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Dr. Ambrogio Costanzo
Organic Research Centre, Trent Lodge, Stroud Road, Cirencester GL7 6JN, UK

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0 Agroecology
0 Participatory Research
0 organic agriculture
0 agrobiodiversity
0 Field crops research

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Journal article
Published: 15 October 2020 in Sustainability
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The new European Organic Regulation 2018/848 has announced the phasing out of derogations for the use of untreated non-organic seed by 2036. However, the use of organic seed by organic farmers is currently limited. This paper aims to identify the factors affecting the use of organic seed. It is based on data collected from 749 organic farmers in 20 European countries, by conducting an online survey and using a network sampling. Results of the descriptive statistics and linear mixed models indicate that: (1) the situation of organic seed use is not consistent across geographical regions and crop sectors; (2) the use of organic seed is higher on farms selling directly to consumers than on those selling to supermarkets; (3) larger and more recently converted farms use less organic seed than established organic farms. In the second part of the paper, we analyse farmers’ attitudes towards organic seed use. The structural equation model (SEM) suggests that the highest contribution to explaining intention to use organic seed comes from social norms, i.e., farmers’ perception of societal expectations, particularly from the consumer and the organic certifier. Such expectations, if communicated in the public and political discourse, could stimulate the use of organic seed.

ACS Style

Stefano Orsini; Ambrogio Costanzo; Francesco Solfanelli; Raffaele Zanoli; Susanne Padel; Monika M. Messmer; Eva Winter; Freya Schaefer. Factors Affecting the Use of Organic Seed by Organic Farmers in Europe. Sustainability 2020, 12, 8540 .

AMA Style

Stefano Orsini, Ambrogio Costanzo, Francesco Solfanelli, Raffaele Zanoli, Susanne Padel, Monika M. Messmer, Eva Winter, Freya Schaefer. Factors Affecting the Use of Organic Seed by Organic Farmers in Europe. Sustainability. 2020; 12 (20):8540.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Stefano Orsini; Ambrogio Costanzo; Francesco Solfanelli; Raffaele Zanoli; Susanne Padel; Monika M. Messmer; Eva Winter; Freya Schaefer. 2020. "Factors Affecting the Use of Organic Seed by Organic Farmers in Europe." Sustainability 12, no. 20: 8540.

Review
Published: 21 January 2020 in Sustainability
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Agroecology calls for a global approach, integrating scientific, practical, and advocacy dimensions, to redesign agricultural systems based on ecological and socio-cultural processes and emphasizing biodiversity. This review is grounded on the results of DIVERSIFOOD, a European H2020 multi-actor research project, and explores the concept of cultivated diversity using various dimensions relevant to foster sustainable organic food systems and agro-ecological transition. From the evaluation of underutilized genetic resources and forgotten crops, DIVERSIFOOD has proposed plant breeding strategies, on-farm experimentation, and statistical tools to create new populations, landraces, and organic cultivars with intra-varietal diversity. The added value of Community Seed Banks and forms of collective seed management in Europe have been described in terms of goals and activities, and their value for improving seed regulations, treaties, and genetic resources management is discussed. In the context of the current agro-food system characterized by standardization, DIVERSIFOOD raised awareness of qualities of ‘biodiverse food systems’ in which all actors have a role to play. It highlighted the critical capacity to preserve a diversity of cultural values embodied in ‘biodiverse products’, thereby involving consumers in collective strategies for reviving diversity, and empowering all actors of organic food systems to really and efficiently implement research within their farms and networks.

ACS Style

Véronique Chable; Edwin Nuijten; Ambrogio Costanzo; Isabelle Goldringer; Riccardo Bocci; Bernadette Oehen; Frédéric Rey; Dionysia Fasoula; Judit Feher; Marjo Keskitalo; Beate Koller; Michalis Omirou; Pedro Mendes-Moreira; Gaëlle Van Frank; Abdel Kader Naino Jika; Mathieu Thomas; Adanella Rossi. Embedding Cultivated Diversity in Society for Agro-Ecological Transition. Sustainability 2020, 12, 784 .

AMA Style

Véronique Chable, Edwin Nuijten, Ambrogio Costanzo, Isabelle Goldringer, Riccardo Bocci, Bernadette Oehen, Frédéric Rey, Dionysia Fasoula, Judit Feher, Marjo Keskitalo, Beate Koller, Michalis Omirou, Pedro Mendes-Moreira, Gaëlle Van Frank, Abdel Kader Naino Jika, Mathieu Thomas, Adanella Rossi. Embedding Cultivated Diversity in Society for Agro-Ecological Transition. Sustainability. 2020; 12 (3):784.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Véronique Chable; Edwin Nuijten; Ambrogio Costanzo; Isabelle Goldringer; Riccardo Bocci; Bernadette Oehen; Frédéric Rey; Dionysia Fasoula; Judit Feher; Marjo Keskitalo; Beate Koller; Michalis Omirou; Pedro Mendes-Moreira; Gaëlle Van Frank; Abdel Kader Naino Jika; Mathieu Thomas; Adanella Rossi. 2020. "Embedding Cultivated Diversity in Society for Agro-Ecological Transition." Sustainability 12, no. 3: 784.

