Untreated manure is commonly used as a biological soil amendment of animal origin in organic production but may introduce foodborne pathogens into the farm environment. In this multiregional study, generic E. coli was used as an indicator of fecal contamination to identify factors associated with its concentration in manure-amended soils. The analysis included samples from 19 certified organic farms in California, Maine, Minnesota, and Maryland collected over two growing seasons. A zero-inflated linear mixed model was used to assess the association between generic E. coli concentration in soil, and farm-related practices, soil and environmental factors. Generic E. coli concentration in the soil declined in the first 60 days after manure application (β: -1.00, CI95: -1.17, -0.83) before a secondary increase through Day 180. Manure management practices, including use of different types of animal manure and manure application rates, were significantly associated with generic E. coli concentration in soil. Soil nutrients (phosphorus (β: 0.22, CI95: 0.15, 0.30)) and micronutrients (zinc (β: 0.03, CI95: 0.01, 0.04) and manganese (β: 0.02, CI95: 0.01, 0.02)), elevated moisture content (β: 0.13, CI95: 0.07, 0.19), and Salmonella (β: 1.79, CI95: 1.31,2.23) or Listeria monocytogenes (β: 0.24, CI95: 0.03, 0.44) also showed positive association with generic E. coli concentration in soil. Lower wind speed (β: -0.12, CI95: -0.19, -0.06), increased precipitation (β: 0.03, CI95: 0.01, 0.05), and increased UV index (β: 0.24, CI95: 0.15, 0.34) were found to be associated with higher E. coli concentration in manured soil. Overall, the persistence of generic E. coli in manure-amended soil was multifactorial. Effective microbial risk management should incorporate considerations for animal origin of manure, management, environmental, and meteorological factors alongside current USDA National Organic Program standards (90-120 days) regarding the interval of application of raw manure to harvest of the edible portion of food crops.

Organic agricultural production benefits from the use of animal manure to improve soil quality and health. Despite its proven benefits, using manure poses some risk to food safety as it may contain pathogenic microorganisms that can contaminate produce and lead to foodborne human illnesses. To investigate risk factors associated with generic E. coli presence in fresh produce grown in manured soil, a two-year study was conducted in USDA National Organic Program-certified organic farms in California, Maine, Minnesota, and Maryland. Farm management, water, environmental, and soil-related factors were ranked using random forest and then assessed in a generalized linear mixed model to evaluate the associations with generic E. coli presence in produce. Factors that significantly increased the odds of generic E. coli presence included increased precipitation over the past 7 days of produce sampling (Odds Ratio (OR) = 1.32, CI95 = 1.14-1.52), and previous nonagricultural use of crop fields (OR = 48.16, CI95 = 15.19-152.67). Leafy greens (OR = 12.82, CI95 = 4.90-33.54) and root vegetables (OR = 19.56, CI95 = 6.11-62.61) had significantly higher odds of generic E. coli presence compared to fruits. Length of time (in days) between manure application and produce sampling also significantly influenced generic E. coli presence odds on Day 60 after manure amendment (OR = 0.04, CI95 = 0.01-0.17). Higher odds ratio of generic E. coli presence was significantly associated with exclusive manure application in summer (OR = 38.98, CI95 = 10.05-151.18), fall (OR = 5.89, CI95 = 1.32-26.14), or winter (OR = 24.95, CI95 = 2.85-219.08) compared to multiseason application. These findings provide evidence to inform manure application practices and food safety management strategies in organic fresh produce production.

