Crop systems | TableDebates

front cover VACS report

Opportunity Crops in Africa

This report by the Rockefeller Foundation explores recommendations to boost agricultural production and nutrition in line with the Vision for Adapted Crops and Soils (VACS). The report finds that more than 700 million people globally are undernourished. It calls for investment in underutilised indigenous and traditional food crops as a means to strengthen resilience to climate change and improve nutrition in Africa

Image: Farmer Elias Chirinda drying his jugo bean (Bambara groundnut) crop in Chimanimani, TSURO, Zimbabwe. Credit: Xavier Vahed for Seed and Knowledge Initiative (SKI). SKI has granted authorisation to use the image in this article.

Essay: How power dynamics influence southern African seed and food systems

Access to seed is a vital factor in crop production, affecting which crops are grown and hence what food is available. This essay explores the power dynamics influencing three different seed provision systems in southern Africa, with a focus on Zimbabwe: formal seed systems involving commercial seed dealers and seed aid programmes; informal seed systems based on local markets, social networks and individual farmers saving seeds; and an intermediate system where seed is produced by community organisations. The author is Dr Bulisani L Ncube, senior programme officer at the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, whose PhD thesis analysed the relationship between seed security and food security. He explains how different stakeholders perceive each of the seed provision systems and their benefits and drawbacks for reliability, traceability, income, knowledge transfer and more.

Image: Schwoaze, Field crop sorghum, Pixabay, Pixabay Licence

Journal articles

Global cropland could be almost halved

Current cropland use could be reduced by 37% to 48%, finds this modelling study of different land-sparing strategies. The paper looks at regional potentials for reducing cropland use and global impacts on crop prices and production levels, finding that more efficient use of land could decrease crop prices and increase global agricultural production by 2.8%. The authors argue that their results can feed into debates about the impacts of afforestation policies - see also the TABLE summary of the paper Land-based climate change mitigation measures can affect agricultural markets and food security.

Image: Medium-sized market garden growing 5 ha for the local market, in Bouches-du-Rhône.

Beyond the label: assessing the spectrum of practices in French organic vegetable farming

Antonin Pépin is a PhD candidate at the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRAE) and at the Technical Centre for Fruits and Vegetables (CTIFL). His research focuses on environmental assessment of French organic vegetable farms using the Life Cycle Assessment method. He has an agronomist background and has worked for an environmental NGO and for an organic waste treatment industry. You can reach Antonin at antonin.pepin@ctifl.fr. Hayo van der Werf works at the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRAE). His research focuses on the multicriteria assessment of the environmental impacts of agri-food systems. He mainly uses the life cycle assessment methodology and is most interested in assessing of organic agriculture production systems.

Food Systems Handbook

Crop Diseases & Pests - Roundtable Report on Interventions

This report from the Food Systems Handbook examines the impacts of crop pests and diseases on food security and farmer livelihoods, drawing on a roundtable of experts held in August 2021. It discusses the scale of the problems, the additional impacts that climate change is likely to have, and various interventions including genetic engineering, early warning systems, integrated pest management, post-harvest storage techniques, crop diversity, and legumes to enhance the soil biome.

Phytomicrobiome interactions and sustainable agriculture

Phytomicrobiome interactions and sustainable agriculture

This book gives an overview of the phytomicrobiome - that is, the microbes that live in and around plants - and how it affects agricultural productivity. It is aimed at students, policymakers and researchers of plant biology.

Image: Kelly Reed, Reconstructed Neolithic house at Sopot, Croatia

A global movement for localised food and farming: The beginning of agriculture in Europe

Dr Kelly Reed is an archaeobotanist with interests in food systems, agricultural development and cultural adaptations to environmental change in the past. She is currently the programme manager for the Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Food and the Wellcome Trust-funded Livestock, Environment and People (LEAP) project based at Oxford University.

Image: arjunreddy223344, Drum Stick Drumstick Tree, Pixabay, Pixabay Licence

Journal articles

Perennial vegetables for biodiversity, climate and nutrition

This paper by FCRN member Eric Toensmeier argues that perennial vegetables (those grown on plants that live for more than two years) are underappreciated as a source of nutrients, as a means of sequestering carbon and as beneficial to biodiversity.

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Agriculture and the Environment

This three-volume set offers an interdisciplinary review of agriculture and the environment, covering the history of agriculture, soils, irrigation, nutrient management, crop production, livestock and agricultural innovation.