
Paolo BàrberiSant'Anna School of Advanced Studies | SSSUP · Group of Agroecology - Institute of Plant Sciences
Paolo Bàrberi
PhD in Environmentally-sound Agricultural Practices
Agroecology, Functional Agrobiodiversity, Organic Farming, Integrated/Ecological Weed Management, Agroecosystem services
About
192
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Introduction
Head of the Group of Agroecology (GOA).
Former Coordinator of the International Doctoral Programme in Agrobiodiversity (http://www.santannapisa.it/en/formazione/phd-agrobiodiversity).
Research themes: Agroecology, Functional Agrobiodiversity, Organic Farming, Weed Ecology and Management.
He has (co)authored 364 scientific papers. He is co-founder and former Vice-President of Agroecology Europe (www.agroecology-europe.org) and co-founder of the Italian Association for Agroecology (AIDA).
Additional affiliations
Position
- Professor in Agronomy and Field Crops
November 1996 - June 2000
Position
- Professor in Agronomy and Field Crops
Education
January 1991 - February 1994
Publications
Publications (192)
Lentils are a vital staple crop in a world seeking sustainable and secure food, but their cultivation face a threat due to yield instability, mainly arising from a lack of genetic diversity in breeding programmes. In this study, we assembled and characterized the genetic and phenotypic diversities of a collection of 106 lentil genotypes, to evaluat...
Trends in EU agricultural policies recognize an increasingly important role to biodiversity conservation and use in agroecosystems, including organic ones. However, along with their economic success, organic systems are facing a risk of ‘conventionalization’, i.e. the prevalence of input substitution over agroecologically-based crop management. Und...
Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (MAPs) represent a crucial component of endemic flora in Sicily, known for producing active ingredients with cosmetic and pharmaceutical properties under specific environmental conditions. Within Sicilian MAPs, rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus Spenn.), from the Lamiaceae family, is one of the most drought-stress-resistant s...
Rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus Spenn.), an indigenous medicinal and aromatic plant within the Mediterranean
region, yields essential oils renowned for their antimicrobial, antioxidant, anticancer, and anti-inflammatory
properties. When subjected to various stress conditions, rosemary intensifies the production of essential oils as
a defensive mechanis...
Agroecology is identified as an important solution to increase the sustainability of agricultural and food systems. Despite the increasing number of publications assessing the socio-economic outcomes of agroecology, very few studies have consolidated the scattered results obtained on various case studies. This paper provides new insights by consoli...
Dear Colleagues, In an effort to contrast the current mounting wave of emergent wars with their devastating effects, both material and spiritual, cultural institutions are urgently called for setting up a cultural peace-building barrier based on an ecological conscience. We are convinced that scholars of Agroecology and Organic Agriculture already...
Background
In the context of rising costs of raw materials and environmental degradation caused by livestock farming, the agri-food sector faces significant challenges in sourcing sustainable proteins. Grain legumes have emerged as cost-effective protein sources, with lower water footprint and GHG emissions compared to animal sources. However, thei...
The management of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) is crucial for sustainable agricultural systems, given its beneficial impacts on soil health and crop productivity. This study aimed to assess the effect of lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) mixtures for intercropping with durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) on mycorrhiza and investigate the role of...
Lentil is a crucial staple crop in a world seeking for sustainable and secure food, but its cultivation is threatened by yield instability: among the main causes of such instability is the lack of genetic diversity in pulses breeding programmes. In this study, we assembled and characterized the genetic and phenotypic diversity of a collection of 11...
In intercropping systems, crop species select host-adapted microorganisms and influence the associated plant-microbial interactions like in the case of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). Attempts to assess the impact of intercropping on the activity, diversity, and community composition of AMF remain inconclusive, more so in intercropping systems...
In the context of rising costs of raw materials and environmental degradation caused by livestock farming, the agri-food sector faces significant challenges in sourcing sustainable proteins. Grain legumes have emerged as cost-effective protein sources, with lower water footprint and GHG emissions compared to animal sources. However, their cultivati...
In Madagascar, upland rainfed rice is traditionally grown on tilled soil without transplanting. Weed infestation by annual species is a serious issue in such a system. Stylo-santhes guianensis, a legume cover crop, can be grown with rice as a living mulch but its effect on the weed community and rice yield was not yet well studied. Therefore, a fie...