ABSTRACTLand use change threatens global biodiversity and compromises ecosystem functions, including pollination and food production. Reduced taxonomic α‐diversity is often reported under land use change, yet the impacts could be different at larger spatial scales (i.e., γ‐diversity), either due to reduced β‐diversity amplifying diversity loss or increased β‐diversity dampening diversity loss. Additionally, studies often focus on taxonomic diversity, while other important biodiversity components, including phylogenetic diversity, can exhibit differential responses. Here, we evaluated how agricultural and urban land use alters the taxonomic and phylogenetic α‐, β‐, and γ‐diversity of an important pollinator taxon—bees. Using a multicontinental dataset of 3117 bee assemblages from 157 studies, we found that taxonomic α‐diversity was reduced by 16%–18% in both agricultural and urban habitats relative to natural habitats. Phylogenetic α‐diversity was decreased by 11%–12% in agricultural and urban habitats. Compared with natural habitats, taxonomic and phylogenetic β‐diversity increased by 11% and 6% in urban habitats, respectively, but exhibited no systematic change in agricultural habitats. We detected a 22% decline in taxonomic γ‐diversity and a 17% decline in phylogenetic γ‐diversity in agricultural habitats, but γ‐diversity of urban habitats was not significantly different from natural habitats. These findings highlight the threat of agricultural expansions to large‐scale bee diversity due to systematic γ‐diversity decline. In addition, while both urbanization and agriculture lead to consistent declines in α‐diversity, their impacts on β‐ or γ‐diversity vary, highlighting the need to study the effects of land use change at multiple scales.

IntroductionIntegrated crop-livestock systems (ICLS) improve soil health and productivity but may lead to the transfer of foodborne pathogens to fresh produce from soil contaminated with the feces of grazing animals.Methods and resultsOver 2 years (2021–2022), organic ICLS field trials were conducted in California (CA) and Minnesota (MN) to examine the presence of foodborne pathogens (Escherichia coli O157, non-O157 Shiga toxin producing E. coli (STEC), and Listeria monocytogenes) across three treatments (fallow, cover crop without grazing, and cover crop with grazing by small ruminants) in soils and produce. A Random Forest (RF) analytical approach was used to determine potential associations between meteorological and soil chemical factors, and the generic E. coli (gEc) presence in soil. The persistence of gEc in soil, as an indicator of fecal contamination, was evaluated using mixed effect zero-inflated negative binomial (ZINB) models, considering top-ranked meteorological factors identified from RF analyses. One produce sample (cucumber) tested positive for non-O157 STEC (0.6%, 1/157) from grazed soil in MN, with no other foodborne pathogens detected in produce. Soil contamination by non-O157 STEC increased in 2022 (2.7%, 15/552) compared to 2021 (0%, 0/504) from both states, aligning with the increased prevalence of non-O157 STEC in post-grazed fecal samples from sheep in CA (41.7%, 5/12) and goats (42.5%, 17/40) in MN in 2022. Concentrations (Most Probable Number/100 g) of gEc in grazed soil returned to levels comparable to non-grazed or fallow treatments within 87–147 days post-graze (DPG) in both years, with a significant decrease predicted after 32 DPG. Interestingly, non-O157 STEC was detected in soil even after concentrations of gEc declined 115–147 DPG.DiscussionAlthough the effects of meteorological factors and soil chemical characteristics were not as influential as treatment or sampling day effects, ZINB analyses with identified meteorological factors in grazed soil suggested that regional differences in gEc counts were likely influenced by maximum air/soil temperatures on the sampling day. Further investigation is needed to evaluate the adoption of the NOP 90-120-day interval rules between manure application by grazing and harvest, considering a wider range of environmental regions and the potential cumulative effect of continuous ICLS in the same field on pathogen loads.

Sustainable pest management requires growers and regional land managers to consider the relationships among pest management practices, pest and natural enemy communities, crop loss, and multi-scalar habitat complexity. However, the causal links among these variables, in particular potential interactions between landscape and local-scale habitat complexity, remain underexplored. In the context of organically managed strawberry crops in California’s Central Coast, we tested the independent effects of landscape and local habitat complexity gradients on arthropod communities and crop loss using a piecewise structural equation model (PSEM). We found that landscape-scale woody habitat proportion indirectly decreased crop loss through its positive effect on natural enemy abundance, while grassland proportion had the opposite effect due to its association with an important strawberry pest (Lygus spp.). We detected a pattern suggesting that on-farm diversification practices are most effective at reducing crop loss at an intermediate level (26%) of woody habitat proportion. Both organic-compliant insecticide application and tractor vacuuming negatively impacted natural enemies, and therefore had qualified effects on crop loss. Our study shows the key roles of native woodlands and natural enemy communities in reducing crop loss and highlights the importance of managing habitat complexity at both landscape and local scales.

