Farming Systems Ecology Group

Vision: To be an internationally leading player in the fields of research and education that,
Farming Systems Ecology
through a farming systems approach, contributes alternative answers to the major problems
facing current agriculture, namely:
(i) global food security;
(ii) provision of ecological services;
(iii) food and environmental health;
(iv) adaptation to climate change;
(v) preservation of the biological and cultural diversity of agricultural landscapes.
6 Scientific staff, 2.5 Postdocs, 15 PhD Students, 4 Support staff1, 2 Guest researchers

How?
Agroecological design
Human-nature
Experiments
Modelling Social- Integration
Network analysis ecological level
Landscape ecology Interactions
Co-innovation
Social learning games
Agent-based systems Territory
Evolutionary systems design
Analysis Multifunctional
Agro-ecosystem Landscapes
properties &
functions Design
What?
Agro-ecological Ecological intensification
resilience Organic farming
Conservation agriculture
Sustainable Crop-livestock integration
Food Baskets Pure graze animal production
Complex adaptive systems
Pest suppressive landscapes
Farming systems Ecosystem services
Resilience and adaptation

Background
Nutrient cycling and N emissions
Tying stall: farmyard manure +
some liquid manure
Improving the agro-environmental value of cattle straw manure
Shah, G.A.

Ground beetle dispersal – The Netherlands
Video tracking
Mark-release recapture
5 m2 36 m2 2500 m2
105 m2 day-1 3 m2 day-1 18 m2 day-1
Simulations
No effect of crop No effect of
type, gender or vegetation density No effect of gender
feeding level
Quantifying ground beetle dispersal in an agricultural landscape
Bas Allema
Supervisors: Walter Rossing, Wopke van der Werf, Joop van Lenteren

Designing intensive production systems
Rice-ducks-fish-azolla - Indonesia
Uma Khumairoh

Intensification pathways
Productivity per animal
Michoacan,
Mexico
Productivity per unit labour
Evolutionary systems design
Cortez-Arriola et al., subm.

Ecological intensification of livestock grazing systems in the East of Uruguay
Supervisors:
Santiago Dogliotti (FAGRO)
Walter Rossing
Promotor:
Pablo Tittonell
Student: Andrea Ruggia

Impact of structural and functional changes in
smallholder landscapes on pest incidence
Case of maize stem borers in Ethiopia
Yodit Kebede
Felix Bianchi, Fred Baudron, Diego Valbuena, Katrien Descheemaeker
Promoter: Pablo Tittonell

PhD Thesis: Spatially Explicit Multifunctional Landscape Assessment:
A Case Study in Llano Bonito, Costa Rica
Sanjeeb Bhattarai
Bruno Rapidel (CIRAD), Jacques Wery (SupAgro), Jenny Ordonez
(ICRAF), Walter Rossing & Pablo Tittonell (WUR)

Simulation and gaming - Mexico
Mapa de la Reserva de la Biosfera de la Sepultura. Fuente: CONANP
Simulation and gaming for improving local adaptive capacity;
The case of a buffer-zone community in Mexico
E.N. Speelman (2008-2013)
Supervisory team
J.C.J. Groot, L.E. Garcia-Barrios, P. Tittonell

Social networks and knowledge systems
How does the nature and strength of social networks affect
adoption of soil and water conservation technologies?
Kondwani Khonje

Scales and dimensions
Socio-
economic
Biophysical
Soil-Plant/ Field & Farm & Landscape Regions &
organism cropping farming & territory sectors
system system

Renewed FSE research strategy
• Ecological intensification as a structuring concept;
• Reinforce ‘Design’ as our core business;
• Focus on farming systems, ecological services and the landscape;
• Develop boundary approaches to interface Ecology and Society;
• Deploy parallel strategies for North and South;
Rural sociology
Farming
systems Innovation &
ecology communication
studies
Crop & weed Soil quality Organic plant Animal production Plant production Farm technology
ecology group breeding systems systems group

New challenges, new developments
Social-
ecological
Interactions
Analysis Multifunctional
Agro-ecosystem Landscapes
properties &
functions Design
Sustainable
Food Baskets

Our guiding paradigm
Make intensive use of the natural functionalities that ecosystems offer...
Yield potential
Soil quality
Precision agriculture
Ecological Intensification
(Cassman, 1999)
Produce more,
but produce
differently
Ecological Intensification
(Doré et al., 2010)