Crop losses from pests threaten global food security and safety. In the last six decades, pest control using chemical pesticides has resulted in important yield gains per unit area, worldwide. However, the long-term sustainability of chemical pest control has
been increasingly thrown into doubt due to the negative impact on human health, biodiversi...
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Novel green extractions aim at the full valorization of aromatic herbs along with the minimization of energy consumption, extraction time and cost of the processes. In this perspective, a simultaneous ultrasound and microwave irradiation extraction method (US-IMWAE) fo...
Context: Little is known about the long-term contribution of cover crops to weed management in tillage-and herbicide-based systems. Research questions: Do cover crops mainly filter weed species capable of setting seeds during the fallow period? Can cover crop biomass productivity explain differences in weed suppression among cover crop species? Doe...
Crop losses from pests threaten global food security and safety. In the last six decades, pest control using chemical pesticides has resulted in important yield gains per unit area, worldwide. However, the long-term sustainability of chemical pest control has been increasingly thrown into doubt due to the negative impact on human health, biodiversi...
Purpose
Commercial production and the use of liquid vermicompost extract (LVE) is gaining attention as a technique that supports integrated soil-microbial-crop management for sustainable agriculture. However, the interaction effects of LVE, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), and host plants on the delivery of agroecosystem services in alkaline soi...
Cultivar mixtures are a useful tool to enhance cultivated biodiversity to buffer crop biotic and abiotic stresses. There are multiple pieces of evidence of mixture advantages in terms of pathogen control and increase in yield amount, stability and quality. Lentil represents a founder crop in the Mediterranean, yet it experiences strong yield fluctu...
No-till cropping systems with cover crops can improve soil health, but often rely on glyphosate, which is a contentious herbicide. In this study, we investigated whether a system based on the direct sowing of sunflower ( Helianthus annuus ) in the dead mulch of a roller-crimped hairy vetch ( Vicia villosa ) could be competitive with a system where...
In the context of a warming climate and widespread soil degradation, successful soil management practices in Mediterranean vineyards should combine environmental (e.g., soil health) and productive (yield and must quality) objectives. With this objective, we tested five soil management practices in two organic farms in Chianti Classico (Italy) acros...
Relay intercropping is considered a valuable agroecological practice to increase and stabilize crop yields while ensuring the provision of several ecosystem services as well as sustainability and resilience to changing climatic conditions. However, farmers are still reluctant in the use of intercropping practices since there is a huge knowledge gap...
Environmental degradation and the decrease of ecosystem service provision are currently of major concern, with current agricultural systems being a major driver. To meet our future environmental and sustainability targets a transformation of the agro-food systems and current agricultural value chain are crucial. One approach to redesign farming sys...
Stiamo vivendo tempi difficili e al contempo eccitanti. Da un lato, siamo chiamati a reindirizzare la rotta e trovare soluzioni urgenti a problemi globali di importanza enorme, quali il cambiamento climatico, la perdita di biodiversità, l'insostenibilità del modello agroalimentare industriale dominante, in un contesto fortemente condizionato dalla...
Keynote presented at the 50th Conference of the Italian Society for Agronomy (SIA), focusing on how to implement an agroecological transition of cropping and farming systems based on a better understanding of functional biodiversity to improve the provision of agroecosystem services.
Band steaming is a non‐chemical weed control method of increasing interest for highly remunerative, low competitive crops. This study aimed to test the field application of a new prototype of band‐steaming machine in three organic fields under contrasting Mediterranean environmental conditions. Trials were conducted in carrot under real‐field condi...
Intercropping is often proposed as a valid agroecological tool for low-input arable farming, but few studies assess it at the farm level. We set up a farm experiment to test a wheat-Persian clover temporary intercropping system (Pcw, unfertilized wheat sown at 330 seeds m − 2 , and clover sown in paired rows; Pcwbc, unfertilized wheat sown at 330 s...
Ethiopian agricultural lands are fragile due to inherent unfavourable soil properties, over-exploitation, mismanagement (deforestation, over-grazing and inappropriate land use systems) and harsh weather conditions. These factors are worsened by changing climatic conditions, leading to significant problems in terms of soil erosion and loss of soil f...