Agricultural simplification continues to expand at the expense of more diverse forms of agriculture. This simplification, for example, in the form of intensively managed monocultures, poses a risk to keeping the world within safe and just Earth system boundaries. Here, we estimated how agricultural diversification simultaneously affects social and environmental outcomes. Drawing from 24 studies in 11 countries across 2655 farms, we show how five diversification strategies focusing on livestock, crops, soils, noncrop plantings, and water conservation benefit social (e.g., human well-being, yields, and food security) and environmental (e.g., biodiversity, ecosystem services, and reduced environmental externalities) outcomes. We found that applying multiple diversification strategies creates more positive outcomes than individual management strategies alone. To realize these benefits, well-designed policies are needed to incentivize the adoption of multiple diversification strategies in unison.

Introduction Biological soil amendments of animal origin (BSAAO), including untreated amendments are often used to improve soil fertility and are particularly important in organic agriculture. However, application of untreated manure on cropland can potentially introduce foodborne pathogens into the soil and onto produce. Certified organic farms follow the USDA National Organic Program (NOP) standards that stipulate a 90- or 120-day interval between application of untreated manure and crop harvest, depending on whether the edible portion of the crop directly contacts the soil. This time-interval metric is based on environmental factors and does not consider a multitude of factors that might affect the survival of the main pathogens of concern. The objective of this study was to assess predictors for the prevalence of Shiga-toxin-producing Escherichia coli (non-O157 STEC) in soils amended with untreated manure on USDA-NOP certified farms. Methods A longitudinal, multi-regional study was conducted on 19 farms in four USA regions for two growing seasons (2017–2018). Untreated manure (cattle, horse, and poultry), soil, and irrigation water samples were collected and enrichment cultured for non-O157 STEC. Mixed effects logistic regression models were used to analyze the predictors of non-O157 STEC in the soil up to 180 days post-manure application. Results and discussion Results show that farm management practices (previous use with livestock, presence of animal feces on the field, season of manure application) and soil characteristics (presence of generic E. coli in the soil, soil moisture, sodium) increased the odds of STEC-positive soil samples. Manure application method and snowfall decreased the odds of detecting STEC in the soil. Time-variant predictors (year and sampling day) affected the presence of STEC. This study shows that a single metric, such as the time interval between application of untreated manure and crop harvest, may not be sufficient to reduce the food safety risks from untreated manure, and additional environmental and farm-management practices should also be considered. These findings are of particular importance because they provide multi-regional baseline data relating to current NOP wait-time standards. They can therefore contribute to the development of strategies to reduce pathogen persistence that may contribute to contamination of fresh produce typically eaten raw from NOP-certified farms using untreated manure.

IntroductionBiological soil amendments, including raw or untreated manure, are currently used to improve soil fertility, especially in organic operations that prohibit use of synthetic fertilizers. However, addition of untreated manure may pose a risk of contamination of fresh produce by pathogens of public health significance, including Listeria monocytogenes. Organic growers follow United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Organic Program regulations for raw manure use, which stipulate that harvest should commence no earlier than 90- or 120-days post-application, depending on direct contact between the edible portion of the produce and the soil. To inform the protection that such time-intervals provide, this study explored the farm-level risk factors associated with L. monocytogenes prevalence in USDA-certified organic farm soils amended with untreated manures.MethodsA longitudinal, multi-regional study was conducted on 19 farms in four states (California, Minnesota, Maine, and Maryland) over two growing seasons (2017 and 2018). Untreated manure, soil, irrigation water, and produce samples were collected and cultured for L. monocytogenes. Mixed effect logistic regression was used to investigate risk factors associated with L. monocytogenes prevalence in soil.Results and DiscussionResults showed that multiple factors influenced the odds of a soil-positive sample, including temporal [year (OR = 0.19), sampling day (OR = 0.09–0.48)] and weather-related [temperature range (OR = 0.48)] variables, manure characteristics [season of application (OR = 0.04, summer), presence of L. monocytogenes (OR = 2.89) and other pathogens in manure (OR = 5.24)], farm management factors [water source (OR = 2.73, mixed), number of year-round staff (OR = 0.02)], and soil characteristics [concentration of generic Escherichia coli (OR = 1.45), moisture (OR = 0.46), organic matter (OR = 7.30), nitrate (OR = 3.07), potassium (OR = 0.09) and calcium (OR = 2.48)]. This study highlights the complexity of L. monocytogenes prevalence in soil and contributes science-based metrics that may be used when determining risk-mitigation strategies for pathogen contamination.

