Agroecology and organic farming foster soil health by promoting soil fauna

Anahí Domínguez (), Héctor Javier Escudero, María Pía Rodríguez, Carolina Elizabeth Ortiz, Romina Vanesa Arolfo and José Camilo Bedano
Additional contact information
Anahí Domínguez: CONICET and National University of Río Cuarto
Héctor Javier Escudero: CONICET and National University of Río Cuarto
María Pía Rodríguez: CONICET and National University of Río Cuarto
Carolina Elizabeth Ortiz: CONICET and National University of Río Cuarto
Romina Vanesa Arolfo: UNRC
José Camilo Bedano: CONICET and National University of Río Cuarto

Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, 2024, vol. 26, issue 9, No 9, 22084 pages

Abstract: Abstract Agriculture is the main human land use that modifies the environment. The industrial paradigm is the current predominant agricultural model in the Pampean region of Argentina. Its sustainability is being questioned since the detection of soil degradation and water and food pollution. We aimed to assess if alternative farming systems foster soil health-indicated by soil fauna-compared to industrial systems in the Pampean region of Argentina. We sampled soil meso and macrofauna in fields under agroecology (AEC), organic farming (ORG), industrial agriculture (IND) and semi-natural grasslands (GRA). Most functionally relevant faunal groups, ecosystem engineers, litter transformers and predators were more abundant in AEC and ORG than in IND. Mean earthworm biomass was 8 and 2 times greater in AEC and ORG than in IND, respectively. Our results suggest a better development of nutrient cycling and soil structure formation in the alternative systems than in the industrial; together with a better preservation of soil health, crucial for achieving sustainability. We think that recognizing the negative impact of the current model on soil health is a necessary step to promote a change toward agricultural systems that are more socially and environmentally sustainable, in Argentina and also in other Latin American countries that face similar situations.

Keywords: Soil fauna; Sustainability; Soil health; Agroecology; Organic farming (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10668-022-02885-4 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:endesu:v:26:y:2024:i:9:d:10.1007_s10668-022-02885-4

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/10668

DOI: 10.1007/s10668-022-02885-4

Access Statistics for this article

Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development is currently edited by Luc Hens

More articles in Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().