Ecological intensification: how?
… making intensive use of the natural functionalities that ecosystems offer…
1. Mobilising advances in plant sciences
2. Lessons from natural ecosystems
3. Valorisation of farmers’ knowledge and lay expertise
Recent advances in plant sciences
4. Synthesising knowledge through meta- and comparative studies
5. Ecological intensification in the ‘agronomy’ curricula

Definitions of ‘design’
Reality
To decide upon the look and functioning
(agroecosystems) of an object by making a detailed drawing of
it:
Problems
Research Design
« a number of architectural students were designing a factory»
Questions
To do or plan (something) with a specific purpose in mind:
Analysis
« the tax changes were designed to stimulate economic growth »
Structure Purpose
Function Function
Knowledge
Purpose Structure
Synthesis
Conclusions
Decisions
New facts, new
reality
Goewie, 1993

Designing agricultural systems by mimicking nature
Intensive low-input couverturein Cuban agriculture
The SCV (systèmes sous systems végétale)
 Non-disturbed soil structure
Structure
 Permanent vegetation cover
 Biomass inputs to the soil Function
 Nutrient recycling
 Exploration of multiple strata above and below ground Fernando Funes-Monzote

Re-desin: Produce more, but produce differently…
Organic vs. Conventional crop yields
Specialized System
Input Output
Magnitude of anthropogenic and natural nitrogen inflows per continent
50
Fertiliser use
Ecoefficiencies
45
N fixation (agriculture)
40
Million tonnes of N per year
Externalities N fixation (natural)
35 Dry deposition
Wet deposition
30 Agro-diverse System
25
20
15 Input Output
10
5
0
Africa Asia Europe Latin America North America Oceania
Externalities
Seufert et al., 2012

Conversion to organic farming in La Camargue, France
Innovative cropping systems
Systems analysis
(i) Bio-economic models (BEM): Plausible futures
(iii) Land use/cover change models (LUCC): Most
probable spots for change
(ii) Multi-agent models (MAS): Possible pathways Delomtte, 2011

Landsacape level interactions
How can agricultural intensification and wildlife be
Figure 2 – Schematic representation of the multi-agent model
Agent-based modelling
best accommodated in a village territory?
Baudron, Delmotte, Herrera, Corbeels, Tittonell
Intensification through conservation agriculture to preserve habitats and biodiversity

Landsacape level interactions
Example from a Dutch dairy landscape

Designing pest suppressive landscapes
• Natural biocontrol
• pollination
• Profitable agriculture
Biocontrol
•
Nectar Landscape aesthetics
• biodiversity
• Water quality
Aphids
Current landscape? Pesticide use
Lepidoptera
Felix Bianchi
Groot and Rossing, 2010

A methodological framework Landscapes
Trade-offs across scales
COMPASS
Attic LandscapeIMAGES
ActorIMAGES
Agro-ecosystem diversity, Trajectories and Trade-offs for Intensification of Cereal-based systems
Economic Spatial Land use
results coherence systems
Farms
Nutrient Landscape Collective
losses metrics decisions
Diego Valbuena (WUR)
Bruno Gerard (CIMMYT)
Nutrient Jeroen Groot (WUR)
Water Feed FarmIMAGES
balance balance balance
Fields, landscape elements
Santiago Lopez Ridaura (CIMMYT)
FarmDESIGN
FarmSTEPS
Labor
balance
Fred Baudron (CIMMYT)
Economic
results
Nutrient
losses FarmDANCES
Andy McDonald (CIMMYT)
Tim Krupnik (CIMMYT)
Katrien Descheemaker (WUR)
Pablo Tittonell (WUR)
Nutrient Organic Soil Water FieldIMAGES
balance matter erosion balance
NDICEA 3 new PhD to start in 2013
Nutrient Nutrient Plant RotSOM
Crop yield RotErosion
uptake losses diversity
Co-innovation and Modeling Platform for Agro-ecoSystem Simulation – Groot et al., 2012
A Cimmyt-Wageningen collaboration in the context of the CRP Maize and Wheat

Evolutionary learning cycles
Design Action:
Select Implementing a
‘bright idea’ Describe:
Which?
What?
Plan: Observation:
Which Find out
improvements? consequences
Explore Analysis:
Diversify What are
What if? implications? Explain:
Why?