The emergence and impact of tipping points have garnered significant interest in both the social and natural sciences. Despite widespread recognition of the importance of feedbacks between human and natural systems, it is often assumed that the observed nonlinear dynamics in these coupled systems rests within either the underlying human or natural processes rather than the rates at which they interact. Using adoption of agricultural diversification practices as a case study, we show how two stable management paradigms (one dominated by conventional, homogeneous practices and the other by diversified practices) can emerge purely from temporal feedback between human decisions and ecological responses. We explore how this temporal mechanism of tipping points provides insight into designing more effective interventions that promote farmers' transitions toward sustainable agriculture. Moreover, we present a flexible modeling framework that could be applied to other cases as well as questions in social-ecological systems research and environmental policy design.

Landscape composition and local diversification practices such as polyculture, cover cropping and hedgerows may promote natural pest control by benefiting natural enemy communities on farms. Our study employs piecewise structural equation modelling (PSEM) to test causal hypotheses regarding the effects of landscape composition and local diversification practices on arthropod communities and pest control ecosystem services. We sampled 27 organic strawberry fields in California's Central Coast region in 2015 and 2016 (17 repeated between years) for a total of 37 distinct sites across years. The sites were selected along orthogonal gradients of landscape composition and local diversification practices. We also investigated the effects of two common pest management practices. At each site, we sampled arthropod communities using a handheld vacuum and performed sentinel prey experiments using the pest species Lygus hesperus to estimate pest control levels. At the landscape scale, proportion of woody habitat increased natural enemy abundance; at the local scale, on-farm diversification practices increased natural enemy diversity. Insecticides and tractor vacuuming, aimed at controlling pests, were indirectly detrimental to pest control services. Both practices decreased natural enemy abundance, and while insecticides also decreased pest abundance, vacuuming did not. Natural enemy abundance and diversity increased pest control levels, while pest abundance had the opposite effect. The PSEM results confirmed our hypotheses that landscape and local effects on pest control are mediated through changes in arthropod communities. Synthesis and applications. At the landscape scale, higher proportions of woody habitat are associated with greater natural enemy abundance, which increases pest control levels in organic strawberry crops. When promoting pest control ecosystem services is a policy goal, regional planners should prioritize the conservation and restoration of woodlands in agricultural landscapes. At the local scale, actions by individual growers can impact pest control services. For many growers, adopting practices that promote on-farm plant diversity may be a feasible solution for increasing pest control levels while avoiding the environmental and economic costs imposed by insecticide application and tractor vacuuming.

Numerous studies show that semi-natural habitats within agricultural landscapes benefit native pollinating insects and increase resultant crop pollination services. More recently, evidence is emerging that agricultural diversification techniques on farms, as well as increased compositional and configurational heterogeneity within the cropped portion of landscapes, enhance pollinator communities. However, to date, only a few studies have investigated how diversifying the crops within the farm field itself (i.e., polyculture) influences wild pollinator communities and crop pollination services. In the Central Coast of California, we investigate how local crop diversification within fields, crossed with the proportion of natural habitat in the surrounding landscape, jointly affect pollinator communities and services to strawberry. On 16 organic farms varying in farm type (monoculture vs. polyculture) and proportion of natural land cover, we find that both factors enhance pollinator abundance and richness, although neither affect honey bee abundance. Further, natural cover has a stronger effect on pollinator richness on monoculture (vs. polyculture) farms. Although strawberry can self-pollinate, we document experimentally that pollinator exclusion doubles the probability of berry malformation, while excluding both pollinators and wind triples malformation, with corresponding effects on berry marketability. Finally, in post-hoc tests, we find that berry malformation is significantly higher with greater visitation by honey bees, and observed a trend that this reduction was mitigated by increased native bee richness. These results suggest that both polyculture and semi-natural habitat cover support more abundant and diverse pollinator communities, and that ambient levels of pollinator visitation to strawberry provide an important crop pollination service by improving berry marketability (i.e., by reducing berry malformation). Although further confirmation would be needed, our work suggests that honey bees alone do not provide sufficient pollination services. Prior work has shown that honey bees tend to visit only the top of the strawberry flower receptacle, while other native bees often crawl around the flower base, leading to more complete pollination of the achenes and, consequently, better formed berries. If honey bee visits reduced native bee visitation in our system, this could explain the unexpected correlation between increased honey bee visits and malformation.

