Products

Once basic requirements are met, consumers’ perception of product quality is directed to animal welfare. Both in and beyond Europe, animal farming systems for egg production and laying hens are transitioning from indoor cage to cage-free systems (often still based on high stocking densities and selected genotypes) as well as alternative systems, such as organic and free-range using resilient genotypes and extensive conditions. Based on a One-Welfare approach, this chapter addresses the impacts and research challenges of this transition, ongoing welfare concerns for animals and impacts on egg quality.

Anthropogenic climate change is one of the greatest challenges facing biodiversity presently and into the future. Climate change, through increasing temperatures, and extreme events including droughts and fires, can be predicted to impact pollinators through a number of mechanisms, including altered phenologies and distributions, which in turn may lead to altered plant-pollinator interactions. This chapter presents an overview of observed and predicted impacts of climate change on pollinators, as well as factors that may mediate species’ responses, including synergisms with other threatening processes, and identify topics for further research. Given the importance of pollinating organisms for biodiversity and ecosystem services, the chapter concludes by presenting a number of ways in which we can help pollinators face the challenge of climate change.

This chapter explores the concept of quality in organic milk. Quality encompasses many extrinsic properties of dairy production like animal welfare, the impact on biodiversity, climate change, and fair treatment of everybody along the supply chain. This chapter focuses on composition of the milk and asks how far organic milk varies from non-organic products and what potential there is to improve quality further. This chapter reviews key research relating to differences in protein, fatty acid and mineral composition between milk from organic and conventional production, as well risks from drug and pesticide residues. It also explores how implementation of calf-cow-contact (CCC) systems on welfare grounds affects milk quality.

The preservation of genetic diversity is particularly important because human selection processes have resulted in a small number of commercial breeds and a large number of small, residual populations. This chapter looks at ways of analyzing pig genetic diversity. It then reviews what these techniques show about the current state of genetic diversity in traditional, local breeds. As the chapter suggests, optimal contribution selection (OCS), genomic selection (GS), and next-generation sequencing (NGS) techniques represent valid strategies for maintaining genetic diversity. In the future, strategies in swine epigenomics and microbiomics will play an important role, especially in improving animal resilience.

This overview briefly examines some of the semen evaluation techniques and fertility determination procedures used currently on breeder farms. The later procedures were included as both provide rapid feedback on flock fertility, the best indicator of semen quality. To better understand both the rationale behind and the significance of the data gleaned from these evaluation procedures a brief overview of the fate of sperm in the oviduct after its transfer to the vagina through fertilization is presented. Also addressed were the benefits of introducing standard operating procedures to ensure precision and uniformity in performing the procedures leading to less test-to-test variability of the data within and between farms. The semen evaluation procedures were categorized into subjective and objective categories based on how the data is obtained. It was concluded that only two different objective tests should be considered to provide information on sperm fecundity.

Implementation of tree-based land management strategies, such as agroforestry, can provide greater benefits for mitigating climate change through increased carbon sequestration in soils and plant biomass. However, the carbon sequestration benefits of temperate agroforestry practices at the system-level have not been well-documented. This chapter evaluates the potential for carbon sequestration in temperate agroforestry systems by analyzing existing data from different agroforestry practices in temperate regions worldwide. The authors analyze carbon sequestration rates for aboveground standing biomass, belowground biomass in roots and soil and contribution to long-term SOC stabilization. Based on their analysis of available data, they project that agroforestry practices could annually offset 20%, 18%, 12%, and 8% of total CO2 emissions in the UK, Europe, Canada, and the USA, respectively. Due to the lack of sufficient information to accurately estimate reliable data, they emphasize these projections should be regarded as such.

The health of soils is at stake due to climate change and unsustainable management practices, thus maintaining soil health has become an existential task for humanity. In this chapter, the authors show that cropland agroforestry strongly promotes the biological components of soil health. This includes enhanced population densities and activities of soil microorganisms and fauna, as well as increased diversity of soil fauna under agroforestry systems as compared to open croplands. They argue that land-use change from open cropland to alley cropping and shelterbelt systems provides substantial environmental benefits that outperform those of many sustainable agricultural management practices. Still, sustainable management practices can be applied in the crop component of cropland agroforestry, offering additional benefits. Overall, agroforestry can make major contributions to restoring, improving, and maintaining soil health as well as to the agroecological transition of agriculture.Therefore, agroforestry should be promoted as a priority land-use system.

