Cropping Systems 1 Ecological Cropping Systems – An Organic Target

Organic agriculture has expanded rapidly but is now in danger of reaching a plateau of productivity and of contributions to ecosystems. There is an urgent need for major development of ecologically sound cropping systems using knowledge from ecological sciences and from appropriate breeding and selection. One of the most important aspects of successful natural ecosystems is their fine-grained plant diversity. Parallel examples in agricultural systems are considered including variety and species mixtures together with other intercropping approaches. These are integrated into potential organic cropping systems that eliminate the need for separate rotation phases for production and fertility building. At the highest organisational level, such approaches to diversity can be integrated into organic agroforestry systems. Stress is laid not only on the value of such diversified systems for sustaining their own productivity, but also on ways in which such systems can contribute to integration with other ecosystems and hence to increases in ecosystem services