Journal article
Published: 09 November 2019 in Sustainability
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Einkorn, emmer, and rivet are three species of wheat that have largely been neglected in modern agriculture. There is a revived interest in these species as potentially successful alternatives to mainstream wheat in organic and low-input cropping systems and as sources of highly nutritious food. However, the availability of literature studies concerning rotational positions and soil tillage management is still scarce. The aim of this study was to explore the field (cover, disease resistance, yield) and quality performance (protein, fats, fiber, polyphenols, flavonoids, and antioxidant activity) of these species when organically grown in the United Kingdom. As part of the H2020 DIVERSIFOOD project, different cultivars of each species, including landraces, populations, old varieties, and where available, commercial varieties, were included in the experiment. Rotational position and tillage systems significantly affected the main agronomic performance of the minor cereals investigated, suggesting that low fertility and shallow-non-inversion tillage might be suitable options to manage tall species. Emmer showed the highest incidence of foliar diseases, whereas einkorn and rivet wheat appeared quasi-immune to the main fungal diseases (stripe rust, septoria). In addition, nutritional and nutraceutical investigation showed that the rotational position and soil management also affect metabolic pathways differently by species and within species, by genotype. Our results suggest a good potential to introduce these species in sustainable cropping systems. Furthermore, the interesting species and cultivar-by-management interactions observed can pave the way for future, better focused, research on these underutilized and underexplored species.

ACS Style

Ambrogio Costanzo; Dominic C. Amos; Giovanni Dinelli; Rocco E. Sferrazza; Giacomo Accorsi; Lorenzo Negri; Sara Bosi. Performance and Nutritional Properties of Einkorn, Emmer and Rivet Wheat in Response to Different Rotational Position and Soil Tillage. Sustainability 2019, 11, 6304 .

AMA Style

Ambrogio Costanzo, Dominic C. Amos, Giovanni Dinelli, Rocco E. Sferrazza, Giacomo Accorsi, Lorenzo Negri, Sara Bosi. Performance and Nutritional Properties of Einkorn, Emmer and Rivet Wheat in Response to Different Rotational Position and Soil Tillage. Sustainability. 2019; 11 (22):6304.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ambrogio Costanzo; Dominic C. Amos; Giovanni Dinelli; Rocco E. Sferrazza; Giacomo Accorsi; Lorenzo Negri; Sara Bosi. 2019. "Performance and Nutritional Properties of Einkorn, Emmer and Rivet Wheat in Response to Different Rotational Position and Soil Tillage." Sustainability 11, no. 22: 6304.

Original article
Published: 20 October 2019 in Weed Research
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Functional diversity of cover crop mixtures is thought to improve biomass production and weed suppression, two key agroecosystem services in organic systems. To test this hypothesis, we selected eight cover crop species belonging to four functional groups: (i) vining growing large‐seeded legumes (field pea, common vetch), (ii) erect growing small‐seeded legumes (crimson clover, squarrosum clover), (iii) grasses (barley, oats) and (iv) Brassicaceae (radish, black mustard). Nine cover crop mixtures were designed to create a gradient of diversity in terms of number of species and number of functional groups. A control treatment and all monocrops were included in the trial. Regarding cover crop biomass, mixtures outyielded monocrops by an average of 37%. Both functional identity and composition (i.e. trait complementarity) influenced biomass production and weed suppression provided by cover crops. Regression analysis showed that increase in both species diversity and functional diversity in cover crop mixtures improved the provision of agroecosystem services. Results from this study show that complementarity of species functional traits in cover crop mixtures can be used as a strategy to ensure high biomass production and good weed suppression in changing agroecosystems.

ACS Style

M Ranaldo; S Carlesi; Ambrogio Costanzo; P Bàrberi. Functional diversity of cover crop mixtures enhances biomass yield and weed suppression in a Mediterranean agroecosystem. Weed Research 2019, 60, 96 -108.

AMA Style

M Ranaldo, S Carlesi, Ambrogio Costanzo, P Bàrberi. Functional diversity of cover crop mixtures enhances biomass yield and weed suppression in a Mediterranean agroecosystem. Weed Research. 2019; 60 (1):96-108.

Chicago/Turabian Style

M Ranaldo; S Carlesi; Ambrogio Costanzo; P Bàrberi. 2019. "Functional diversity of cover crop mixtures enhances biomass yield and weed suppression in a Mediterranean agroecosystem." Weed Research 60, no. 1: 96-108.

