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Introduction
Agroecology, food systems: I'm developing the concept and model of agroecological symbiosis (AES) and networks of AES (NAES) for resilient, efficient, sufficient, and consistent with sustainability goals, distributed food production and processing systems. These are bio-energy self-sufficient or net energy producers, recycling, and carbon efficient.
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February 1996 - December 2015
Publications
Publications (94)
The terms ‘Nordic countries’ or ‘The Nordics’ include the five countries Denmark, Finland, Island, Norway, and Sweden. This review includes evaluation of the Nordic countries against Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO)/World Health Organizations’ (WHO) guiding principles for healthy, sustainable diets with respect to environmental impact (prin...
Farming communities in the hills and mountains of the Himalayan region are some of the most vulnerable to the changing climate, owing to their specific biophysical and socioeconomic conditions. Understanding the observed parameters of the changing climate and the farmers’ perceptions of it, together with their coping approaches, is an important ass...
Circular food systems have been proposed as an alternative to the current dominant linear food chain structures. Biomass production for food and energy and nutrient recycling have been defined as the most important elements of circular food systems. Thus far, the potential role of food processing as a large biomass and energy user has gained little...
Agriculture is expected to feed an increasing global population while at the same time meeting demands for renewable energy and the supply of ecosystem services such as provision of nutrient cycling and carbon sequestration. However, the current structure of the agricultural system works against meeting these expectations. The spatial separation of...
Although a circular economy promotes economic and environmental benefits, knowledge gaps remain surrounding the application of these concepts to food systems. A better understanding of the connection between different flows of biomass and energy at different spatial scales is needed to facilitate effective transitions towards circular bioeconomies....
The globally growing demand to produce more food with fewer inputs, less energy, and lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions challenges current agricultural practices. Recycled fertilizers made of various side streams and types of biomass have been developed mainly to improve nutrient recycling in food systems. However, the knowledge of the impacts of...
Critics of modern food systems argue for the need to shift from a consolidated and concentrated, often monoculture based agro-industrial model toward diversified, post-fossil, and nutrient recycling food systems. The abundance of acute and obvious environmental problems in the agricultural sub-systems of the broader food system(s) have resulted in...
In Finland, while total agricultural production has remained relatively constant, nutrient input from industrial mineral fertilizers has declined over the past 20 years, which has been the target of environmental policies due to eutrophication risks. From 1996 to 2014, the use of nitrogen (N) declined by 18%, phosphorus (P) by 49%, and potassium (K...
The dependency on rainfed agriculture and weak adaptability of the agricultural sector to climate change threaten food security in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Biochar has widely been touted as a relatively easy means of increasing the soil water storage capacity of soils and thereby improving or maintaining crop yields. In this study we simulated the...
Article Info AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES Drought is the controlling abiotic stress factor affecting crop production in dryland environments and exposes millions of people to food insecurity in Africa and Asia. Although sorghum is drought tolerant, it is not sufficiently known if biochar can reduce drought-related losses in yields in clay soil...
There is growing demand to produce both food and renewable energy in a sustainable manner, while avoiding competition between food and energy production. In our study, we investigated the potential of harnessing biogas production into nutrient recycling in an integrated system of organic food production and food processing. We used the case of Agro...
Water scarcity is a severe global threat, and it will only become more critical with a growing and wealthier population. Annually, considerable volumes of water are transferred virtually through the global food system to secure nations' food supply and to diversify diets. Our objective is to assess, whether specializing water-intensive production f...
We studied the effects of Acacia seyal Del. intercropping and biochar soil amendment on soil physico-chemical properties and sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) yields in a two-year field experiment conducted on a silt loam site near Renk in South Sudan. A split-plot design with three replications was used. The main factor was tree-cropping system (dense...
Measures of functional diversity are expected to predict community responses to land use and environmental change because, in contrast to taxonomic diversity, it is based on species traits rather than their identity. Here, we investigated the impact of landscape homogenisation on plants, butterflies and birds in terms of the proportion of arable fi...
Meat and bone meal (MBM) is a by-product of the meat industry and is an important pathway for recycling of N and P. MBM contains about 8% N, 5% P, 1% K and 10% Ca. Field trials compared the effects of MBM and mineral fertilizer on yield and quality of sugar beet (2008-2009) and carrot (2010-2011) in Finland. MBM fertilisation of sugar beet grown on...
