UNASSIGNED: The intensification of the agricultural practices in Europe over the last decades has drastically transformed the agroecosystems. The simplification of the landscape, the loss of semi-natural habitats and the application of chemicals on crops led to biodiversity decline in agricultural landscapes, raising substantial concerns about the loss of essential ecosystem services, such as pollination or pest control. Depending on the location, the scale and the regional context, different indicator species groups (ISGs) are regularly surveyed to assess the state and trend of biodiversity changes in agroecosystems. Although the high diversity of these ISGs allows assessing different biodiversity aspects (e.g., trophic levels, bio-physical compartments, scale of indication), it complicates the interpretation of the results and thus their practical application. In addition, species diversity metrics are various, from simple species counts to more complex measurements of diversity indices, sometimes with antagonistic responses. Here, to meet the pressing need for synthesis in this complex topic, we follow a standardized systematic map protocol to collect and summarize the literature reporting field evidence of the effects of the main agricultural management practices (AMPs) in arable crops, grasslands and ecological infrastructures on a set of ISGs in European lowland farming areas.
UNASSIGNED: Searches of literature were made using online publication databases, search engine and specialist websites in English. Gathered publications were screened for relevance following inclusion/exclusion criteria published in a prior protocol. We extracted and mapped information about experimental design, monitoring methods, ISGs and AMPs studied and the diversity measures presented in each included publication. These parameters are structured in available data coding sheets.
UNASSIGNED: The search gathered 20,162 references from which 1208 remained after full text eligibility screening. Main areas studied are in Western Europe, and the number of studies increased exponentially from 1984 to 2022. Most publications are experimental and on-farm studies which assess AMPs effects at the field scale. Main studied AMPs are fertilization, grazing, organic farming, tillage, mowing and herbicide application. Most ISGs used to study their impacts are flora, carabids, spiders, birds, bees and annelids, often combined with other ISGs. The combinations between AMPs and ISGs studied are detailed as well as monitoring methods. The most used diversity measures are abundance, species richness, Shannon index, evenness, and community composition.
UNASSIGNED: We identified several knowledge clusters: (1) organic farming, fertilization, tillage, grazing and mowing impact on a wide range of ISGs, (2) flora response to agricultural practices, (3) annelids response to agronomic interventions that impact soil structure (e.g., tillage, fertilization, crop rotation, crop residue management), (4) butterflies and orthopterans response to mowing and grazing effects in grasslands, (5) the use of bird monitoring for the impact for assessing the efficiency of AES implementation at the landscape scale. We highlight that further research should be conducted on ISGs that are until now poorly studied regarding agricultural practices, such as amphibians, reptiles, gastropods, millipedes and centipedes. More field evidence of the effects of diversification practices such as intercropping, undersowing, intermediate cropping, and agroforestry are needed to draw conclusions on their benefits on biodiversity.
UNASSIGNED: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13750-024-00347-0.

In French dairy goat systems, kids are generally separated from their mother does shortly after birth. The main drivers of this practice are related to health-especially the prevention of the Caprine Arthritis Encephalitis Virus (CAEV) transmission-and economics. However, the separation of young ruminants from their does is being increasingly questioned by society and has raised concerns about the satisfaction of their behavioral needs. Some farmers choose to leave their female kids with their does. The aims of this study were to understand their motivations for leaving kids with their does, to describe how kids are reared in this case and how farmers perceive different aspects of the impacts of this practice. Individual semi-structured interviews were carried out with 40 farmers who had implemented the kids-with-does practice for at least one year. Compared with the national database describing the French population of dairy goat farmers, the characteristics of the interviewed farmers differed from those of the general population. They were younger and had done longer studies. Their farms were smaller, mainly with rare breeds and milk was mainly processed on-farm under an organic certification system. They chose to implement this practice for different reasons: ethical considerations, improving integration of kids within the herd, saving time and increasing comfort at work or improving the kids\' growth, welfare, and health. The doe-kid rearing contact practices varied greatly between farms, with some kids staying with their does from a period of 45 d to never being separated; furthermore, some kids remained with their does all day, while others remained together part of the day or for a limited time, and daily contact evolved over time. Overall, farmers were satisfied as the benefits quoted were coherent with their motivations to implement this rearing practice. Most have decided to continue the practice, though usually with changes. However, as 40% of them had only 3 years or less of experience of doe-kid rearing, some had not sufficient hindsight into long-term issues such as the transmission of CAEV. It is crucial to tackle challenges associated with this practice, i.e., potentially wild kids, health issues, and economic consequences stemming from a reduction in marketable milk.