Journal article
Published: 01 May 2018 in Field Crops Research
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Cultivar mixtures are a well studied practice to improve common wheat performance by exploiting the potential of genetic diversity to buffer biotic and abiotic stresses. However, their ability to reduce weed interference is still unclear. In this work, crop-weed interactions were studied across two growing seasons under Mediterranean climatic conditions on nineteen common wheat stand types: twelve cultivars including modern and heritage varieties, four three-cultivar mixtures, two six-cultivar mixtures and one high diversity mixture with all twelve cultivars. Wheat morphological parameters, biomass accumulation of wheat and weeds, wheat yield, yield components and grain quality were assessed. Heritage cultivars showed the highest weed suppression (on average -67% weed biomass at harvest compared to modern cultivars) due probably to increased height, above ground biomass and leaf area index. No consistent mixture effects were detected for either weed suppression, grain yield or grain quality, when considered separately from one another. However, when considering the three agroecosystem services altogether based on a rank analysis, mixtures with higher number of components (six and twelve) tended to improve the overall crop performance compared to the average of less diverse wheat stand types. Although the observed benefits of mixtures vs component cultivars for individual agroecosystem services (i.e. weed suppression, yield and grain quality) were limited, cultivar mixtures appear as a potential tool to improve overall crop performance, especially with medium to high number of component cultivars. However, increased adoption of cultivar mixtures would require prior identification of key cultivar traits clearly associated with the provision of target agroecosystem services. Enhanced complementarity and synergy among these traits would maximize exploitation of the available genetic agrobiodiversity

ACS Style

Mariateresa Lazzaro; Ambrogio Costanzo; Paolo Bàrberi. Single vs multiple agroecosystem services provided by common wheat cultivar mixtures: Weed suppression, grain yield and quality. Field Crops Research 2018, 221, 277 -297.

AMA Style

Mariateresa Lazzaro, Ambrogio Costanzo, Paolo Bàrberi. Single vs multiple agroecosystem services provided by common wheat cultivar mixtures: Weed suppression, grain yield and quality. Field Crops Research. 2018; 221 ():277-297.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Mariateresa Lazzaro; Ambrogio Costanzo; Paolo Bàrberi. 2018. "Single vs multiple agroecosystem services provided by common wheat cultivar mixtures: Weed suppression, grain yield and quality." Field Crops Research 221, no. : 277-297.

Journal article
Published: 17 August 2017 in Italian Journal of Agronomy
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Sowing density can have a strong impact on crop stand development during wheat growing cycle. In organic and low-input agriculture, and therefore with minimum or nil use of chemical herbicides, increased sowing density is expected to affect not only grain yield but also weed suppression. In this study we tested, under Mediterranean conditions, six common wheat cultivars (three modern and three heritage) and two three-component mixtures (arranged by combining the three modern or the three heritage cultivars). The different crop stands were tested at sowing densities of 250 (low) and 400 (high, similar to standard sowing density used by local farmers) viable seeds m-2 for two growing seasons. We did not detect a significant effect of crop stand diversity (single cultivars vs mixtures) on grain yield and weed suppression. Differences were ascribed to type of cultivars used (heritage vs modern). Compared to high sowing density, in modern cultivars grain yield did not decrease significantly with low sowing density whereas in heritage cultivars it increased by 15.6%, possibly also because of 21.5% lower plant lodging. Weed biomass increased with low sowing density both in heritage and modern cultivar crop stand types. However, heritage crop stands had, on average, a lower weed biomass (56%) than modern crop stands. Moreover, weed biomass in heritage crop stands at low density (6.82 ± 1.50 g m-2) was lower than that of modern cultivars at the same sowing density (15.54 ± 3.35 g m-2), confirming the higher suppressive potential of the former. We can conclude that lower sowing density can be advisable when using heritage crop stands as it keeps productivity while decreasing plant lodging and maintaining weeds under control.

ACS Style

Mariateresa Lazzaro; Ambrogio Costanzo; Dalia Hosam Farag; Paolo Bàrberi. Grain yield and competitive ability against weeds in modern and heritage common wheat cultivars are differently influenced by sowing density. Italian Journal of Agronomy 2017, 11, 1 .

AMA Style

Mariateresa Lazzaro, Ambrogio Costanzo, Dalia Hosam Farag, Paolo Bàrberi. Grain yield and competitive ability against weeds in modern and heritage common wheat cultivars are differently influenced by sowing density. Italian Journal of Agronomy. 2017; 11 ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Mariateresa Lazzaro; Ambrogio Costanzo; Dalia Hosam Farag; Paolo Bàrberi. 2017. "Grain yield and competitive ability against weeds in modern and heritage common wheat cultivars are differently influenced by sowing density." Italian Journal of Agronomy 11, no. : 1.

