Managed Multi-strata Tree + Crop Systems: An Agroecological Marvel

Managed Multi-strata Tree + Crop Systems: An Agroecological Marvel

Today, when the emphasis on single-species production systems that is cardinal to agricultural and forestry programs the world over has resulted in serious ecosystem imbalances, the virtues of the time-tested practice of growing different species together as in managed Multi-strata Tree + Crop (MTC) systems deserve serious attention. The coconut-palm-based multispecies systems in tropical homeg...

Managed Multi-Context Systems

Multi-context systems (MCS) are a powerful framework for interlinking heterogeneous knowledge sources. They model the flow of information among different reasoning components (called contexts) in a declarative way, using so-called bridge rules, where contexts and bridge rules may be nonmonotonic. We considerably generalize MCS to managed MCS (mMCS): while the original bridge rules can only add ...

Agroecological Farming Systems

The term agroecology refers to ecosystems. Ecosystems are characterised by aspects such as nutrient cycling, population regulation, energy flows and a dynamic equilibrium. These characteristics apply to natural ecosystems, and, in a much altered form, also to manmade or agricultural ecosystems. The magnitude of the differences between natural and agricultural ecosystems depends mainly on the hu...

Agroecological Crop Protection: Concepts and a Case Study from Reunion

Diversified Farming Systems: An Agroecological, Systems-based Alternative to Modern Industrial Agriculture

This Special Issue on Diversified Farming Systems is motivated by a desire to understand how agriculture designed according to whole systems, agroecological principles can contribute to creating a more sustainable, socially just, and secure global food system. We first define Diversified Farming Systems (DFS) as farming practices and landscapes that intentionally include functional biodiversity...