Human activities have led to the contamination of all environmental compartments worldwide, including bird species. In birds, both the environment and maternal transfer lead to high inter-brood variability in contamination levels of pollutants, whereas intra-brood variability is generally low. However, most existing studies focused on heavy metals or persistent compounds and none, to our knowledge, addressed the variability in contamination levels of multiple pesticides and the factors influencing it. In this study, the number of pesticides detected (of 104 compounds searched) and the sum of their concentrations in the blood of 55 Montagu\'s harrier (Circus pygargus) nestlings from 22 nests sampled in 2021 were used as metrics of contamination levels. We investigated the effect of organic farming at the size of male\'s home range (i.e., 14 km2) and chicks\' sex and hatching order on contamination levels. We did not find a difference between inter-brood and intra-brood variability in pesticide contamination levels, suggesting a different exposure of siblings through food items. While chicks\' sex or rank did not affect their contamination level, we found that the percentage of organic farming around the nests significantly decreased the number of pesticides detected, although it did not decrease the total concentrations. This finding highlights the potential role of organic farming in reducing the exposure of birds to a pesticide cocktail.

Genetically modified (GM) crops are the most important agricultural commodities that can improve the yield of African smallholder farmers. The intricate circumstances surrounding the introduction of GM agriculture in Africa, however, underscore the importance of comprehending the moral conundrums, regulatory environments, and public sentiment that exist today. This review examines the current situation surrounding the use of GM crops in Africa, focusing on moral conundrums, regulatory frameworks, and public opinion. Only eleven of the fifty-four African countries currently cultivate GM crops due to the wide range of opinions resulting from the disparities in cultural, socioeconomic, and environmental factors. This review proposed that addressing public concerns, harmonizing regulations, and upholding ethical standards will improve the adoption of GM crops in Africa. This study offers ways to enhance the acceptability of GM crops for boosting nutrition and food security globally.

Wheat grain production is a vital component of the food supply produced by smallholder farms but faces significant threats from climate change. This study evaluated eight environmental impacts of wheat production using life cycle assessment based on survey data from 274 households, then built random forest models with 21 input features to contrast the environmental responses of different farming practices across three shared socioeconomic pathways (SSPs), spanning from 2024 to 2100. The results indicate significant environmental repercussions. Compared to the baseline period of 2018-2020, a similar upward trend in environmental impacts is observed, showing an average annual growth rate of 5.88 % (ranging from 0.45 to 18.56 %) under the sustainable pathway (SSP119) scenario; 5.90 % (ranging from 1.00 to 18.15 %) for the intermediate development pathway (SSP245); and 6.22 % (ranging from 1.16 to 17.74 %) under the rapid economic development pathway (SSP585). Variation in rainfall is identified as the primary driving factor of the increased environmental impacts, whereas its relationship with rising temperatures is not significant. The results suggest adopting farming practices as a vital strategy for smallholder farms to mitigate climate change impacts. Emphasizing appropriate fertilizer application and straw recycling can significantly reduce the environmental footprint of wheat production. Standardized fertilization could reduce the environmental impact index by 11.10 to 47.83 %, while straw recycling might decrease respiratory inorganics and photochemical oxidant formation potential by over 40 %. Combined, these approaches could lower the impact index by 12.31 to 63.38 %. The findings highlight the importance of adopting enhanced farming practices within smallholder farming systems in the context of climate change. SPOTLIGHTS.

The bacteria harboring phoD encodes alkaline phosphatase (ALP), a secretory enzyme that hydrolyzes organic phosphorous (P) to a usable form in the soil. The impact of farming practices and crop types on phoD bacterial abundance and diversity in tropical agroecosystems is largely unknown. In this research, the aim was to study the effect of farming practices (organic vs. conventional) and crop types on the phoD-harboring bacterial community. A high-throughput amplicon (phoD gene) sequencing method was employed for the assessment of bacterial diversity and qPCR for phoD gene abundance. Outcomes revealed that soils treated for organic farming have high observed OTUs, ALP activity, and phoD population than soils managed under conventional farming with the trend of maize > chickpea > mustard > soybean vegetated soils. The relative abundance of Rhizobiales exhibited dominance. Ensifer, Bradyrhizobium, Streptomyces, and Pseudomonas were observed as dominant genera in both farming practices. Overall, the study demonstrated that organic farming practice favors the ALP activity, phoD abundance, and OTU richness which varied across crop types with maize crops showing the highest OTUs followed by chickpea, mustard, and least in soybean cropping.