Buffer strips are one of the most widely utilised mitigation measures to reduce sediment and nutrient transfer from soil erosion and surface runoff on fields to neighbouring surface waters. Their effectiveness in terms of retaining sediment and nutrients has been documented by numerous experimental studies, with buffer strip width and soil type the most important factors influencing their performance. A recent review of more than 270 experimental studies on the effectiveness of buffer strips showed an average sediment retention amounting to 72%. Similarly, the average retention for total phosphorus and total nitrogen in buffer strips amounted to 75% and 32%, respectively. Newly developed engineered buffer strips have proven to be increasingly efficient at retaining dissolved nutrients transported via tile drainage water. This chapter looks at the history of buffer strips in countries including Denmark, Scotland and Norway, offering valuable insights in to how to improve the uptake of buffer strips.

A prerequisite to improving the sustainability of agriculture are reliable methods to identify and quantify types of environmental impact. This collection summarises current research on the use of life cycle assessment (LCA) and other modelling techniques to measure and improve the sustainability of agriculture.

Part 1 looks at current best practice and key methodological challenges in life cycle assessment. Part 2 reviews ways of modelling particular types of impact, from nutrient and carbon cycles to freshwater balances, energy use, pesticide use and biodiversity. Part 3 reviews the environmental assessment and optimization of sectors such as crops, ruminant and other livestock production as well as by-products.

Assessing the environmental impact of agriculture will be a standard reference for researchers in agricultural and environmental science concerned with understanding and mitigating the environmental impact of agriculture.

A prerequisite to improving the sustainability of agriculture are reliable methods to identify and quantify types of environmental impact. This collection summarises current research on the use of life cycle assessment (LCA) and other modelling techniques to measure and improve the sustainability of agriculture.

Part 1 looks at current best practice and key methodological challenges in life cycle assessment. Part 2 reviews ways of modelling particular types of impact, from nutrient and carbon cycles to freshwater balances, energy use, pesticide use and biodiversity. Part 3 reviews the environmental assessment and optimization of sectors such as crops, ruminant and other livestock production as well as by-products.

Assessing the environmental impact of agriculture will be a standard reference for researchers in agricultural and environmental science concerned with understanding and mitigating the environmental impact of agriculture.

A prerequisite to improving the sustainability of agriculture are reliable methods to identify and quantify types of environmental impact. This collection summarises current research on the use of life cycle assessment (LCA) and other modelling techniques to measure and improve the sustainability of agriculture.

Part 1 looks at current best practice and key methodological challenges in life cycle assessment. Part 2 reviews ways of modelling particular types of impact, from nutrient and carbon cycles to freshwater balances, energy use, pesticide use and biodiversity. Part 3 reviews the environmental assessment and optimization of sectors such as crops, ruminant and other livestock production as well as by-products.

Assessing the environmental impact of agriculture will be a standard reference for researchers in agricultural and environmental science concerned with understanding and mitigating the environmental impact of agriculture.

This chapter draws attention to assessing the environmental impact of commercial cultivated meat production. To provide some context, the chapter first focuses on the environmental impacts of livestock production, specifically the impact of land use and biodiversity, climate change as well as the effect of water use and emissions to waterways. The chapter moves on to examine the use of life cycle assessment and how this practice can be used to estimate the environmental impact of cultured meat products. This is then followed by an overview of the potential environmental impacts of cultivated meat. Similarly to the section on livestock production it discusses the impact of land use and biodiversity, climate change, water use and emissions to waterways whilst also assessing how energy is used during cultivated meat production processes.

Because of their importance as pollinators of wild and cultivated plants, little concern has been paid to alien bees when entering a new ecosystem. Hence, approximately 80 alien bee species worldwide have spread outside their native ranges. Here, we explored the main impacts of alien bees on native bees through competition for food or nesting resources, interference, pathogen spillover, and genetic contamination. Implications for native bee conservation are also discussed. In addition, in this chapter, we developed a particular focus on the first alien bee that colonised Europe, Megachile sculpturalis. We emphasised the main knowledge gaps and important trends for future research. Finally, avenues for managing alien bee species and preventing their introduction are provided.

This chapter focuses on assessing the impact of climate change on soil erosion by water. It begins by first describing the influence of climate change on event and annual erosivity, then moves on to discuss the influence of climate change on the protective effect of crops. A section on snowmelt erosion is also provided, before the chapter concludes with an overview of the multiple influences that climate change has on soil erosion.

