Roberto Mancinelli

Indicators of Cropping System Diversity in Organic and Conventional Farms in Central Italy

In modern agriculture, organic farming has a part to play in conserving biodiversity. The aim of our study was to compare organic and conventional farms using appropriate agro-biodiversity indicators. Our survey in central Italy, where 33 farms were involved (18 organic and 15 conventional), shows that integration of biodiversity at the farm level is more likely to be achieved in organic farms than in conventional ones. We have used a wide range of indicators of cropping system biodiversity in order to be able to document elements of both structural and functional diversity with a value for agroecosystem sustainability. From our survey emerges a picture of a typical organic farm, where the average farm size is around 54 ha with diversified land use shared between agricultural (81.3%) and wood area (18.7%) and with integration between crop and animal husbandry.

A multivariate analysis for evaluating the environmental and economical aspects of agroecosystem sustainability in central Italy.

Over the past century farming activity has intensified worldwide, characterized by an increasing dependence on external inputs and on land conversion. Although the intensification of agriculture has increased productivity, the sustainability of agroecosystems has also been compromised. The objective of this study is to build multivariate relationships between farm structural characteristics and farm performance to highlight the relative costs and benefits of four main farming systems in Central Italy: organic, conventional, mixed and non-mixed farms. Results show that the relationship between cropping diversity and agroecological sustainability is associated to a mixed versus non-mixed farm management dichotomy, not to organic or conventional farming practices. The presence of livestock appears to have played an important role as an economic lever for diversifying the farm cropping system.

Assessment of the state of agroecosystem sustainability using landscape indicators: a comparative study of three rural areas in Greece

ABSTRACT The research was based on a comparative study of three representative rural areas (Dovras, Larissa, and Messapia) in Greece. Remote sensing data were collected (maps, aerial photographs) for the landscape analysis and elaborated using GIS linked with economic and social parameters regarding land use. By using a selected core set of landscape indicators, this research aims at providing a useful tool for assessing agroecosystem management at territorial level and hopefully assist decision-making for the promotion of sustainability. The selected tool showed that the study area of Messapia presented the highest level of environmental sustainability, while the area of Dovras showed the best combination of agricultural productivity and landscape management. Results showed that the ecoregions of Dovras, Larissa, and Messapia presented a landscape composed of important ecological function areas in the percentages of 40%, 15%, and 70%, respectively, and of cultivated areas in the percentages of 55%, 71.19%, and 19.75%, respectively.

Influence of organic management on As bioavailability: Soil quality and tomato As uptake

The research studied the effects of organic vs. conventional management of soil quality and tomato yield quality, cultivated in a geogenic arsenic contaminated soil. The chemical and biochemical properties were analyzed to evaluate soil quality, arsenic mobility and its phyto-availability, as well as arsenic accumulation in the tomato plant tissues and if tomatoes cultivated in arsenic rich soil represents a risk for human health. A general improvement of tomato growth and soil quality was observed in the organic management, where soil organic carbon increased from 1.24 to 1.48% and total nitrogen content. The arsenic content of the soil in the organic management increased from 57.0 to 65.3 mg kg-1, probably due to a greater content of organic matter which permitted the soil to retain the arsenic naturally present in irrigation water. An increase of bioavailable arsenic was observed in the conventional management compared to the organic one (7.05 vs 6.18 mg kg-1). The bioavailable form of metalloid may affect soil microbial community structure assessed using El-FAME analysis. The increase of the total arsenic concentration in the organic management did not represent a stress factor for soil microbial biomass carbon (Cmic), which was higher in the organic management than in the conventional one (267 vs. 132 μg Cmic g-1). Even if the organic management caused an increase of total arsenic concentration in the soil due to the enhanced organic matter content, retaining arsenic from irrigation water, this management mitigates the arsenic uptake by tomato plants reducing the mobility of the metalloid.