Journal article
Published: 01 May 2016 in European Journal of Agronomy
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Deployment of diversity at the species and at the genetic levels can improve the ability of crops to withstand a wide range of biotic and abiotic stressors in organic and low-input cropping systems, where the response to stresses through external input is limited or restricted in comparison with conventional systems. Although there are several strategies to use agrobiodiversity in wheat-based systems, their implementation is limited by the lack of a clear relationship between agrobiodiversity and provision of key agroecosystem services. In a three-year field trial in Central Italy we compared common wheat Italian and Hungarian pure lines, Italian old cultivars and Hungarian and British Composite Cross Populations (CCPs), grown with or without a contemporarily sown Subterranean clover living mulch. We aimed at linking crop performance, in terms of yield, weed reduction and disease susceptibility, to three categories of functional diversity: (1) functional identity, represented by the identifying traits of cultivars, (2) functional diversity, represented by the genetic heterogeneity of wheat crop population, and (3) functional composition, represented by the co-presence of wheat and the living mulch. Concerning cultivars, effects of functional identity were predominant for weed reduction and grain yield. Old cultivars tended to better suppress weeds but to be less yielding. Italian cultivars were more advantaged than cultivars of foreign origin, thanks to a better matching of their growth cycle into local climate. Functional diversity effects on yield and weed reduction were confounded with identity effects, given that all the CCPs were of foreign origin. In fact, the performance of CCPs was generally aligned with a central-European pure line. However, differences in yield components suggest that CCPs can evolve peculiar yield formation strategies. Moreover, CCPs were less susceptible than pure lines to foliar diseases. For functional composition, the living mulch was able to reduce dicotyledonous weed abundance and weed biomass without reducing wheat yield unless wheat was poorly established. Despite the strong morphological and phenological differences among the tested cultivars, no interactions were found between cultivar and living mulch presence, suggesting that, in conditions similar to our experiments, there is room to freely combine elements of crop diversity. Crop diversification strategies in wheat should be further explored and optimized, especially by constituting CCPs from locally adapted germplasms and by improving the feasibility and efficacy of legume living mulches.

ACS Style

Ambrogio Costanzo; Paolo Bàrberi. Field scale functional agrobiodiversity in organic wheat: Effects on weed reduction, disease susceptibility and yield. European Journal of Agronomy 2016, 76, 1 -16.

AMA Style

Ambrogio Costanzo, Paolo Bàrberi. Field scale functional agrobiodiversity in organic wheat: Effects on weed reduction, disease susceptibility and yield. European Journal of Agronomy. 2016; 76 ():1-16.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ambrogio Costanzo; Paolo Bàrberi. 2016. "Field scale functional agrobiodiversity in organic wheat: Effects on weed reduction, disease susceptibility and yield." European Journal of Agronomy 76, no. : 1-16.

Review
Published: 27 September 2013 in Agronomy for Sustainable Development
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Agrobiodiversity can improve the sustainability of cropping systems in a context of low external inputs and unpredictable climate change. Agrobiodiversity strategies to grow wheat are breeding ad hoc cultivars for organic and low-input systems, wheat–legume intercrops and living mulches, cultivar mixtures, and the use of genetically heterogeneous populations. However, applying those strategies can fail due the lack of a well-focused framework. Therefore, we need a better integration between breeding and management and a clear focus on crop traits related to key agroecosystem services. Here, we review the use of agrobiodiversity in wheat production, focusing on breeding and management. We discuss five agroecosystem services: (1) weed reduction, (2) nitrogen use efficiency, (3) abiotic stress tolerance, (4) disease and pest reduction and (5) yield and yield stability. We categorise agrobiodiversity into functional identity, functional composition, and functional diversity, in order to link crop traits to agroecosystem services. Linking crop traits to agroecosystem services could in turn lead to concrete options for farmers and policy. We discuss the relations between crop identity and crop heterogeneity. We also discuss the partitioning of crop heterogeneity between functional composition and functional diversity.

ACS Style

Ambrogio Costanzo; Paolo Bàrberi. Functional agrobiodiversity and agroecosystem services in sustainable wheat production. A review. Agronomy for Sustainable Development 2013, 34, 327 -348.

AMA Style

Ambrogio Costanzo, Paolo Bàrberi. Functional agrobiodiversity and agroecosystem services in sustainable wheat production. A review. Agronomy for Sustainable Development. 2013; 34 (2):327-348.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ambrogio Costanzo; Paolo Bàrberi. 2013. "Functional agrobiodiversity and agroecosystem services in sustainable wheat production. A review." Agronomy for Sustainable Development 34, no. 2: 327-348.