Pests and pathogens are a major factor in the health and wellbeing of pollinators. We provide a brief review of the major pests and pathogens of three important insect pollinator taxa of crop plants: honey bees (Apis spp.), bumble bees (Bombus spp.) and other wild bees. For honey bees, the varroa mite (Varroa destructor)-Deformed wing virus (ectoparasitic vector-pathogen) nexus is likely the major cause of poor health and survival. For bumble bees and other wild bee species, pests and pathogens also play an important role in determining the health of individuals, though their impact on host populations is poorly known. Pathogen spillover, the interspecific transmission of pathogens, is a current and future threat to all three pollinator taxa. We highlight some of the current methods and approaches to controlling pests and pathogens. Disease-causing organisms need to be taken seriously in the management and promotion of pollinators and their pollination services.

This review aims to demonstrate the influence of farming systems on biological indicators that are relevant to soil health. Empirical data from published studies informs the hypothetical model that soil health outcomes are related to more diverse cropping systems, coupled with high inputs of organic amendments and less frequent and shallow tillage, due to the ability of such practices to promote soil organic carbon accumulation. This view is supported by the fact that conservation agriculture promotes soil health under diverse climatic conditions.

Pesticides used prophylactically in intensive farming negatively affect non-target organisms, contributing to the acceleration of species extinction. This chapter considers key issues of pesticide toxicity that harm biodiversity and the natural world, including the adjuvant problem and the cocktail effect. The chapter examines these issues and the pesticide authorisation process, and asks whether these mechanisms provide the protection necessary for wildlife, the soil and the wider natural environment. The case study explores the effect of pesticide use on endangered hedgehog.

This chapter provides an overview of the history of pollination biology, it begins by discussing the basics of pollination and goes on to discuss pollinators and their diversity. Sections also cover the ecology and evolution of floral traits, domestication and its impact on plant-pollinator relationships and how pollinators can impact agriculture. A section on modern agriculture and pollinators is also provided.

Economic impact assessments are performed as part of a pest risk analysis to determine whether the introduction of a plant pest will result in unacceptable economic consequences. This often triggers phytosanitary measures to reduce the economic risk to an acceptable level. Appropriate techniques to assess the various economic impacts consist of partial budgeting, partial equilibrium models, input-output models, and computable general equilibrium models. These methods differ in width of economic scope and, consequently, in their ability to assess the economic effects of a pest introduction. In this chapter, each method is evaluated in terms of its economic concepts, scope, and required data and skill, followed by a general reflection on the question of how to choose the most appropriate technique, considering the trade-off between completeness in economic scope and required resources. The chapter concludes with two case studies to illustrate the potential of the methods that are most often applied.

Navigation and path planning are essential technologies for increasing the productivity of agriculture machine systems performing modern precision agriculture tasks. Production agriculture requires efficient methods for complete coverage of agricultural landscapes to complete the critical production steps of preparing the land and planting, managing, and harvesting crops. To help farmers to make the transformation from automated to autonomous systems requires approaches that can leverage the current automation advances from modern precision agricultural machinery and build on them as tools in the development and deployment of agricultural robots. This chapter provides a high-level overview of critical elements in autonomous navigation and path planning and discusses the opportunities and challenges related to building on precision agriculture technologies to enable productive agricultural robots.

Avocados, also referred to as alligator pears, butter fruits and ‘green gold’ are a blessing and a curse. The fruits are a high-value crop which can be used by farmers in emerging economies to generate much-needed income. Avocados are high in calories, vitamins and minerals and, as a result, can play an important role in complementing grain-based diets, improving health and offering food security in some of the world’s poorest countries. Unfortunately, these benefits come at a high price. The soaring global demand for avocados is contributing to unsustainable pressures on ecosystems and biodiversity. Large areas of land have to be cleared to make way for plantations, leading to deforestation, declining soil quality, water shortages and biodiversity loss. Environmental challenges are compounded by social ones such as unfair income allocations in the value chain, poor labour practices, inadequate regulation and the risk of organised crime.

This chapter is a general introduction to avocado cultivation and crop, the development and current status of the avocado industry. It describes the origin and history of the avocados, the distribution, the global production and economical value. It demonstrates the high nutritional and health values of avocado fruit, which are leading to a significant rise in global consumption and therefore to a significant rise in global demand, cultivation, export and import. Important pre-harvest and postharvest management practices are briefly discussed. Ecological and other consequences of the boom in the avocado cultivation and the challenges that the industry face in order to maintain a sustainable growth are discussed. Some suggestions for improved pre-harvest, postharvest and marketing management practices, as well as some research needs have been made. The chapter briefly describes the contents of the chapters of the book, the aims and objectives of the book, and lists some of the important institutions and organizations that deal with important research and development of avocado in different countries.