Introduction - Since the international popularity of tsiperifery, the Malagasy wild pepper (Piper sp.) from Madagascar started to grow, traditional low-intensity harvesting has turned into uncontrolled systematic collection, which is environmentally and socioeconomically unsustainable. Domestication could be key for sustainable exploitation of tsip...
Vineyards are among the land uses with the highest soil degradation rate in Mediterranean Europe, mainly due to intensive tillage management. Therefore, practices able to foster soil health are critical to promote sustainable wine production. We studied the following treatments in two organic farms in Chianti Classico (Italy): conventional tillage,...
Allarme del mondo scientifico: la temperatura del pianeta continua a crescere e le proiezioni dicono che è molto probabile che tra il 2030 e il 2040 arriveremo ad un riscaldamento globale medio di 1.5°C. L’impatto del cambiamento è sempre più evidente, con gli eventi estremi che diventano più intensi e frequenti e con ulteriori rischi per la salute...
Legume crops hold promise to diversify the currently simplified rotations that dominate Europe and to increase the sustainability of European farming systems. Nevertheless, most legumes have been ignored by farmers, advisors, and value chain agents in the EU, where legumes are estimated to occupy only ~2% of arable land. Recent surveys find that fa...
Lettera aperta di 30 scienziati italiani al Presidente del Consiglio dei Ministri, Prof. Mario Draghi, a supporto di una vera transizione ecologica dell'economia nazionale post COVID-19 attraverso il Recovery Fund e il Piano Nazionale di Ripresa e Resilienza (PNRR).
The effect of relay intercropping between winter durum wheat sown at 33% and 100% densities and lentils on soil mycorrhizal inoculation potential (MIP), crop yield, and land equivalent ratio (LER) under a low input management system was investigated. Relay intercropping system significantly (p=0.017) influenced soil MIP. A clear trend and a higher...
Cover crops (CC) have been proposed as a promising ecological tool to manage weeds and increase crop productivity. We hypothesized that the repeated use of CC could increase crop yield directly through nitrogen release and/or indirectly through a modification of weed communities. Data were collected on CC biomass, weed biomass, weed community compo...
The authors recommended four key measures which will be updated and presented to representatives of the EU institutions on several occasions. The four recommendations are:
1) The phasing out of current subsidies by agricultural area and livestock head, and on energy, large equipment and external inputs. Such subsidies create a strong bias in the p...
Seven potential controversial topics in agroecology are presented and discussed from a European perspective comparing the position of Agroecology Europe (AEEU) obtained from an iterative, participatory approach with members and compared with published literature, including views from other parts of the world. The seven controversial topics as follo...
In the context of sustainable agricultural development, the provision of other services beyond production is becoming a priority. We contend that a functional approach to agrobiodiversity is the best approach to meeting such goal in both research and agricultural practice. We have traced the development of studies on agriculture-biodiversity relati...
Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) establish mutualistic symbioses with the roots of most plant species, playing a key role in crop productivity and ecosystem functioning. The characterization of local AMF genotypes assemblages is a prerequisite for the reproduction, both ex situ and on farm, of efficient native AMF communities, in order to improve...
More intensive, monocultural agriculture has been associated with a decline in diversity of habitat and plant species which leads to corresponding declines in diversity of insect, bird and mammal species. There is mounting evidence that a more biodiverse landscape improves ecosystem services which benefits farmers.
Reconciling agricultural product...
To investigate the short-term effects of liquid vermicompost on soil mycorrhizal inoculum potential (MIP) and plant-mycobiome interactions, a field trial was carried out at CiRAA E. Avanzi, San Piero a Grado, Pisa, Italy. The bacterial 16S and fungal ITS sequence analyses showed a high bacteria, fungal abundance and taxonomic alpha diversity presen...
L'agroecologia è un paradigma emergente in grado di soddisfare tutti i criteri di sostenibilità dei sistemi agro-alimentari (ambientale, economica e sociale) e si pone in alternativa all'agricoltura industriale, che in questo ha largamente fallito. L'agroecologia è al contempo una disciplina scientifica, un insieme di pratiche eco-compatibili di ge...
Reconciling crop productivity and biodiversity maintenance is one of the main challenges of agriculture worldwide. Moreover,
the importance of weed diversity in mitigating yield losses has been identified as one of the top five research priorities in weed
science. We tested the hypotheses that (1) not all weed communities generate yield losses and...