This report can be found at www.easac.eu EASAC EASAC – the European Academies' Science Advisory Council – is formed by the national science academies of the EU Member States to enable them to collaborate with each other in giving advice to European policy-makers. It thus provides a means for the collective voice of European science to be heard. EAS...
Background and aims
We studied the effect of different biochar (BC) application rates on soil properties, crop growth dynamics and yield on a fertile sandy clay loam in boreal conditions.
Methods
In a three-year field experiment conducted in Finland, the field was divided into three sub-experiments with a split-plot experimental design, one for ea...
Poor water retention capacity (WRC) and nutrient deficiency commonly limit crop yields in sandy soils. The use of biochar as a soil amendment has been previously reported to improve these limiting factors in subtropical and temperate soils. We studied the effects of biochar on soil properties and yield formation of spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L...
Biochar is widely studied as a combined soil conditioner in agriculture and a potential carbon sink. The knowledge of the effects of field application of biochar on soil fauna remains limited. Earthworms are a globally common and important faunal group in arable soils and the purpose of our study was to determine the effects of biochar on earthworm...
ISBN 978-952-453-874-9
Biodiversity indicators are assumed to reflect changes in e.g. species richness of multiple taxa, but correlations in species richness between taxa have often been shown to be weak. However, only few studies are based on data allowing for rigorous tests whether strengths of correlations differ between habitat and landscape factors. We compared stre...
Prolongation of the growing season due to a warming climate could represent new opportunities for northern agriculture. Climatic and biotic constraints may, however, together with increasing risk for higher nutrient loads, challenge future crop production. The objective of this study was to speculate how a range of arable land use patterns, resulti...
In intensive agricultural environments, arable field margins are important habitats as reservoirs of various beneficial wild species. Many studies of species diversity in field margins have focused on the local habitat level. However, relationships between the network of the margin habitats and species diversity are less studied.Edge density index...
At a global level, it is estimated that nearly two-thirds of ecosystem services have been degraded in just fifty years. The additional stresses imposed by climate change will require extraordinary adaptation. This paper synthesises main result of a large Finnish project studying the vulnerability of key ecosystem services to climate change and the...
A novel agri-environment scheme for Environmental Fallows (EFs) was introduced in Finland to replace a former obligatory set-aside under the Common Agricultural Policy. It currently keeps fallow at nearly 7% of the agricultural land area and therefore may make a unique contribution to the enhancement of farmland biodiversity on the national scale....
We studied the impact of added biochar on the N mineralisation dynamics of two organic fertilisers by incubating loamy sand soil for 133 days in controlled conditions. Biochar made from softwood chips was added to soil at 0, 4·6, 9·1 and 13·6 g kg–1 soil dry matter (DM) either alone, or in combination with meat bone meal (MBM) and composted cattle...
Using dataset of 508 transects of 50 m(2), we assessed changes in the invasion level of alien plant species in semi-natural agricultural habitats in three study years (2001, 2005 and 2010) in four geographical regions of Finland. In addition, the impact of environmental factors on the occurrence of the most common neophytes (alien species introduce...
A novel agri-environment scheme for Environmental Fallow (EF) was introduced in Finland to replace a former obligatory CAP set-aside. Though potentially highly valuable, the ability of the current scheme for delivering the stated objectives of water protection, biodiversity, and soil state is yet to be confirmed. The presentation evaluates the role...
Väkilannoitteiden tuottaminen perustuu fossiilisen energian käyttöön. Erityisesti väkilannoitteiden sisältämän typen valmistamien vaatii runsaasti uusiutumatonta energiaa. Toisaalta väkilannoitteissa hyödynnetään myös erittäin rajallisia mineraalisia esiintymiä, kuten apatiittia fosforin lähteenä. Väkilannoitteiden käyttöä ei voida pitää kestävän k...
We studied the impact of added biochar on the N mineralization dynamics of two organic fertilizers by incubating sandy loam soil for 133 days in controlled conditions. Biochar made from softwood chips was added to soil at 0, 4.6, 9.1 and 13.6 g kg-1 soil DM either alone, or in combination with meat bone meal (MBM) and composted cattle manure (CCM)...
T armi S, H elenius J & H yvönen T (2011). The potential of cutting regimes to control problem weeds and enhance species diversity in an arable field margin buffer strip. Weed Research 51 , 641–649.
