Tittonell P. A., De Grazia J., De Hek S., Bricchi E.
Abstract
Intensification of agricultural production by means of high-input technologies and agroecosystem simplification leads to unsustainable food production and farm livelihood in many areas of the world. Agroecology offers alternatives to develop stable systems that can be taken up also by small scale farmers, normally farming on readily degraded land. One such alternative relies on increasing spatial-temporal diversity of agroecosystems. However, experimentation to evaluate the impact of agrodiversity is costly and time-consuming. A methodology to overcome this is discussed here, based on preliminary results of experiences in central Argentina, an area of strong biophysical and socio-economic gradients. Soil organic matter is proposed as an overall indicator of soil health and system sustainability; the widely used soil organic matter model CENTURY is validated under local conditions and used as a monitoring tool. The impact of an increased agrodiversity on soils with contrasting inherent properties is exemplified by running land use scenarios for the next 50 years and evaluating trends in soil organic matter contents.
Key words:
century model, agrobiodiversity, soil health, sustainability, Argentina.