Redefining the field: Mobilizing the benefits of crop diversity to enhance agroecosystem services delivery in temperate arable systems.

The objective of this PhD research is to assess diversification methods on a complexity continuum, within European arable cropping systems, in order to understand the ecosystem service delivery capacity of these methods. The project will utilize an experiment at WUR’s Droevendaal Farm where crop diversification options at multiple resolutions of complexity are tested: monoculture reference plots, three treatments of strip cropping in crop pairs, and pixel cropping. The research will quantify the delivery of regulating, natural-capital building, and buffering agroecosystem services from these options. On-station experimentation will provide a scientific basis for developing design principles that optimize ES delivery beyond production. Additionally, the experiment will test technologies that facilitate an ecological approach to agriculture at a scale relevant to modern farmers.