Ambrogio Costanzo

Institut de l’agriculture et de l’alimentation biologiques | ITAB

Yield gaps between organic and conventional agriculture raise concerns about future agricultural systems which should reduce external inputs and face an unpredictable climate. In the UK, the performance gap is especially severe for wheat that, as a result, has a small and shrinking organic acreage. In organic wheat production, most determinants of...

The new European Organic Regulation 2018/848 has announced the phasing out of derogations for the use of untreated non-organic seed by 2036. However, the use of organic seed by organic farmers is currently limited. This paper aims to identify the factors affecting the use of organic seed. It is based on data collected from 749 organic farmers in 20...

Functional diversity of cover crop mixtures is thought to improve biomass production and weed suppression, two key agroecosystem services in organic systems. To test this hypothesis, we selected eight cover crop species belonging to four functional groups: (i) vining growing large‐seeded legumes (field pea, common vetch), (ii) erect growing small‐s...

Cultivar mixtures are a well studied practice to improve common wheat performance by exploiting the potential of genetic diversity to buffer biotic and abiotic stresses. However, their ability to reduce weed interference is still unclear. In this work, crop-weed interactions were studied across two growing seasons under Mediterranean climatic condi...

Agrobiodiversity can improve the sustainability of cropping systems in a context of low external inputs and unpredictable climate change. Agrobiodiversity strategies to grow wheat are breeding ad hoc cultivars for organic and low-input systems, wheat–legume intercrops and living mulches, cultivar mixtures, and the use of genetically heterogeneous p...

In organic farming, crop adaptation to the growing environment and resilience towards changing climate are key in ensuring a sustainable and profitable agriculture in the absence of external inputs. Varietal choice is the major crop specific management decision organic farmers can make on a short-term basis to manage crop performance. Here, we pre...

LIVESEED is a Horizon 2020 project applying interdisciplinary and multi-actor approaches aiming to transform the organic seed and plant breeding sector. The main goal is to reach 100% organic seed of cultivars suited for organic agriculture in order to improve competitiveness and integrity of organic production. LIVESEED covers the five main crop c...

European agriculture shows a high concentration of acreage and of research and development investment on a few major crops. Rediscovery and reintroduction of neglected and underutilised species is therefore necessary to ensure crop diversification and, as a result, improve the sustainability and resilience of the agricultural system

In organic farming, crop adaptiveness to the growing environment and resilience in changing climates are key to ensuring a sustainable and profitable agricultural system in the absence of external inputs. In this context, varietal choice is the major crop specific management decision organic farmers can make on a short-term basis to manage crop per...

Agroecology calls for a global approach, integrating scientific, practical, and advocacy dimensions, to redesign agricultural systems based on ecological and socio-cultural processes and emphasizing biodiversity. This review is grounded on the results of DIVERSIFOOD, a European H2020 multi-actor research project, and explores the concept of cultiva...

Einkorn, emmer, and rivet are three species of wheat that have largely been neglected in modern agriculture. There is a revived interest in these species as potentially successful alternatives to mainstream wheat in organic and low-input cropping systems and as sources of highly nutritious food. However, the availability of literature studies conce...

Sowing density can have a strong impact on crop stand development during wheat growing cycle. In organic and low-input agriculture, and therefore with minimum or nil use of chemical herbicides, increased sowing density is expected to affect not only grain yield but also weed suppression. In this study we tested, under Mediterranean conditions, six...

Introduction No-tillage in vegetable systems can provide several benefits, but it can only be implemented if there is a powerful strategy to control weeds (Morse, 1999). Cover crops are an essential part of an integrated weed management strategy in no-till organic and low input vegetable systems (Altieri et al., 2011). However, few studies focus on...

Cover crops are a fundamental tool for weed control, especially in organic and low input farming. Species with different functional traits can be combined in mixtures to enhance weed suppression. Our aim was to test the relative importance of functional diversity and functional composition (i.e. complementarity) in improving and stabilising the agr...

Deployment of diversity at the species and at the genetic levels can improve the ability of crops to withstand a wide range of biotic and abiotic stressors in organic and low-input cropping systems, where the response to stresses through external input is limited or restricted in comparison with conventional systems. Although there are several stra...

Cover crops are an essential strategy in organic and low input arable and vegetable production, especially regarding weed reduction and N use efficiency, but their establishment and development can be unstable. A viable option to enhance and stabilise the agroecosystem services provided by cover crops is to sow mixtures of species having different...

Agrobiodiversity can improve organic and low-input wheat production, but a clear framework is necessary to translate scientific evidences into practice. Here we present results from a field experiment on common wheat, focusing on cultivar identity, genetic heterogeneity and on the inclusion of a legume living mulch. We conclude that selecting culti...

In a context of environmental variability and unpredictability, high homogeneity at the species and genetic level may limit the performance of low-input and organic wheat production. We hypothesize that short- and medium-term performance gains, in terms of yield, stability and system buffer capacity can be obtained by increasing cropping system div...

Traditional top-down approaches to agricultural development projects have often failed to ensure application of innovation by farmers. Alternative approaches with deeper involvement of farmers are required, especially in areas showing social and environmental crises such as the West-African Sahel. In this context, an action-research experience was...

Traditional top-down approaches to agricultural development projects have often failed to ensure application of innovation by farmers. Such systems have often proven inefficient to drive actual change, probably due to their overlook on local knowledge and local social relationships. Alternative approaches with deeper involvement of farmers are requ...