This study aimed to identify factors that influence the decisions of rooibos farmers in South Africa to implement certification and quality assurance systems. The study was conducted in the Western Cape region of South Africa. A structured questionnaire was distributed to 300 farmers in the form of interviews. In addition, an analysis of previously published data was also used. Results showed that membership in an association, land tenure, rooibos tea farm size, and education level were the main determinants of implementing certifications and quality assurance systems. Membership in the association and land tenure significantly negatively affected the adoption of certification. In contrast, farm size and level of education, translating to knowledge of certification systems, tended to have a significant positive effect on adoption. Continuous education, awareness of the process of certification and quality assurance systems, and the formation of farmers\' support systems are recommended to improve the impact of smallholder rooibos farmers in the industry.

A cross-sectional study covering four agro-climatic zones of West Bengal, India, was carried out to understand the risk-factors, antimicrobial resistance mechanism and clustering of the resistance characteristics of Escherichia coli isolated from healthy (170) and diarrhoeic (74) goats reared under intensive (52) and semi-intensive (192) farming practices. Of the 488 E. coli isolates, the majority, including the extended spectrum (n: 64, 13.11%) and AmpC β-lactamase (ACBL) (n: 86, 17.62%) producers, were resistant to tetracycline (25.2%), followed by enrofloxacin (24.5%), cefotaxime (21.5%) and amikacin (20.5%). Statistical modelling revealed that the isolates from diarrhoeic animals (p < 0.001) are likely to be more ACBL-positive than those from the healthy counterparts. Similarly, cefotaxime (p < 0.05) and enrofloxacin-resistance (p < 0.01) were significantly higher in diarrhoeic goats and in goats reared intensively. The isolates (n = 35) resistant to multiple drugs revealed the presence of β-lactamase [blaCTXM-1-(21), blaSHV-(7), blaTEM-(3), blaCMY-6-(1), blaCITM-(3)]; quinolone [qnrB-(10), qnrS-(7), aac(6’)-Ib-cr-(3)]; tetracycline [tetA-(19), tetB-(4)] and sulphonamide resistance determinants [sul1-(4)]; multiple plasmids, especially those belonging to the IncF and IncI1 replicon types; and active acrAB efflux pumps. Further, two isolates harbored the carbapenem resistance (blaNDM-5) gene and eight were strong biofilm producers. This first ever study conducted to unravel the status of AMR in goat farming reveals that not only the intensive farming practices but also certain clinical ailments such as diarrhoea can increase the shedding of the drug-resistant isolate. The emergence of multi-drug resistant (MDR) E. coli in goats, particularly those that are carbapenem resistant, is a cause for concern that indicates the spread of such pathogens even in the livestock sub-sector generally considered as naive.

With environmental degradation reaching emergency levels, urgent action for preventable behaviours is needed. There is limited scientific evidence available indicating key success factors that can be implemented to support lasting farming practice change. This study reports the outcomes of an evidence review that was undertaken to identify influential factors for farming practice change. The systematic literature review identified data sources derived from six databases (EBSCO All Databases, Emerald, ProQuest All Databases, Ovid All Databases, Web of Science and Scopus). The search yielded a total of 5044 results. After first and second-tier exclusion criteria, 363 articles were fully reviewed to determine which sources would inform this study. A total of 75 studies reported factors inhibiting or promoting farming practice change. A total of 26 barriers and enablers were identified across seven key dimensions, namely: Financial Support & Market forces; Information dissemination; Farmer & Farm characteristics; Institutional setting & Regulations, Stakeholder interactions; Farming practice; Beliefs, Attitudes and Individual Capabilities. Limitations and future research opportunities were identified.

While intensive peach production has expanded rapidly in recent years, few studies have explored the environmental impacts associated with specific regional systems or the optimal management strategies to minimize associated environmental risks. Here, data from a survey of 290 native farmers were used to conduct a life cycle assessment to quantify the acidification potential (AP), global warming potential (GWP), eutrophication potential (EP), and reactive nitrogen (Nr) losses in peach production in Pinggu District, Beijing. Total annual Nr losses, and GWP, AP, and EP values for peach production in Pinggu District were respectively 10.7 kg N t-1, 857 kg CO2-eq t-1, 12.9 kg SO2-eq t-1, and 4.1 kg PO4-eq t-1. The principal driving factors were fertilizer production, transportation, and application, which together accounted for 94%, 67%, 75%, and 94% of Nr losses, GWP, AP, and EP, respectively. In the high yield, high nitrogen-use efficiency (HH) group, relative values of Nr losses, GWP, AP, and EP were respectively 33%, 25%, 39%, and 32% lower than the overall averages for 290 orchards. Further analyses indicate that improved farming practices such as decreasing application rates of fertilizers, increasing proportion of base fertilization rate, and proper fertilization frequency in the HH group were the main reasons for these orchards\' better performance in peach yields and partial factor productivity of nitrogen fertilizer, and their reduced environmental impacts. These results highlight the need to optimize nutrient management in peach production in order simultaneously to realize both environmental sustainability and high productivity in the peach production system.