Bacterial soft rots of banana and plantains involve two different diseases caused by related but distinct pathogens: rhizome soft rot or head rot by Pectobacterium carotovorum. subsp. carotovorum and pseudostem wet rot and rhizome rot - in some parts of the world called rhizome necrosis and corm rot-, caused by Dickeya paradisiaca. Although considered minor diseases, they cause losses of individual plants, yield reduction and raise the cost of production. Bacterial soft rots are found in wet humid soils with poor drainage, and high pH, during prolonged wet periods. Affected plants show poor shoot emergence, dwarfing, scorching of the lower leaves, and wilting and rot of the youngest emerging leaves. Rhizome infection causes a pseudostem wet rot progressing upward from infected rhizome and from petioles downward and a spongy necrotic collar at the union of rhizome with the pseudostem. Bacterial soft rot pathogens can be diagnosed by microbiological and molecular techniques. Disease management relies on use of healthy planting material, plant to plant tools disinfection and improving soil drainage and cropping practices.

Blood disease of banana is a bacterial wilt caused by Ralstonia syzygii subsp. celebesensis. The symptoms of Blood disease include wilting, chlorosis and necrosis of leaves, red/brown vascular staining, and pulp-rot of the fruit. The disease was first reported in 1905 from southern Sulawesi and was contained in that area, but has in the last 30 years spread across much of Indonesia and more recently to Malaysia. The disease causes significant crop losses where it occurs. This chapter gives an overview of the pathogen, the disease cycle with special emphasis on the mode of transmission. It has been shown that local dispersal is predominantly through mechanical transmission of the bacterium by insects, birds, bats and tools from diseased to healthy banana plants while long-distance dispersal is through the movement of contaminated planting materials. The chapter concludes with an overview of potential disease management and control options.

This chapter reviews current knowledge on banana bunchy top disease, the most important virus disease of banana, worldwide. It provides an overview of the historical aspects of the disease and the early studies, outlines the symptoms of the disease and biological characteristics of the pathogen related to host range, transmission and spread. This is followed by an overview of control strategies which involve detection of the pathogen, its epidemiology and resistance in the host and how this can be used in management strategies.

This chapter gives an in depth overview of what the pest management practices are in conventional banana production systems before outlining the alternative practices in organic banana production systems. An overview is provided of the challenges and limitations of Red Rust thrips control, while regulatory issues are also addressed.

The chapter gives an overview of the biology, epidemiology, diagnostics, and control of the banana streak complex of viruses in bananas.

Fertiliser placement and type are key factors which regulate on-farm nitrogen (N) use efficiency. However, the interaction of these two management strategies is often overlooked. Efficacy assessments of enhanced efficiency fertilisers (EEFs) must consider the mode of application to not misinterpret outcomes and potentially limit EEF adoption. While the efficacy of broadcast and incorporated EEF applications is well established, recent studies have highlighted the impacts of sub-surface banding on the EEF mode of action. This chapter focuses on the impact of banded fertiliser application and the necessary considerations for effective utilisation of EEFs, including controlled release and chemically stabilised fertilisers. Key reactions within urea-based fertiliser bands are summarised to provide context for subsequent sections which discuss the impact of banding and key influencing factors on the differing EEF technologies. A case study summarises the state of the art on EEF banding, with key knowledge gaps and future trends also provided.

Sustainable food consumption is one key factor that affects the transition towards a sustainable food system. This chapter attempts to highlight the factors that affect this transition considering the multidimensionality of food (e.g. environmental, social, economic, health and ethical effects) and taking into consideration consumer perceptions, attitudes and behaviours towards sustainable food consumption. Consumer values, perceptions, and intentions affect consumers’ food choices and motives, thereby affecting sustainable food consumption behaviours. In this context, the chapter provides knowledge and information about the heterogeneity and different segmentation of consumers, which is essential for the characterisation of sustainable food products and related diet compositions. Demographic characteristics (e.g. age, income, education, with the exception of gender) do not seem to have unequivocal positive or negative relationships with the consumers’ sustainable behaviour.