Seventy five percent of the world's food crops benefit from insect pollination. Hence, there has been increased interest in how global change drivers impact this critical ecosystem service. Because standardized data on crop pollination are rarely available, we are limited in our capacity to understand the variation in pollination benefits to crop yield, as well as to anticipate changes in this service, develop predictions, and inform management actions. Here, we present CropPol, a dynamic, open, and global database on crop pollination. It contains measurements recorded from 202 crop studies, covering 3,394 field observations, 2,552 yield measurements (i.e., berry mass, number of fruits, and fruit density [kg/ha], among others), and 47,752 insect records from 48 commercial crops distributed around the globe. CropPol comprises 32 of the 87 leading global crops and commodities that are pollinator dependent. Malus domestica is the most represented crop (32 studies), followed by Brassica napus (22 studies), Vaccinium corymbosum (13 studies), and Citrullus lanatus (12 studies). The most abundant pollinator guilds recorded are honey bees (34.22% counts), bumblebees (19.19%), flies other than Syrphidae and Bombyliidae (13.18%), other wild bees (13.13%), beetles (10.97%), Syrphidae (4.87%), and Bombyliidae (0.05%). Locations comprise 34 countries distributed among Europe (76 studies), North America (60), Latin America and the Caribbean (29), Asia (20), Oceania (10), and Africa (7). Sampling spans three decades and is concentrated on 2001-2005 (21 studies), 2006-2010 (40), 2011-2015 (88), and 2016-2020 (50). This is the most comprehensive open global data set on measurements of crop flower visitors, crop pollinators and pollination to date, and we encourage researchers to add more datasets to this database in the future. This data set is released for non-commercial use only. Credits should be given to this paper (i.e., proper citation), and the products generated with this database should be shared under the same license terms (CC BY-NC-SA).

Intensive agricultural systems are often associated with monoculture crops that includea high proportion of external inputs, low biodiversity, and the disruption of ecosystemservices.Biologically diversified farming systems support a wide range of ecosystemservices, such as increased biodiversity, pollination, natural pest control, and improvedsoil health. While agricultural soils are a dominant source of anthropogenic N2O, themitigation potential of biologically diversified farming systems has not been previouslyevaluated. We measured N2O fluxes during a single irrigation event on 46 organic straw-berry plots (35 farms) along an above-ground plant diversity gradient over a two-yearperiod. The median N2O flux from highly diversified farms was 16% of the emissionsfrom low diversity systems (65.4 versus 10.2 µg N2O–N m−2 hr−1, p ¡ 0.01). AlthoughN2O varied with soil order, the emissions were highest at the low diversity farms acrossseveral soil orders. In addition, the high diversity farms buffered the increase in N2Oduring irrigation events. Using mixed effects models, we found N2O flux depended ondifferences in available irrigation, soil C:N, and their interactions with farm diversifica-tion. Thus, our results suggest biologically diversified farming systems mitigate N2Oemissions, as well as supporting other ecosystem services.

