1.
Enhancing Biodiversity and Resilience in Intensive Farming
WP3: Practice and Technology
Maryam Yousefi, Johan Six, Anne Dray, Jaboury Ghazoul
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Factors influencing the effectiveness of cover cropping
The effects of cover crops on soil
health and ecosystem services
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Cover crop effects on soil health parameters (a), Cover crop effects on other ecosystem services
Opportunities of cover cropping are
1) soil biodiversity and nutrient cycle enhancement
2) runoff and nitrogen leaching prevention
3) soil physical properties and carbon sequestration
4) pest and weed suppression
Challenges:
1) lower crop yields
2) inconsistencies in soil water provision
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4.
A comparative meta-analysis on the effect of intercropping
and agri-environmental schemes on biological pest control
Arthropod abundance a:intercropping and b: AES
 Intercropping was effective in suppressing herbivores and
enhancing predators of pest species
 Row intercropping allowed for effective pest management
 The abundance of predators increased in wheat fields
adjacent to flower strips, which declined beyond 5-m from
the flower strips.
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a b

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13
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0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Rice
Wheat
Maize
Sorghum
Artificial Intelligence Big Data Cloud Computing
Machin learning Fuzzy logic Deep learning
Block chain Edge computing other
Techniques and technologies for data processing in smart farming identified within the reviewed papers
 Pest and disease control
 Irrigation control and management
 Soil Health Management
 Crop growth and decision making
 Heavy Metal Assessment
The Application of technology in cereal crop production
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The Application:

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 Well-designed and multifunctional cover crop implementation provides substantially more regulating and
supporting ecosystem services than monocrop.
 Automated irrigation control systems, perhaps drawing on Internet of Things technology, could in future address
some of the shortcomings of cover crops.
 The literature review results are generally well aligned with farmer opinions as reported by the interviews (WP1).
Gap
 There have been relatively few field experiments designed to investigate cover crop outcomes in Germany and
France.
Highlights

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Thanks for your attention
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