The organic industry continues to expand in the United States (U.S.), with 14,093 organic farms in 2014. The upper Midwestern U.S. has emerged as a hub for organic row crop production; however, the management of these organic row crop hectares heavily relies on tillage and cultivation for weed control. Faced with the soil quality challenges related to these practices, and cognizant of the benef...

Evaluation and characterization are crucial steps in the exploitation of germplasm collections. The Sant'Angelo Lodigiano unit of the Consiglio per la ricerca in agricoltura e l'analisi dell'economia agraria (CREA) maintains a broad collection of Triticum spp, including more than 4000 genotypes of T. aestivum. Such collection represents a wide source of genetic variability for many agronomic an...

A user friendly, computer based program has been developed to estimate the performance and cost of sugarcane combine harvesters and associated infield transport vehicles. The model was originally developed to assess the effect of various field parameters, infield cultural practices and also the number and capacity of infield transport vehicles on harvester output. A costing program was subseque...

15 Root-knot nematodes are a growing concern for vegetable producers, because chemical 16 nematicides are gradually disappearing. Alternative techniques based on agronomic practices 17 are needed to solve the problem. This review analyzes the most recent studies related to these 18 techniques and their combinations and identifies the most effective ones. Based on an 19 agronomic point of view, ...

Italian rice production is progressively threatened by water scarcity. Some strategies have been developed to reduce water use. Nevertheless, reducing water irrigation amounts may lower paddy rice production. This publication compares the productivity and the economic performances of traditional and modern rice varieties in northern Italy using two different water management systems. The object...

Sustainable agriculture requires improved phosphorus (P) management to reduce the overreliance on P fertilization. Despite intensive research of root adaptive mechanisms for improving P acquisition, the inherent potential of roots for efficient P acquisition remains unfulfilled, especially in intensive agriculture, while current P management generally focuses on agronomic and environmental conc...

Soil fungi are a critical component of agroecosystems and provide ecological services that impact the production of food and bioproducts. Effective management of fungal resources is essential to optimize the productivity and sustainability of agricultural ecosystems. In this review, we (i) highlight the functional groups of fungi that play key roles in agricultural ecosystems, (ii) examine the ...