Biological soil amendments of animal origin (BSAAOs), including untreated (e.g., raw or aged manure, or incompletely composted manure) and treated animal products (e.g., compost), are used for crop production and as part of soil health management. Application of BSAAO's must be done cautiously, as raw manure commonly contains enteric foodborne pathogens that can potentially contaminate edible produce that may be consumed without cooking. USDA National Organic Program (NOP) certified production systems follow the 90-or 120-day interval standards between applications of untreated BSAAOs and crop harvest, depending on whether the edible portions of the crops are in indirect or direct contact with the soil, respectively. This study was conducted to evaluate the survival of four foodborne pathogens in soils amended with BSAAOs and to examine the potential for bacterial transfer to fresh produce harvested from USDA NOP certified organic farms (19) from four states. Only 0.4% (2/527) of produce samples were positive for L. monocytogenes . Among the untreated manure and compost samples, 18.0% (42/233) were positive for at least one of the tested and culturable bacterial foodborne pathogens. The prevalence of non-O157 STEC and Salmonella in untreated manure was substantially > that of E. coli O157:H7 and L. monocytogenes . Of the 2,461 soil samples analyzed in this study, 12.9% (318) were positive for at least one pathogen. In soil amended with untreated manure, the prevalence of non-O157 STEC [7.7% (190) and L. monocytogenes (5.0% (122), was > that of Salmonella (1.1% (26)] or E. coli O157 [0.04% (1)]. Foodborne pathogen prevalence in the soil peaked after manure application and decreased significantly 30 days post-application (dpa). However, non-O157 STEC and L. monocytogenes were recovered from soil samples after 90 and 120 dpa. Results indicate that produce contamination by tested foodborne pathogens was infrequent, but these data should not be generalized outside of the specific wait-time regulations for organic crop production and the farms studied. Moreover, other sources of contamination, e.g., irrigation, wildlife, environmental conditions, cropping and management practices, should be considered. This study also provides multi-regional baseline data relating to current NOP application intervals and development of potential risk mitigation strategies to reduce pathogen persistence in soils amended with BSAAOs. These findings contribute to filling critical data gaps concerning occurrence of fecal pathogens in NOP-certified farming systems used for production of fresh produce in different US regions.

Floral plantings are promoted to foster ecological intensification of agriculture through provisioning of ecosystem services. However, a comprehensive assessment of the effectiveness of different floral plantings, their characteristics and consequences for crop yield is lacking. Here we quantified the impacts of flower strips and hedgerows on pest control (18 studies) and pollination services (17 studies) in adjacent crops in North America, Europe and New Zealand. Flower strips, but not hedgerows, enhanced pest control services in adjacent fields by 16% on average. However, effects on crop pollination and yield were more variable. Our synthesis identifies several important drivers of variability in effectiveness of plantings: pollination services declined exponentially with distance from plantings, and perennial and older flower strips with higher flowering plant diversity enhanced pollination more effectively. These findings provide promising pathways to optimise floral plantings to more effectively contribute to ecosystem service delivery and ecological intensification of agriculture in the future.

Elinor M. Lichtenberg1,2*, Christina M. Kennedy3, Claire Kremen4, Péter Batáry5, Frank Berendse6, Riccardo Bommarco7, Nilsa A. Bosque-Pérez8, Luísa G. Carvalheiro9,10, William E. Snyder1, Neal M. Williams11, Rachael Winfree12, Björn Klatt5,13,14, Sandra Åström15, Faye Benjamin12, Claire Brittain11, Rebecca Chaplin-Kramer16, Yann Clough13, Heather Connelly17, Bryan Danforth17, Tim Diekötter18, Sanford D. Eigenbrode8, Johan Ekroos13, Elizabeth Elle19, Breno M. Freitas20, Yuki Fukuda21, Hannah R. Gaines-Day22, Claudio Gratton22, Andrea Holzschuh23, Rufus Isaacs24, Marco Isaia25, Shalene Jha26, Dennis Jonason27, Vincent P. Jones28, Alexandra-Maria Klein29, Jochen Krauss23, Deborah K. Letourneau30, Sarina Macfadyen31, Rachel E. Mallinger22, Emily A. Martin23, Eliana Martinez32, Jane Memmott33, Lora Morandin34, Lisa Neame35, Mark Otieno36, Mia G. Park17,37, Lukas Pfiffner38, Michael Pocock39, Carlos Ponce40, Simon G. Potts41, Katja Poveda17, Mariangie Ramos42, Jay A. Rosenheim11, Maj Rundlöf14, Hilary Sardiñas4, Manu E. Saunders43, Nicole L. Schon44, Amber R. Sciligo4, C. Sheena Sidhu45, Ingolf SteffanDewenter23, Teja Tscharntke5, Milan Veselý46, Wolfgang W. Weisser47, Julianna K. Wilson24, David W. Crowder1

