The argument on whether organic agriculture can produce enough food to cater for the world’s growing population has been debated severally by various scholars. While organic farming is rapidly increasing, the paramount question is to know how organic farming can yield to viable systems of producing food. This paper aims to identify the benefits and context reliant performance of organic farming as a development trail to sustainable farming. Gathering of articles from different peer review journals was used to develop this paper. The findings of this paper show that organic farming has many potential benefits including higher biodiversity, improved soil, and enhanced profitability as well as supporting local production, with locally produced source inputs. The findings also show that organic farming is environmentally friendly, promotes distribution of resources, and is economically and socially acceptable to mankind. In order to have a clear view of the contribution that organic farming plays on sustainability, further research is necessary.

Growing environmental concerns are potentially narrowing global yield capacity of agricultural systems. Climate change is the most significant problem the world is currently facing. To meet global food demand, food production must be doubled by 2050; over exploitation of arable lands using unsustainable techniques might resolve food demand issues, but they have negative environmental effects. Current crop production systems are a major reason for changing global climate through diminishing biodiversity, physical and chemical soil degradation, and water pollution. The over application of fertilizers and pesticides contribute to climate change through greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and toxic soil depositions. At this crucial time, there is a pressing need to transition to more sustainable crop production practices, ones that concentrate more on promoting sustainable mechanisms, which enable crops to grow well in resource limited and environmentally challenging environments, and also develop crops with greater resource use efficiency that have optimum sustainable yields across a wider array of environmental conditions. The phytomicrobiome is considered as one of the best strategies; a better alternative for sustainable agriculture, and a viable solution to meet the twin challenges of global food security and environmental stability. Use of the phytomicrobiome, due to its sustainable and environmentally friendly mechanisms of plant growth promotion, is becoming more widespread in the agricultural industry. Therefore, in this review, we emphasize the contribution of beneficial phytomicrobiome members, particularly plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR), as a strategy to sustainable improvement of plant growth and production in the face of climate change. Also, the roles of soil dwelling microbes in stress amelioration, nutrient supply (nitrogen fixation, phosphorus solubilization), and phytohormone production along with the factors that could potentially affect their efficiency have been discussed extensively. Lastly, limitations to expansion and use of biobased techniques, for instance, the perspective of crop producers, indigenous microbial competition and regulatory approval are discussed. This review largely focusses on the importance and need of sustainable and environmentally friendly approaches such as biobased/PGPR-based techniques in our agricultural systems, especially in the context of current climate change conditions, which are almost certain to worsen in near future.

Sustainable food systems are often defined by greenhouse gases, land use, effects on biodiversity, and water use. However, this approach does not recognize the reason food is produced—the provision of nutrients. Recently, the relationship between diets and sustainability has been recognized. Most accepted models of ‘sustainable diets’ focus on four domains: public health, the environment, food affordability, and cultural relevance. Aligned with the FAO’s perspective, truly sustainable diets comprise foods that are affordable, nutritious, developed with ingredients produced in an environmentally friendly manner, and consumer preferred. Identifying solutions to address all four domains simultaneously remains a challenge. Furthermore, the recent pandemic exposed the fragility of the food supply when food accessibility and affordability became primary concerns. There have been increasing calls for more nutrient-dense and sustainable foods, but scant recognition of the consumer’s role in adopting and integrating these foods into their diet. Dietary recommendations promoting sustainable themes often overlook how and why people eat what they do. Taste, cost, and health motivate consumer food purchase and the food system must address those considerations. Sustainable foods are perceived to be expensive, thus marginalizing acceptance by the people, which is needed for broad adoption into diets for impactful change. Transformational change is needed in food systems and supply chains to address the complex issues related to sustainability, taste, and cost. An emerging movement called regenerative agriculture (a holistic, nature-based approach to farming) provides a pathway to delivering sustainable foods at an affordable cost to consumers. A broad coalition among academia, government, and the food industry can help to ensure that the food supply concurrently prioritizes sustainability and nutrient density in the framework of consumer-preferred foods. The coalition can also help to ensure sustainable diets are broadly adopted by consumers. This commentary will focus on the challenges and opportunities for the food industry and partners to deliver a sustainable supply of nutrient-dense foods while meeting consumer expectations.

