Significance: Decades of research have fostered the now-prevalent assumption that noncrop habitat facilitates better pest suppression by providing shelter and food resources to the predators and parasitoids of crop pests. Based on our analysis of the largest pest-control database of its kind, noncrop habitat surrounding farm fields does affect multiple dimensions of pest control, but the actual responses of pests and enemies are highly variable across geographies and cropping systems. Because noncrop habitat often does not enhance biological control, more information about local farming contexts is needed before habitat conservation can be recommended as a viable pest-suppression strategy. Consequently, when pest control does not benefit from noncrop vegetation, farms will need to be carefully comanaged for competing conservation and production objectives.

We compared the accuracy of visual assessment of landscape composition to that of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) mapping in (agro)ecology studies that focus on processes in which landscape factors are assumed to be insignificant and are often ignored. Seven land-use types were visually estimated from aerial photographs of contrasting rural landscapes in France. Visual assessment showed good agreement with results of GIS mapping for all land-use types, regardless of the observer. Estimates were accurate for forests and water areas, which are more visible than other land-use types. In contrast, observers often failed to distinguish crops from grassland, which decreased agreement for these land-use types; however, the estimate became fairly accurate when these land-use types were combined. Overall, this study confirms the relevance of using visual assessment to obtain simple landscape indices to improve studies that might otherwise ignore the landscape, provided that the loss of precision is compatible with the purpose of the study.

This article present observational and experimental data describing a range of biotic and abiotic parameters that can be related to ecosystem services under contrasted types of crop management: conventional, conservation and organic agricultures. Ninety fields, either cultivated with winter wheat or fava bean, located in Southwestern France, near Toulouse, were monitored for two growing seasons (2014–2016). The dataset encompass data about crop pests (aphids, grain borer, bean beetles, slugs), crop pest natural enemies (hoverflies, parasitoids, predators), soil sensitivity to erosion, crop productivity, pathogenic fungal infection and root colonization by mycorrhiza. This article present detailed protocols applied for each measurement and data collected to describe the context of each field: soil structure, landscape and crop management indicators.

L’agriculture doit aujourd'hui évoluer vers des systèmes à la fois performants, écologiques et durables. Ce travail a permis d’évaluer pour 53 parcelles agricoles, représentatives de systèmes en agriculture conventionnelle, biologique et de conservation, les déterminants agroécologiques sous-tendant l’expression d’un panel de services intrants (de régulation et de support) d’une part, et produits (environnementaux ou participant au revenu agricole) d’autre part, ainsi que les compromis éventuels entre ces derniers. Ce travail met ainsi en avant la prédominance des caractéristiques locales et des pratiques agricoles sur le contexte paysager pour l’expression des services intrants. Par ailleurs, ce travail illustre la possibilité de s’affranchir de l’antagonisme entre productivité et performance environnementale par le biais d’agricultures misant sur des intrants écologiques plutôt qu’industriels, notamment via l’agriculture de conservation.