Soil amendments can improve the sustainability of agricultural systems by building soil carbon and improving numerous other soil health indicators, including soil structure, water infiltration and retention, bulk density, nutrient availability, and microbial activity. This chapter covers some general considerations relevant to the use of soil amendments followed by a discussion of biosolids, an...

Vertisols occur extensively in centralIndiaand have high production potentials. Because of the high clay content (40-60% or more), high bulk density (1.5-1.8 Mg m-3) and related properties, these soils have high moisture storage capacity. Conversely, these soils become very hard when dry and very sticky when wet. Since last two decades, scientists, farmers and also the policy makers have be...

We present a stochastic two-population model that describes the migration and growth of semisedentary foragers and sedentary farmers along a river valley during the Neolithic transition. The main idea is that random migration and transition from a sedentary to a foraging way of life, and backwards, is strongly coupled with the local crop production and associated degradation of land. We derive ...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of cover crops on pest/beneficial dynamics and to test the potential of living mulch on enhancing biological control against insect pests. The research, carried out in the frame of the InterVeg (Core Organic II) project, involved four European countries: Germany, Slovenia, Denmark and Italy. Three crops were tested: cauliflower, leek and artichok...

Preventing a pest population from damaging an agricultural crop and, at the same time, preventing the development of pesticide resistance is a major challenge in crop protection. Understanding how farming practices and environmental factors interact with pest characteristics to influence the spread of resistance is a difficult and complex task. It is extremely challenging to investigate such in...