European agriculture faces increasing restrictions on the use of external production inputs, such as artificial fertilisers, pesticides and antibiotics. Organic farmers have experience in dealing with these issues, which is why organic farming may open new avenues for soil management strategies, weed and pest control, and livestock health and wellbeing,...

This technical document has been developed in recognition of the increasingly diverse demands for water from irrigation systems and the need to introduce more holistic land uses into conventional irrigation management. Despite historical precedents and efforts in the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, the potential for the integration of fish...

Agronomic practices and management decisions can have a significant impact on the type and number of weeds on a farm. Understanding this relationship can help organic producers manage weeds through avoidance, and various cultural management practices. The most important steps of non-chemical weed management are prevention, diagnosis, and a number of...

In 2005, we began experimenting with SRI methods at Al-Mishkhab Rice Research Station (MRRS) in Najaf. With SRI practices, roots grow larger and deeper and do not degenerate for lack of oxygen in the soil as occurs when rice fields are kept continuously flooded. SRI is considered as a methodology...

Agronomic practices and management decisions can have a significant impact on the type and number of weeds on a farm. Understanding this relationship can help organic producers manage weeds through avoidance, and various cultural management practices. The most important steps of non-chemical weed management are prevention, diagnosis, and a number of...

In many regions of Canada, the footprint of agriculture is increasing. This often results in excessive losses of wildlife habitat and biodiversity, increases in GHG emissions and carbon losses, and degradation of water quality and soil resources. This project aims at conserving, protecting and valuing natural features, such as riparian...

UNACMA is the only association, at a national level, representing traders and repairers of agricultural machinery, and of machinery for the maintenance of green areas. It is associated with CONFCOMMERCIO MOBILITA and carries forward its objectives mainly in institutions at regional, national and European level. It carries out training and...

This booklet presents FAO’s work on mainstreaming biodiversity as a crosscutting theme in the agriculture, fisheries and forestry sectors. It provides examples of on-the-ground activities and highlights relevant international mechanisms.

“Grape Mundo” is a technology ecosystem that guides grape farmers to do precision and sustainable grape farming to produce high-quality grapes using minimum chemicals, thus lowering the cost. This ecosystem also helps grape farmers sell export quality and residue-free grapes across a huge PAN India market, without any involvement of...

Small-scale agroecological and organic farming systems require appropriate machinery and technologies, and a change of paradigm in the way they are conceived, produced, sold and patented. The mainstream agricultural model has led to machines that are getting increasingly bigger and more expensive and complicated, and thus inaccessible for many farmers...

The needs of rural and high-risk areas are diverse and location specific. As the market is limited, the private sector is not interested in developing technologies for high-risk areas, and the government sector often bypasses or ignores their needs. Identifying area-specific needs and developing specific solutions are key for sustainability....

More than twenty years ago, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations contributed to the growing recognition of the role of pollination in agricultural production, with the publication of “The Pollination of Cultivated Plants in the Tropics”. Since that time, the appreciation of pollinators has grown, alongside the...

More than twenty years ago, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations contributed to the growing recognition of the role of pollination in agricultural production, with the publication of “The Pollination of Cultivated Plants in the Tropics”. Since that time, the appreciation of pollinators has grown, alongside the...

Agroecology is increasingly promoted by scientists, non-governmental organisations (NGO’s), international organisations and peasant movements as an approach to foster the transition to sustainable and equitable food systems. The challenges to agroecological transitions are not the same for all farmers, as they can face different social and bio-physical conditions. We developed...

El agua es esencial para la vida del ser humano; sin embargo, en algunas comunidades es un recurso con acceso limitado, especialmente durante el verano. Por esta razón, la FAO y el Ministerio de Agricultura, Ganadería y Alimentación (MAGA), impulsan en Guatemala la implementación de filtros artesanales de aguas grises....

El agua es esencial para la vida del ser humano; sin embargo, en algunas comunidades es un recurso con acceso limitado, especialmente durante el verano. Por esta razón, la FAO y el Ministerio de Agricultura, Ganadería y Alimentación (MAGA), impulsan en Guatemala la implementación de filtros artesanales de aguas grises. Estas estructuras...

In this video, we learn from farmers in Kenya how we can kill fall armyworms in a natural way. The leaf damage caused by fall armyworms often looks worse than it is. Birds, spiders, rove beetles, ants, wasps, and diseases kill the fall armyworm and can greatly reduce its damage....

IPM was first proposed in 1957, as a concept that promoted biological control, good agronomic practices and the use of other means to control pests besides chemical pesticides. IPM is location specific, based on local field ecology and socio-economic conditions. IPM in the Iranian programme meant more than just “pest...

The permagarden method combines components of permaculture, an agricultural approach using design principles to utilize natural systems for production, and bio-intensive agriculture, an agricultural approach to maximize production on a small amount of land through sustainable practices that increase biodiversity, to create a highly productive garden using a small amount...

Soils are a non-renewable resource on which 95% of our food supply depends. Short-sighted chemical fertilizer applications in conventional farming are depleting soils at an alarming rate. Instead of using potent chemicals that degrade soil, organic farmers continuously give back to the soil, maintaining soil health and fertility for future...