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...
Forum Proceedings of the 2nd Agroecology Europe Forum 2019, including programme, abstracts & workshop outputs.
Integrated weed management encourages long-term planning and targeted use of cultural strategies coherently combined at the cropping system scale. The transition towards such systems is challenged by a belief of lower productivity and higher weed pressure. Here, we hypothesize that diversifying the crop sequence and its associated weed management t...
Green manure and compost-enriched in phosphorus can promote the sustainability of cropping systems by increasing soil fertility over the long term. They can also be used to manage crop/weed interactions, a key element in guaranteeing an appropriate level of satisfactory crop yields. We studied how green manuring with hairy vetch ( Vicia villosa Rot...
The purpose of this paper is to shed light on agroecology, its relationship with organic agriculture, and the contribution that both could give to revitalise agronomic research and the role of agronomists in science and society.
Introduction
It has long been recognized that mainstream intensive agricultural and food systems are not sustainable, as clearly highlighted by the current global economic crisis and the increasing divide between farmers’ incomes and food prices. An exception to this trend is organic agriculture (OA), which is experiencing increased attractiveness...
In merito al disegno di legge attualmente in discussione e delle critiche espresse in diverse occasione dai detrattori dell'agricoltura biologica (sen. Cattaneo in testa), non condividendo molte di queste dichiarazioni, abbiamo deciso, come "Gruppo di docenti per la Libertà della Scienza", di riprendere e affrontare alcuni temi controversi per un a...
In Sub-Saharan Africa weeds represent a major constraint to food production, and overreliance on herbicides, including toxic ones, is a raising issue. Nonetheless, effective non-chemical weed management practices are adopted by several Sub-Saharan farmers, and may foster ecological intensification and agroecological crop management in the region. E...
This chapter aims to show how agroecological solutions can tackle the issue of climate change mitigation and adaptation, especially in Mediterranean agricultural and food systems. A working definition of agroecology is given alongside with the most recent trajectories linking agroecology to sustainability. The objectives of agroecology are then rec...
IWM offers an ample choice of solutions to be tailored to the specific needs and problems of organic farmers. Nevertheless, some key challenges remain in organic farming with respect to weed management. Among them, three that are frequently cited
are (i) intra-row weed control; (ii) the management of problematic weeds (perennials and parasitic) and...
Weed pressure can be high in organic and low-input farming and reduce yield and produce quality. In these systems, integrated weed management includes different agronomic practices but rarely focuses on the use of more competitive cultivars, which would reduce reliance on direct weed control methods and their detrimental effects on soil and the env...
In difesa della libera scienza, del libero pensiero e dell'importanza della discussione e del confronto civile tra opinioni diverse.
Intende rispondere ad una lettera della senatrice a vita Elena Cattaneo, sottoscritta da un gruppo di docenti dell'Università di Milano, che invita il Rettore del Politecnico di Milano a boicottare il 35°convegno int...
Nitrogen provision is a key agroecosystem service that can be provided by cover crops, especially if legume species are employed. Legume nitrogen fixation rate can be increased in grass-legumes mixtures compared to pure stands. However, it is still unclear if diversity of cover crop mixtures can play a role in the enhancement of nitrogen provision...
The Mediterranean agro-food systems need to be properly managed. A promising pathway is the transition towards more sustainable food systems through agroecology, which represents the ecology of food systems. In this paper, the state-of-the-art of agroecology is described for three representative euro-Mediterranean countries: Italy, Greece, and Spai...
In lowland rice, weeds are generally well controlled by submergence, line transplanting and mechanical weeding. In upland rain-fed rice, weed control is highly challenging especially due to a peak workload at the beginning of the rainy season and weeding is done manually. This study aimed at determining the critical period of weed interference in a...
In the Mid-West of Madagascar, upland rice is highly suffering from low soil fertility and weed pressure. Farmers cannot afford herbicides and rely entirely on a labour-intensive hand weeding. Recently, a no-till system with stylosanthes, a legume cover crop managed as living mulch, has been introduced. It has been proven to enhance soil fertility,...
Agriculture in Europe results in the production of food for both the European population and for the export sector. Significant environmental and social problems have emerged with the intensification of European agriculture. These include the loss of biodiversity, the contamination of soils, water, and food with pesticides, and the eutrophication o...