This chapter describes a set of pollinator best management practices (BMPs) for US apple production. The primary goal is to provide guidance for growers, crop consultants and regulators on pollinator protection in apple orchards. This guidance considers practical production needs. In the long term, the aim is to increase understanding within the US apple growing community of the benefits and opportunities around protecting pollinators while also protecting crops from pest damage. This has been done by modifying existing Integrated Pest Management Programs (IPM) for apple to include both conserving the biological control agents of secondary pests such as mites and aphids and conserving wild and managed pollinators to create what has more recently been termed as Integrated Pest and Pollinator Management (IPPM).

This chapter reviews current bottom-up and top-down approaches to achieving this ambitious goal. As it points out, agricultural regions where wild nature is now closer to 1% than 30% by area are unlikely to retain some or perhaps most native species using bottom-up biodiversity-friendly farm management approaches, valuable as these are. The solution in such regions is the restoration of large areas of farmland, perhaps whole farms and clusters of farms, to habitats managed for native biodiversity. This chapter highlights how this might be achieved through a case study based on the Mount Lofty region of South Australia. It also discusses ongoing challenges in meeting this goal by assessing the impact of over-extraction of water on the ecological health of the Murray–Darling Basin in south-eastern Australia and the effectiveness of attempts to address this problem.

This chapter provides an overview of some of the nature markets and finance mechanisms, which may provide farmers and land managers with opportunities to integrate farming for nature into their businesses, generating new revenue streams, and also offering opportunities to draw private finance into conservation across supply chains in the agriculture sector. The author considers the drivers behind these new markets and provide an overview of some of the opportunities and challenges they may bring.

The marine aquaculture and fisheries industries play an important role in global food security and nutrition. However, the natural (aquatic) resources are subjected to over-exploitation. The marine ecosystem also faces significant biodiversity threats that impact the long-term viability and sustainability of the industry. Given their ecological importance, it is necessary to understand the specific biodiversity challenges and the related solutions that can be used to promote the sustainable development of the sectors. This chapter provides an overview of the academic literature dealing with the biodiversity implications of the aquaculture and fisheries industries. How some of the industry’s leaders report on their efforts to manage biodiversity-related challenges is considered. Findings reveal that organisations play an important role in the conservation of biodiversity by assessing their direct and indirect impacts on the ecosystems, implementing solutions to manage these concerns, integrating biodiversity management into the business model and evaluating sustainability performance.

Agricultural holdings vary widely in size, management and produce, but all rely on biodiversity to mediate the ecological processes that determine economic output and sustainability. Extractive agriculture has degraded farms globally, but regeneration can be achieved by encouraging living organisms to re-build ecosystem stores (such as soil organic matter), regulate nutrient cycles and reduce wastage. This chapter examines the principles by which integrated farm management acts to use and cycle energy and matter over time and between different farming activities. Management interventions (e.g., agronomy, choice of crop) act to regulate channels for the flow of energy and matter in a ‘chain of effect’ through living organisms and ecological processes to achieve high-level goals such as ecosystem services. Safe limits or ranges are defined in which each population or process can operate sustainably. Lessons from historical and current integrated practice are combined with international guidelines into a methodology for integrated management.

The fast-food industry has a significant impact on global biodiversity. The industry members are well placed to address these impacts through initiatives encouraging no-net-loss/net-gain biodiversity policies. A review of prior academic research identifies the key challenges faced by the fast-food industry to develop a simple checklist to evaluate biodiversity reporting. The checklist is applied to three global industry members: McDonald’s, Yum!, and Restaurant Brands International. Findings show that although this industry has developed initiatives to combat biodiversity loss, these predominantly focus on no-net-loss positions. Biodiversity reporting also has concerns including a lack of integration of biodiversity-related metrics with performance incentives, underdeveloped management control systems, weaknesses in governance structures, and limited use of combined assurance models and defined frameworks. These deficiencies present an opportunity for industry members to leverage an integrated thinking mindset and multi-capital approach to biodiversity reporting.

This chapter underscores the potential of fortifying eggs with essential micronutrients to address widespread dietary deficiencies. It emphasizes the need to enhance nutrient intake in populations globally, summarizing recent research on enriching eggs with vitamins and trace minerals crucial for public health. A case study from a UK free-range egg brand illustrates successful vitamin D biofortification through academia-industry collaboration. The chapter also explores fortification with iron, zinc, selenium, and iodine, essential nutrients lacking in many populations. Biofortifying eggs presents a promising strategy to combat micronutrient deficiencies on a broader scale.