrastructure for cultured meat

Mass producing animal protein damages global ecosystems. To mitigate the environmental impacts of factory farming, one proposed alternative is producing animal protein using cultured meat technologies. Research in this field is rapidly evolving and requires the concurrent development of an infras...

contribution of animal breeding to reducing the environmental impact of livestock production

Animal production is responsible for 14.5% of total anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Approximately half of these emissions originate directly from animal production, whereas the other half comes from feed production. Animal breeding aims at improving animal production and efficient u...

Considerations with water for turfgrass in arid environments

Golf course managers in arid environments must manage every drop of water like it is their last. Water restrictions continue to tighten and water costs are increasing exponentially in many areas. While superintendents in arid environments utilize onsite weather data to schedule irrigation, curren...