Summary
Buffer zones in arable land could promote biodiversity of agricultural areas. These are most often established with sown seed mixtures of gras...
The traditional production of mineral N and P fertilisers is unsustainable due its reliance on fossil fuels in the case of N, and on limited mineral resource stocks in the case of P. The use of alternative or comple-mentary fertilisers that originate from organic waste materials is gaining interest. Organic farms, especially arable organic farms wi...
Eleven indigenous Ghanaian plant species were tested for their toxicity to 3 storage pest species: Acanthoscelides obtectus, Prostephanus truncatus and Sitophilus oryzae under laboratory conditions. P. truncatus was reared on loose maize grains, S. oryzae on wheat grains and A. obtectus on cowpeas. All rearings were done in an incubator at 25–26°C...
Field experiments were conducted in southern Finland in 1981–1985. Shoots of oat, Avena sativa, were sampled in monocrops and mixed intercrops of oats and faba bean, Vicia faba, in order to estimate the densities of bird cherry-oat aphid, Rhopalosiphum padi, its coccinellid and syrphid predators, parasitized (mummified) aphids and aphids killed by...
This study explores the impacts on agricultural and total GHG emissions of Finnish consumption if the share of animal based food products was reduced and if the share of ecologically produced food was to increase in Finland. GHG emissions associated with production of basic food items were quantified (per capita per annum) for current food consumpt...
This study quantifies the sources of agricultural GHG emissions and explores the impact of diet on GHG emissions in Finland. The emissions associated with production of basic food items were quantified for four diet options. For current average food consumption, emissions from soil represent 62% of the total. The emissions due to enteric fermentati...
Improved assessment methods for agriculture production systems are needed to identify the risks and opportunities related to global changes in climate, markets and policies, and the consequences of alternative options of coping with and mitigating the changes. This paper presents the AGRISIMU modelling framework developed for ex-ante assessment of...
Carabid data compiled from six independent studies, consisting of 97 799 individuals trapped by pitfalls from Finnish agricultural fields and identified to 111 species were analyzed. Shannon-Wiener H' diversity index was typically around 2.5 and expected species number rarefied to 600 trapped individuals was typically around 30 species. The five mo...
Biofuels have been promoted as a way to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but it is questionable whether they indeed do so. The study compared energy and GHG balances of transport biofuels produced in Finnish conditions. Energy and GHG balances were calculated from a life cycle perspective for biogas when timothy-clover and reed canary grass s...
The potential for and environmental consequences of localising primary production of food were investigated by considering different food consumption patterns, based on conventional and organic production. Environmental impact was assessed according to agricultural land use and numbers of production animals, both of which depend on food consumption...
We reviewed studies on the biological state of agricultural drainage ditches in the temperate and boreal zones of the Northern Hemisphere. We looked at the relative importance of ditches for farmland biota as compared to that of other habitats, and assessed the degree to which biological communities of ditches contribute to the provisioning of ecos...
In three sets of data pooled over spring wheat varieties and lines a number of grain quality measurements were related to the levels of infestation by Sitodiplosis mosellana larvae. The Hagberg falling number value was negatively correlated with the proportion of damaged grains. The 1000-grain weight, protein content and gluten content were not aff...
Lepsämänjoki LTSER (long term social ecological research platform) kuuluu kahdeksan muun erilaisiaekosysteemityyppejä edustavan verkoston kanssa vuonna 2007 perustettuun Suomen LTSER- konsortioon(FinLTSER:http://www.ymparisto.fi/default.asp?contentid=257172&lan=FI). FinLTSERpuolestaan onsamana vuonna hyväksytty kv. ILTER -verkostoonjäseneksi (http:...
These proceedings contain 49 papers presented in the following sections: (i) crop wild relative conservation; (ii) establishing inventories and conservation priorities; (iii) threat and conservation assessment; (iv) genetic erosion and genetic pollution; (v) in situ conservation; (vi) ex situ conservation; (vii) information management; (viii) gene...
The local, as opposed to global, food system refers to the idea of achieving food equitability, access, security, responsibility and environmental stewardship by means of localising food. We studied the effects and learning challenges of localising the food system at municipal and provincial scales in a Finnish case. In our multidisciplinary projec...
Aim To assess the relative importance of climate, biotope and soil variables as well as geographical location for the species richness of plants, butterflies, day-active macromoths and wild bees in boreal agricultural landscapes.
