This journal issue „Towards a reduction of pesticide use in cropping systems“, offers insights into recent scientific results on existing and innovative cropping systems with a high potential of pesticide use and risk reduction. The articles cover both agronomic as well as economic aspects linked to pesticide reduction strategies.
(Guest Editors: Hella Kehlenbeck and Silke Dachbrodt-Saaydeh)
In the age of global trade, feed resources for animal production might seem endless. However, their large-scale production and transport creates regional nutrient imbalances and contributes to climate change. Land use changes associated with an increasing area of both arable land and grassland reduce the global carbon storage potential. In view of a growing world population and increasing ecological concerns, alternatives and innovations for sustainable animal feeding are needed. In order to secure future food supply, important measures are avoiding nutrient competition between humans and farm animals, and improving the use of regional feed resources, while ensuring a high standard of animal welfare. Many questions arise regarding the challenges of realising a sustainable livestock production. How can organic farming play a role, which puts emphasis on regional production of feedstuffs and partially renounces feed supplements? Can byproducts from the increasing food production for humans be a sustainable solution, when fed to livestock directly or after having been converted by invertebrates or microorganisms? How can grassland be used effectively by poly- and monogastric animals? Can other breeds or species be advantageous, if alternative feeding strategies are implemented?
This issue was published by the Thünen-Institut under former Editor-in-Chief Hans Marten Paulsen.
The strict integration of agroecological concepts into food production is fundamental for combining local resources with agricultural production. It is also essential for securing the future stability of our global and local food systems. Food sovereignty, meaning independent selection, production and consumption of food products, can be a driving idea for local action. However, both smallholder farmers in local markets as well as farmers in globalized markets need perspectives for their future existence, for the stability of their systems, and multidimensional goals for production – including, for example, high efficiency and nature protection. This field is wide and not really new – but comprehensive ideas for scientific, practical and social development are still needed.
This issue was published by the Thünen-Institut under former Editor-in-Chief Hans Marten Paulsen.
Tail docking, disbudding, beak trimming or castration – all these mutilations aim to fit animals into highly efficient farming systems. Reasons are safety of farm workers, avoiding injuries of livestock, keeping the quality of the final product and eventually achieving profitability. Surgical interventions seem to be particularly cruel and not acceptable to a society that takes animal rights more and more into account. But what about fitting procedures that are not as obvious, like cow calf separation immediately after birth or the use of genetic scissors instead of real ones? For society’s trust in future animal husbandry and proud identification of farmers with their livestock systems scientific answers and discussions to derive concepts are needed. With this issue of Landbauforschung we intend to stimulate a controversial discussion of this far reaching topic.
This issue was published by the Thünen-Institut under former Editor-in-Chief Hans Marten Paulsen.
From 2008 to 2018 (Volume 58 - 68) the name of the journal was Landbauforschung - Applied agricultural and forestry research. All content from this time period can be accessed freely at the repository OpenAgrar.
From 1951 to 2007 (Volume 1 - 57) the name of the journal was Landbauforschung - Völkenrode: FAL agricultural research. Some of the content from this time period can be accessed freely at the repository OpenAgrar.
electronic ISSN 2700-8711
Impact Factor (2022): 2.3
Scopus Cite Score (2022): 2.8
Editors-in-Chief
Dr. Elke Bloem
Julius Kühn Institute
Institute for Crop and Soil Science
Dr. Til Feike
Julius Kühn Institute
Institute for Strategies and Technology Assessment
Julius Kühn-Institut (JKI)
Bundesforschungsinstitut für Kulturpflanzen
Erwin-Baur-Str. 27
06484 Quedlinburg, Germany
phone: +49 3946 47-0
Mail: poststelle@julius-kuehn.de
De-Mail: poststelle@julius-kuehn.de-mail.de
