Despite the importance of organic soils, including peatlands, in the global carbon cycle, detailed information on regional and global emissions is scarce. This is due to the difficulty to map, measure, and assess the complex dynamics of land, soil, and water interactions needed to assess the human-driven degradation of organic soils. We produced a new methodology for the comprehensive assessmen...

A major challenge for agriculture is to enhance productivity with minimum impact on the environment. Several studies indicate that cover crops could replace anthropogenic inputs and enhance crop productivity. However, so far, it is unclear if cover crop effects vary between different cropping systems, and direct comparisons among major arable production systems are rare. Here we compared the sh...

Aim of this study was to evaluate the possible application fields of organic agriculture, the province is a grower's perspective. Because of its accurate and appropriate management, soil and products to help reduce the use of chemicals in production and on track to achieve sustainable development, Mazandaran province is a leader in modern agricultural practices and organic agriculture has the p...

An account is given of the interactions between clay minerals and organic polymers with particular reference to their applications in agriculture, foundation engineering and industry.

Organic (ecological, biological) agriculture in Ukraine, though having a great potential, is at present only at the initial stage. This early development of organic farming in Ukraine is distorted by the current dominant focus on export production of organic grain on large-scale farms, while the conversion of small and middle-sized farms and production of other crops remains a subordinate activ...

In developed countries, changes in agriculture practices have greatly accelerated the degradation of the landscape and the functioning of adjacent aquatic ecosystems. Such alteration can in turn impair the services provided by aquatic ecosystems, namely the decomposition of organic matter, a key process in most small streams. To study this alteration, we recorded three measures of heterotrophic...

The main objective of organic agriculture is to produce healthy and quality food products without using synthetic chemical products in response to consumers’ concerns about food safety, human health, animal welfare and the environment. The EU’s promotion of organic agriculture constitutes an important alternative for society and for the more marginal agricultural regions in southern Europe. Fir...

Introduction.........................................................................................................50 Organic farming and the challenge of sustainability ...........................................51 Political ecology as one approach to globalisation and sustainable development....53 Growth without borders ..........................................................................

Demand for organically produced food products is increasing rapidly in North America, driven by a perception that organic agriculture results in fewer negative environmental impacts and yields greater benefits for human health than conventional systems. Despite the increasing interest in organic grain production on the Canadian Prairies, a number of challenges remain to be addressed to ensure i...