Abstract Background There has been a greater call for greener and eco-friendly processes and bioproducts to meet the 2030’s core agenda on 17 global sustainable development goals. The challenge lies in incorporating systems thinking with a comprehensive worldview as a guiding principle to develop the economy, whilst taking cognisance of the need to safeguard the environment, and to embrace the socio-cultural diversity dimension as an equal component. Any discussion on climate change, destruction of eco-system and habitat for wildlife, poverty and starvation, and the spread of infectious diseases, must be addressed together with the emphasis on the development of cleaner energy, air and water, better management of resources and biodiversity, improved agro-practices for food production and distribution, and affordable health care, as the outcomes and key performance indicators to be evaluated. Strict regulation, monitoring and enforcement to minimize emission, pollution and wastage must also be put in place. Conclusion This review article focuses on the research and development efforts to achieve sustainable bioenergy production, environmental remediation, and transformation of agro-materials into value-added bioproducts through the integrated algal and oil palm biorefinery. Recent development in microalgal research with nanotechnology as anti-cancer and antimicrobial agents and for biopharmaceutical applications are discussed. The life-cycle analysis in the context of palm oil mill processes is evaluated. The way forward from this integrated biorefinery concept is to strive for inclusive development strategies, and to address the immediate and pressing problems facing the Planet and the People, whilst still reaping the Profit.

Ecosystem services (ESS) change and its response to human activities is critical for enhancing ecosystem management and regional sustainability. This study constructs a theoretical framework of coupled ESS and three modernization (agricultural modernization (AM), industrialization and urbanization) systems, depicts the dynamic changes of ESS and three modernizations in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP) from 2000 to 2018, and further analyses the heterogeneity in the response of multiple ESS to different human activities using the Pearson correlation method and bivariate spatial autocorrelation model. (1) AM showed a significant negative impact on ESS and other single ESS except for food production and waste treatment services, and there was also an increasingly significant negative correlation between them in space, indicating that AM did not coordinate the local ecological protection and exerted the strongest destruction and an expanding scope of spatially negative effects on ESS. (2) Industrialization was negatively correlated with ESS as well as all of their associated single ESS to a different extent and was only significantly correlated with regulation services, while it interacted spatially with ESS, changing from presenting a weak negative correlation to presenting a weak positive correlation during 2000–2018, which reveals that industrialization had relatively less pressure on ESS and developed in a more eco-friendly mode. (3) Urbanization exerted a weak negative influence on ESS and most single ESS, whereas urbanization was positively correlated with waste treatment, landscape culture provision and biodiversity maintenance services in 2018, and it showed a significant positive impact of a growing tendency to effect ESS in space, which reveals that urbanization was conducive to reducing the overall disturbance of human activities on ESS. (4) The heterogeneity characteristics of the local spatial correlation patterns between the three modernization levels and ESS as well as their changes during 2000–2018 were investigated and presented obvious differences, and the low-high/high-low areas of the levels and changes for these two constructs should be given enough attention and take corresponding adaptive management measures. This study indicates that there are remarkable heterogeneous effects of different intensities and types of human activities on ESS, which should be understood systematically to coordinate the development pathways and patterns of three modernizations and the restoration and sustainable utilization of ecosystems.

