Coffee agroecosystems are critical to the success of conservation efforts in Latin America because of their ecological and economic importance. Coffee certification programs may offer one way to protect biodiversity and maintain farmer livelihoods. Established coffee certification programs fall into three distinct, but not mutually exclusive categories: organic, fair trade, and shade. The resul...

Soil carbon (Cs) cycling is an essential component of agroecosystems models. Simulating Cs cycling has become an issue of societal importance for Cs storage can play a role reducing the rate of increase of atmospheric CO2 concentration. To participate in carbon trading markets, growers have to evaluate their local, sitespecific options to increase Cs or reduce Cs losses. This paper introduces C...

Facing widespread poverty and land degradation, Vietnam started a land reform in 1993 as part of its renovation policy package known as “Doi Moi”. This paper examines the impacts of improved land tenure security, via this land reform, on manure use by farm households. As manure potentially improves soil fertility by adding organic matter and nutrients to the soil surface, it might contribute to...

Aerial pollutants in confined animal houses are widely recognized as detrimental to the respiratory health of animals kept in these facilities. Primary and opportunistic microbial pathogens may directly cause infectious and allergic diseases in farm animals, and chronic exposure to some types of aerial pollutants may exacerbate multi-factorial environmental diseases. There are, however, few int...

Sustainable Agriculture satisfies human food and fiber needs, makes the most efficient use of on-farm resources and integrates natural biological cycles, enhances the quality of life for farmers and society as a whole, and sustains the economic viability of farm operations. A farm that is able to produce continuously, yet has negative effects on environmental quality elsewhere, does not support...

Fresh produce is a generalized term for a group of farm-produced crops, including fruits and vegetables. Organic agriculture has been on the rise and attracting the attention of the food production sector, since it uses eco-agricultural principles that are ostensibly environmentally-friendly and provides products potentially free from the residues of agrochemicals. Organic farming practices suc...

The generally higher biodiversity on organic farms may be influenced by management features such as no synthetic pesticide and fertilizer inputs and/or by differences in uncropped habitat at the site and landscape scale. We analysed bird and habitat data collected on 48 paired organic and conventional farms over two winters to determine the extent to which broad-scale habitat differences betwee...

Organic farming/products are becoming very necessary in today’s world to control ecosystem health and to impart related human health benefits, world over there is growing demand for organic produce. A field experiment was conducted at the research farm of Kilpest India Ltd., Bhopal, during 2009 on rice using BGA Chlorella pyrenoidosa and Nostoc muscorum and biological hydrolysate of Soybean .Th...

Organic sheep and goat farming is on the rise in Germany and the EU. Many consumers see organic farms as an example of the "intact world" of farming and rural living. Agrienvironmental schemes support conversion from conventional towards organic farming. Only few know how difficult organic sheep and goat farming is from animal welfare, ecological and economic perspective. Newcomers particularly...

Introduction Organic sweet corn can be successfully grown in Iowa, based on our agricultural resources and our extensive experience with field corn production. With the continuing growth of organic consumers in the U.S., premium prices can be obtained for organic sweet corn from Iowa. With the potential for major markets across the U.S. identified, research on production, harvesting and process...