Agron. Sustain. Dev. DOI 10.1007/s13593-014-0272-z
REVIEW ARTICLE
Multiple cropping systems as drivers for providing multiple ecosystem services: from concepts to design Sabrina Gaba & Françoise Lescourret & Simon Boudsocq & Jérôme Enjalbert & Philippe Hinsinger & Etienne-Pascal Journet & Marie-Laure Navas & Jacques Wery & Gaetan Louarn & Eric Malézieux & Elise Pelzer & Marion Prudent & Harry Ozier-Lafontaine
Accepted: 20 November 2014 # INRA and Springer-Verlag France 2014
Abstract Provisioning services, such as the production of food, feed, and fiber, have always been the main focus of agriculture. Since the 1950s, intensive cropping systems based on the cultivation of a single crop or a single cultivar, in simplified rotations or monocultures, and relying on extensive use of agrochemical inputs have been preferred to more diverse, self-sustaining cropping systems, regardless of the environmental consequences. However, there is increasing evidence that such intensive agroecosystems have led to a decline in biodiversity as well as threatening the environment and have damaged a number of ecosystem services such as the biogeochemical nutrient cycles and the regulation of climate and water quality. Consequently, the current challenge facing agriculture is to ensure the future of food production while reducing the use of inputs and limiting environmental impacts and the loss of biodiversity. Here, we S. Gaba (*) : M. Prudent INRA, UMR1347 Agroécologie, 21065 Dijon Cedex, France e-mail:
[email protected] F. Lescourret INRA, UR1115 Plantes et Systèmes de culture Horticoles, Domaine Saint-Paul, Site Agroparc, 84914 Avignon Cedex 9, France S. Boudsocq : P. Hinsinger INRA, UMR Eco&Sols, Place Viala, 34060 Montpellier, France J. Enjalbert INRA, UMR 320 Génétique Végétale, Ferme du Moulon, 91190 Gif-sur-Yvette, France E.
