Organic farming systems rely on the management of biological cycles for the provision of nutrients, which are crucial to maximising the production from the system. Rotations based on the use of grass-legume leys are central to the concept of organic farming systems, because they have the potential to support both animal production, and a subsequent, exploitative, arable cropping phase. A major ...

Relevance Concerns about the environmental impact of farming has increasingly been the focus of discussions in the EU. Croplands, a primary land use in Europe, have a significant impact on the environment (soil, water bodies, global climate, local biodiversity and human health). The use of fertilisers and pesticides associated with conventional farming may lead to pollution and/or climate chang...

From 2003-2006, an EU network project ‘Sustaining Animal Health and Food Safety in Organic Farming’ (SAFO), was carried out with 26 partners from 20 EU-countries and 4 related partners from 4 candidate or new member states. The focus was the integration of animal health and welfare issues in organic farming with food safety aspects. Four very consistent conclusions became apparent: 1) The clima...

Despite weeds are a serious threat to promotion of organic farming, relatively less attention is given to research on weed management. This article explores a scope of integration of conservation agriculture for weed control and soil protection under organic farming. Limitation in the use of agro-chemicals under OF promotes intensive tillage for weed control. Mostly, tillage leads to depletion ...

The level of nitrogen leaching from organic compared to conventional farming was evaluated by using a systems modelling approach. Two different methods were used for estimating and evaluating nitrate leaching. A simple function was used in which nitrate leaching is dependent on percolation, soil clay content, average nitrogen input and crop sequence. A nitrogen balance model was used to estimat...

This paper presents a cross-cultural study on peoples’ negative attitude toward robots. 467 participants from seven different countries filled in the negative attitude towards robots scale survey which consists of 14 questions in three clusters: attitude towards the interaction with robots, attitude towards social influence of robots and attitude towards emotions in interaction with robots. Aro...

Organic farming is gaining popularity all over the world as it avoids the use of synthetic chemicals. Plant production in organic farming mainly depends on nutrient release as a function of mineralization processes in soils. In the present study, efficient phosphate mineralizing bacteria were isolated and their efficacy tested in plant mineral uptake and soil fertility of an organic field. Amon...

Organic farming system and sustainable management of soil pathogens aim at reducing the use of agricultural chemicals in order to improve ecosystem health. Despite the essential role of microbial communities in agro-ecosystems, we still have limited understanding of the complex response of microbial diversity and composition to organic and conventional farming systems and to alternative methods...

1.Environmental changes may not always result in rapid changes in species distributions, abundances or diversity. In order to estimate the effects of, for example, land-use changes caused by agri-environment schemes (AES) on biodiversity and ecosystem services, information on the time-lag between the application of the scheme and the responses of organisms is essential.2.We examined the effects...