Location A total of 68 agricultural landscapes located in southern Finland.
Methods Generalized linear mixed models were...
Paikallinen ruokajärjestelmä, lähiruoka, on erityisesti globaalistuvan ruokajärjestelmän vastakohtanakiinnostava tutkimuskohde. Ruokajärjestelmän paikallistamisella tavoitellaan ruoan tasaveroista jayhteisöllisesti omatoimista saavutettavuutta, taloudellista ruokaturvaa sekä vastuullisuutta ruoan tuotannonluonnonvaroista ja tuotantoympäristöstä. Nä...
Agroecology education and research programs are gaining prominence in universities. This emerging field provides an appropriate and convenient platform for bringing organic farming into academia. Agroecology deals with complex systems, uncertainty, and the future. Examples from organic farming and local food systems often provide valuable examples...
This book documents current practices in organic agriculture and evaluates their strengths and weaknesses. All major aspects of organic agriculture are explored including historical background and underlying principles, soil fertility management, crop and animal production, breeding strategies, crop protection, animal health and nutrition, animal w...
Urbanization increases the physical and mental dis-tances between urban and rural residents and separates city people from knowledge about where and how their food is grown. We recognize an increasing interest in diet and health, as well as the environment, yet at the same time most urban consumers focus only on product quality and price in the su-...
In many European countries,organic agriculture has rapidly beentransformed from a farmers' movement to aninstitutionalized part of agricultural policy.In certification, compliance with publishedorganic standards is verified through annualinspections on farms. In Finland, the role ofadvice in organic inspections has been thesubject of debate. Two in...
Semi-natural habitats are key elements between cultivated and natural areas. Ditch boundaries, buffer zones, barn areas and woodland patches were analyzed in Toholampi, Yläne, Nurmijärvi and Liperi localities in Finland over the period 1954–1998 by means of indicators for semi-natural areas, based on calculations of the sum of patch densities (PDsu...
We present a compelling rationale for defining agroecology as the ecology of food systems. Our purpose is to provide a framework that will guide research, education, and action in the multiple and interacting facets of an increasingly complex global agriculture and food system. To accomplish such goals, it is essential to build bridges and connecti...
As a member of the European Union, Finland has committed itself to creating an environmental policy for agriculture. The aims of this study were to evaluate visual impacts of the General Agri-Environmental Protection Scheme (GAEPS) and Supplementary Protection Scheme (SPS) and general attitudes towards some activities in those policies and furtherm...
Buffer zones in agroecosystems are maintained to prevent soil erosion, nutrient leaching and pesticide drift from arable fields. Buffer zones are also semi-natural habitats supporting wildlife in farmland. At the landscape level, buffer zones may also function as corridors in agricultural mosaics. This study aims at understanding the relationship b...
To determine the importance of field boundary habitats for farmland biodiversity, we surveyed a total of 193 boundaries from four climatically and agriculturally dissimilar regions in Finland. We meas-ured the current plant species richness and composition of the boundaries, and, based on the differ-ences in vegetation characteristics, we describe...
Educators in ecological agriculture are developing learning environments that differ in three fundamental ways from conventional teaching in agricultural universities and colleges. First, increased emphasis on food and production systems will expand and complement the current focus on specific disciplines and technologies. Second, introduction of r...
Carabid data compiled from six independent studies, consisting of 97 799 individuals trapped by pitfalls from Finnish agricultural fields and identified to 111 species were analyzed. Shannon-Wiener H' diversity index was typically around 2.5 and expected species number rarefied to 600 trapped individuals was typically around 30 species. The five mo...
Our objective was to detect mass migrations of insects of economic significance by insect traps and a Doppler weather radar. Migrants were sampled by suction traps, tow nets and light traps in the Helsinki region. We used radar to observe the migrating insects, and trajectories to backtrack mass migrations of aphids (Homoptera, Aphididae) in spring...
Three graduate-level short courses on ecological agriculture and food systems were held in 1995–1997 in Norway to introduce systems thinking, creative research methods, and innovative learning approaches. In 1999, a three-day evaluation and planning workshop was held to assess course impacts, to determine relative importance of content areas, to co...
The importance of spatial scales and landscape heterogeneity to insect populations is widely accepted in ecology and conservation biology. What are the applications to crop protection? Theoretically, insect pest species with certain characteristic metapopulation dynamics may effectively be managed by crop rotation, by applying the same tools as use...