Farm design
Describe
Explain
Design
Explore Validate
Groot et al., 2012. Agricultural Systems.

FSE in the world (PhD theses)
Current theses
‘Inherited’ theses
Start in 2013

Publications appeared during 2012
1. Affholder, F., Tittonell, P., Corbeels, M., Roux, S., Motisi, N., Tixier, P., Wery, J., 2012. Ad Hoc Modeling in Agronomy: What Have We Learned in the
Last 15 Years? Agronomy Journal 104, 735-748.
2. Tittonell, P., Scopel, E., Andrieu, N., Posthumus, H., Mapfumo, P., Corbeels, M., van Halsema, G.E., Lahmar, R., Lugandu, S., Rakotoarisoa, J.,
Mtambanengwe, F., Pound, B., Chikowo, R., Naudin, K., Triomphe, B., Mkomwa, S., 2012. Agroecology-based aggradation-conservation agriculture
(ABACO): Targeting innovations to combat soil degradation and food insecurity in semi-arid Africa. Field Crop Res., 1-7.
3. Baudron, F., Tittonell, P., Corbeels, M., Letourmy, P., Giller, K., 2012. Comparative performance of conservation agriculture and current smallholder
farming practices in semi-arid Zimbabwe. Field crops Research 132, 117-128.
4. Lahmar, R., Bationo, B.A., Lamso, N. D., Guéro, Y., Tittonell, P., 2012. Tailoring conservation agriculture technologies to West Africa semi-arid zones:
Building on traditional local practices for soil restoration. Field Crops Research 132, 158-167. Berg,
5. W. van den, Grasman, J. & Rossing, W.A.H., 2012. Optimal design of experiments on nematode dynamics and crop yield. Nematology 14(7): 773-786
6. Berhe, A.A., Stroosnijder, L., Habtu, S., Keesstra, S.D., Berhe, M. & Hadgu Meles, K., 2012. Risk assessment by sowing date for barley (Hordeum
vulgare) in northern Ethiopia. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 154-155 (March): 30-37.
7. Groot, J.C.J., Oomen, G.J.M. & Rossing, W.A.H., 2012. Multi-objective optimization and design of farming systems. Agricultural Systems 110: 63-77.
DOI: 10.1016/j.agsy.2012.03.012.
8. He, M., Tian, G., Semenov, A.M. & van Bruggen, A.H.C., 2012. Short-term fluctuations of sugar-beet damping-off by Pythium ultimum in relation to
changes in bacterial communities after organic amendments to two soils. Phytopathology 102(4): 413-420.
9. Khumairoh, U., Groot, J.C.J. & Lantinga, E.A., 2012. Complex agro-ecosystems for food security in a changing climate. Ecol Evol 2 1696-1704. DOI:
10.1002/ece3.271.
10. Shah, G.M., Shah, G.A., Groot, J.C.J., Oenema, O. & Lantinga, E.A., 2012. Irrigation and lava meal use reduces ammonia emission and improves N
utilization when solid cattle manure is applied to grassland. Agriculture Ecosystems and Environment 160: 59-65. DOI: 10.1016/j.agee.2011.07. 017.
11. Shah, G.M., Rashid, M.I., Shah, G.A., Groot, J.C.J. & Lantinga, E.A., 2012. Nitrogen mineralization and recovery by ryegrass from animal manures
when applied to various soil types. Plant and Soil (Online first) DOI 10.1007/s11104-012-1347-8.
12. Zotarelli, L., Dukes, M.D., Scholberg, J.M.S., Femminella, K. & Munoz-Carpena, R., 2011. Irrigation Scheduling for Green Bell Peppers Using
Capacitance Soil Moisture Sensors. Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering-Asce 137(2): 73-81.

FSE: Systems approaches to ecological intensification
Five guiding heuristics
1. Ecological intensification must be precised in terms of how
much, where and how
2. Farming systems research (analysis) is not the same as
farming systems design (synthesis)
3. Agroecological innovation can draw inspiration from nature
and from local knowledge systems
4. Ecological intensification depends on patterns-functions
operating at the landscape level
5. Moving across scales implies meeting trade-offs concerning
resource allocation decisions

Thanks for your attention