There lies little novelty in the claim that coastal ecosystems are experiencing large-scale ecological degradation due to increased anthropogenic impact and overharvesting of marine resources. Fish stocks are depleting globally and uncontrolled expansion of aquaculture farms to provide food security for the growing human population further compromises the health and resilience of marine environments. Thus, there is urgent necessity to reduce human impact on marine habitats by applying environmental-friendly, product-diversified and socially beneficial concepts of integrated farming and coastal management. Since sponges feed on suspended and dissolved organic matter, it has often been suggested to apply sponge culture to remediate marine organic pollution, such as the effluent from sea-based fish cages and unpurified urban wastewater discharge. Sponges are found at all latitudes, living in a wide array of ecosystems varying in temperature and depth. Sponges have important ecological roles, including that of biological filter. They extract and accumulate various organic and inorganic compounds and microorganisms from the water, thus improving the water quality of marine and freshwater systems. Additionally, marine sponges are known as a plentiful resource of new bio products, that have remarkable potential for development as pharmaceutical drugs or biomedical materials. This PhD thesis focused on the production of raw sponge materials by mariculturing sponge species that produce a potential drug (avarol) and a potential biomaterial (collagen), respectively. Since sponges feed on suspended and dissolved organic matter, it has often been suggested to apply sponge culture to remediate marine organic pollution, such as the effluent from sea-based fish cages and unpurified urban wastewater discharge. Large-scale sponge culture may help reduce eutrophication of coastal waters and its concomitant disruptive effect on local ecology and biodiversity. Sponge culture can also locally improve the water quality around fish farms, which benefits the cultured fish. This thesis aims to assess the biological performances of targeted Mediterranean sponge species under different eutrophication and depth conditions. By using a multifactorial approach, I investigated the aquaculture potential, in situ filtration activity and pollution remediation efficiency of the selected species at pristine sites and organically polluted sites. Species specific culture methods were optimised ultimately achieving a novel integrated fish-sponge farm model, termed as “Sponge Lantern”, which is self-cleaning and could maximize production of high quality raw sponge material. 

Potentially beneficial traits of Dutch rare breeds for agro-ecological farming Focus on biodiversity in agriculture in the Netherlands is increasing. At the request of The Dutch Rare Breed Society (SZH) a study on traits of Dutch rare and local livestock breeds that may be of added value in agro-ecological agriculture for cattle, sheep, goats and horses was performed. A variety of interviews with experts and farmers of rare breeds was used to identify impacts of these breeds on agricultural ecology, and ways in which these breeds can be used in agroecological farming systems. There are six rare Dutch cattle breeds plus one colour variety, twelve rare Dutch sheep breeds, four rare Dutch goat breeds and four rare Dutch horse breeds in the Netherlands. All holders mentioned specific characteristics of these breeds which make them more suitable for nature-friendly agriculture in comparison to global high production breeds in the Netherlands. Traits such as robustness (being able to cope with changing circumstances), better health, and being able to cope with variations in diet were mentioned for cattle, some sheep and goat breeds. Horse breeds are not used in food production. Rare local horse breeds are mainly characterized by a calmer character. These differences were confirmed by experts. There are opportunities for the use of rare Dutch farm animal breeds in agro-ecological agriculture. Knowledge gaps are identified for investigation in the future, such as high and low input comparisons and research for poultry and swine breeds. | Kenmerken van zeldzame rassen die van meerwaarde kunnen zijn in agro-ecologische en andere landbouwsystemen Er is een toenemende aandacht voor biodiversiteit binnen de landbouw in Nederland. In dit onderzoek is op verzoek van De Stichting Zeldzame Huisdierrassen gekeken naar kenmerken van Nederlandse zeldzame en lokale veerassen die van meerwaarde kunnen zijn in agro-ecologische landbouw bij runderen, schapen, geiten en paarden. Hiervoor zijn interviews afgenomen met houders van de zeldzame Nederlandse rassen van deze soorten en met experts op het gebied van genetica, diervoeding, houderij en beleid. In totaal zijn er in Nederland zes zeldzame Nederlandse runderrassen plus één kleurslag, twaalf zeldzame Nederlandse schapenrassen, vier zeldzame Nederlandse geitenrassen en vier zeldzame Nederlandse paardenrassen. Alle houders noemden onderscheidende kenmerken van deze rassen ten opzichte van de meest gebruikte hoogproductieve rassen in Nederland (en wereldwijd). Kenmerken die deze rassen meer geschikt maken voor een natuurvriendelijke landbouw zoals robuustheid (om kunnen gaan met veranderende omstandigheden), betere gezondheid, toekunnen met variatie in kwaliteit en een schraal rantsoen worden met name voor runderrassen en sommige schapen- en geitenrassen genoemd, die deze rassen geschikter maken voor een natuurvriendelijke landbouw. Paardenrassen, die niet in de voedselproductie worden gebruikt, onderscheiden zich vooral door een rustiger karakter. Deze verschillen werden door de experts bevestigd. Er liggen dus zeker kansen voor het gebruik van zeldzame Nederlandse landbouwhuisdierrassen in agro-ecologische landbouw. Meer onderbouwing en onderzoek, ook naar pluimvee- en varkensrassen is echter gewenst.