Changes in landscape over a period of 50 years were analysed in a rural area of 324 ha in Central Finland. The data were digitized from aerial photographs of the National Land Survey taken in 1944, 1959, 1979 and 1991, and analysed with the IDRISI™ geographic information system (GIS). The average proportion of land in agricultural use in the sample...
A review of the principal methods available for the estimation of predator density or abundance (suction apparatus, habitat search, mark-release-recapture, fenced pitfall taps, ground photoeclectors, soil flooding, microhabitat removal, catch per unit effort, distance method, trap stones and unfenced pitfall traps) indicated that good data on the e...
Both monocrops and intercrops of oats (Avena sativa L.) and faba bean (Vicia faba L.) were cultivated over a range of sowing densities in a field experiment of randomized complete blocks design. The hyperbolic yield-density model was applied to phytomass and seed yield. Predictions and parameters of the model were used to quantify intra- and inters...
The article summarizes results of field experiments carried out in Southern Finland (61" 12' N) in 1981-1985. The effect of mixed croooine of oats Avena saliva with faba bean V7ciafaba on the numbers'df cereal aphids was investigated, es ecially regarding E the bird cherrv-oats aphid Rhopalosiphum padi. T e data comprised the frequencies of ceieal...
In 1988, insects were sampled from tillers and by pitfall trapping in a long-term field experiment consisting of plots of organic and conventional barley. The organic crops suffered from lack of nitrogen and from draught stress, and growth and development were retarded. The stand characteristics were suggested to be the major determinants of the fo...
Three field experiments, with factorial designs and consisting of monocrops of oats, Avenu sativa , and mixtures of oats with faba bean, Vicia faba , were conducted in 1983–1985. The densities of generalist epigeal predators were manipulated by vertical barriers or ingress and egress trenches. Pitfall trapping was used to measure the effect of mani...
Three field experiments, with factorial designs and consisting of monocrops of oats, Avenu sativa, and mixtures of oats with faba bean, Vicia faba, were conducted in 1983–1985. The densities of generalist epigeal predators were manipulated by vertical barriers or ingress and egress trenches. Pitfall trapping was used to measure the effect of manipu...
Effects of mixed intercropping on plant size, content of mineral nutrients and biomass yields were examined in three field experiments in Southern Finland in 1983—1985. The stand types were monocrops and replacement series of mixtures with 2/3 and 1/3 or 1/3 and 2/3 of oats (Avena sativa) and faba bean (Vicia faba), respectively. In one of the expe...
Population densities of cereal aphids were monitored on monocultures of oats Avena sativa and mixtures of oats and field beans Vicia faba in experimental and farmers' fields during 1981–1985. The mixtures were established following the replacement-series principle. The most abundant aphid found on oats was Rhopalosiphum padi. The mean peak densitie...
Seed yields, yield components, pest incidence and damage were examined in two field experiments of mixed intercropping of oats (Avena sativa) with field beans (Vicia faba) in Southern Finland in 1984—1985.The stand types were monocrops and replacement series of mixtures with 2/3 and 1/3 or 1/3 and 2/3 of oats and beans, respectively, on plots treat...
Sitodiplosis mosellana has been found for the first time infesting wheat in Finland. In the wheat field studied, the egg laying period was in mid July, and the larvae left the ears in mid August. On an average ca. 20 % of the ears were infested. It was estimated, that 1.7 % of the grains were sucked by the larvae. The level of infestation was found...
Analyses were made of regionally representative samples of Finnish honey, 90 from 1977 and 68 from 1978. The average sugar composition, determined by thin layer chromatography, was: 47.3 % fructose, 43.9 % glucose and 8.7 % oligosaccharides. The ratio fructose/glucose was 1.1. Dry matter averaged 82.4 % and pH 3.9. Vitamin analysis of five sub samp...
Pollen spectra were analysed on 160 honey samples representing the whole beekeeping area of Finland in the years 1977 and 1978. A semi-quantitative method of pollen analysis based online counts was developed. It was found efficient for determining the relative numbers of pollen grains in the honey samples. On average, ca. 16 pollen types were ident...
The two aspects that characterize the agri-environmental (AE) programme in Finland are: its wide appeal to farmers and a focus on resource protection (water). The former results in the 91% subscription rate among the country’s farms, and the latter channels most of the funding into measures primarily protecting surface waters. Based on the results...