Bird conservation in agricultural settings can be controversial. While some bird species damage some crops, others suppress insect pests. Few studies have simultaneously compared bird services and disservices to assess their net impact. Using an exclusion experiment in six California strawberry farms, we show that bird suppression of berry damage by insect pests (about 3.8% of berries) is similar in magnitude to the damage birds inflict on strawberries (about 3.2% of berries). Across 27 farms, we found that bird species richness and the relative abundance of insectivorous birds increased, while the relative abundance of strawberry-eating birds and bird damage decreased on farms with more semi-natural land cover in the surrounding landscapes (1000 m radius). Relative to homogeneous farms, those that implemented diversification practices, such as hedgerows, flower strips or increased crop diversity, had greater bird species richness, total relative abundance, insectivore abundance and strawberry-eating bird abundance. Synthesis and applications. Conserving semi-natural land cover in the surrounding landscape benefits bird species richness locally and aids farmers through reduced abundance of strawberry-eating birds and bird damage. These results highlight the need to consider both the services and disservices of birds when making management decisions.

Human land use threatens global biodiversity and compromises multiple ecosystem functions critical to food production. Whether crop yield-related ecosystem services can be maintained by a few dominant species or rely on high richness remains unclear. Using a global database from 89 studies (with 1475 locations), we partition the relative importance of species richness, abundance, and dominance for pollination; biological pest control; and final yields in the context of ongoing land-use change. Pollinator and enemy richness directly supported ecosystem services in addition to and independent of abundance and dominance. Up to 50% of the negative effects of landscape simplification on ecosystem services was due to richness losses of service-providing organisms, with negative consequences for crop yields. Maintaining the biodiversity of ecosystem service providers is therefore vital to sustain the flow of key agroecosystem benefits to society.

California’s Central Coast rose to national food safety prominence following a deadly 2006 outbreak of Escherichia coli O157:H7 that was traced to spinach grown in this intensive agricultural region. Since then, private food safety protocols and subsequent public regulations targeting farm-level practices have developed extensively, aiming to avert future foodborne illness crises. However, amidst sweeping reforms in prescribed best practices for food safety, growers were pressured to take precautionary approaches to control pathogenic contamination—suppressing wildlife near fields, removing habitat, restricting biological soil amendments (e.g., compost, manure), and most recently, chemically treating irrigation water—that may generate negative unintended consequences for environmental and social sustainability. We synthesize socio-ecological data from three qualitative, interview-based studies to examine grower perceptions and experiences of food safety reforms in California’s Central Coast region and explore the effects of food safety regulations on environmental and socio-economic sustainability. We identify three disjunctures between food safety requirements and farming realities in practice: 1) Growers perceive that some food safety practices legitimately mitigate risk, while others fail to reduce or even accentuate risk; 2) Food safety requirements can create contradictions in the co-management of food safety and environmental sustainability; and 3) Food safety requirements may foster impediments to regional food systems socioeconomic sustainability. We argue that these disjunctures warrant changes in food safety policy, implementation, and/or food safety education. We provide concrete suggestions for shifting the focus of food safety reform away from the narrow surveillance of individual grower compliance and toward an integrated perspective on regional risk, vulnerability, and resilience.

Fine-mesh exclusion netting is a potential alternative to organic and conventional insecticide application to control numerous pests of fruit crops. We tested whether fine-mesh exclusion netting would reduce pest abundance and increase marketable yield compared to organic spinosad insecticide sprays in an organically managed blackberry field. At the completion of flowering, we covered blackberry rows with fine-mesh exclusion netting (ProtekNet) and treated alternating rows with an organic spinosad insecticide (Entrust™). Fine-mesh exclusion reduced green June beetle (Cotinus nitida Linnaeus) and bird presence and marginally reduced Japanese beetle (Popillia japonica Newman) presence on blackberry canes compared to organic spinosad insecticide treatment. Exclusion netting reduced the capture of spotted-wing Drosophila (Drosophila suzukii Matsumara; “SWD”) in baited traps in the fourth week of exclusion and reduced the overall number of SWD adults emerging from harvested blackberry fruits. Marketable yield in the fine-mesh exclusion treatments was two times higher than the organic spinosad insecticide treatment. These results suggest that fine-mesh exclusion netting is a functional pest control alternative to insecticide treatment for organic blackberry production.