Several beneficial components of biodiversity are hosted in the olive tree canopy, providing significant agroecosystem services. Olive canopy arthropods were studied under different management
systems and in regard to variables related to farming practices, climate, and landscape. Arthropods were monitored weekly in 24 olive orchards for 2 years us...
This is the functional weed trait database that we have produced within the Core Organic II project TILMAN-ORG (www.tilman-org.net).
It is composed of 16 traits for 240 arable weed species found in several European countries, spanning from Baltic to Mediterranean areas.
The traits have been selected as to express the potential of species to provi...
There is a growing interest in the use of functional approaches for the study of weed assemblages, to disentangle underlying processes determining their composition and dynamics. Functional approaches are
based on the assumption that weed community composition and dynamics can be best explained by a set
of species traits expressing their response t...
This paper highlights the key place of functional agrobiodiversity as a pillar of agroecology and hence as the best approach to (re)design truly sustainable cropping and farming systems. The duality of relationships between agriculture and biodiversity is highlighted and contextualized in an agroecological framework. Functional agrobiodiversity and...
Here we present the co-design of a soil health monitoring tool with farmers from Greece and Italy in the framework of the H2020 project CAPSELLA (www.capsella.eu). This experience is framed in the general project objective of developing new models of participatory innovation in biodiversity-based agriculture working with open software, open data an...
This technical note shows how weed species can be used as indicators of soil conditions that are either linked to soil characteristics (such as soil pH or texture) or to soil management (such as water logging, lack or excess of nutrients, compaction). It should be stressed that (i) this kind of analysis does not always provide consistent results, b...
The co-participation of farmers and researchers to the achievement of sustainability objectives is the way to go for a successful agro-ecological transition in livestock farming systems.
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...
Organic agriculture can and should play an important role in solving future challenges in producing food. The low level of external inputs combined with knowledge on sustainablity minimizes environmental contamination and can help to produce more food for more people without negatively impacting our environment. Organic agriculture not only include...
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...
Non-chemical weed management covers all management practices that influence weeds except herbicides. This chapter summarises the major achievements in European research, as well as work undertaken in North America. Research groups from both continents have interacted strongly on the topic over the years and shared common interests on the developmen...
Changes in weed spectra may be the result of a great variety of factors, such as changes in plant management. The European Weed Research Society (EWRS) weed mapping working group has systematically documented and analysed data since 2009, which may be used for the prediction of weed changes. The EWRS working group on weed mapping produced a first o...
Weeds must be considered in any conceptual framework that seeks to explain, explore and analyse biodiversity if the focus is on human activities and utilisation of natural systems. This chapter concentrates on weeds in annual and perennial crops associated with terrestrial systems used for agricultural purposes: weeds of non-terrestrial or nonagric...
We respond to the paper of Kruse-Plass et al. (Environ Sci Eur 29:12, 2017), published in this journal, regarding the risk to non-target lepidopteran larvae exposed to pollen from one or more of three Bt maize events (MON810, Bt11 and 1507). We emphasise that what is important for environmental risk assessment is not the number of pollen grains per...
We respond to the paper of Kruse-Plass et al. (Environ Sci Eur 29:12, 2017), published in this journal, regarding the risk to non-target lepidopteran larvae exposed to pollen from one or more of three Bt maize events (MON810, Bt11 and 1507). We emphasise that what is important for environmental risk assessment is not the number of pollen grains per...
Beneficial soil biota, and in particular, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are increasingly being recognized as key elements of organic and low-input agriculture where agrobiodiversity is central to enhanced crop production. However, the role of AMF in diversified organic systems, especially in field crops, is still poorly understood. A 3-year fi...
The " transfer of technology " , typical of a top-down linear process of innovation cannot be used in the new contexts of sustainability, characterised by uncertainty and complexity. There is a need to redefine categories and concepts around which innovation and agricultural policies are built, as those currently in use provide only a partial repre...
The " transfer of technology " , typical of a top-down linear process of innovation cannot be used in the new contexts of sustainability, characterised by uncertainty and complexity. There is a need to redefine categories and concepts around which innovation and agricultural policies are built, as those currently in use provide only a partial repre...