| The demand for organic vegetables is increasing rapidly but cannot be met by current agronomic methods. Alternative methods, which enhance biodiversity and ecosystem services including pollination, are currently under development. In SureVeg (a Core Organic Co-fund funded project), we tested strip-cropping systems, i.e. a diversified cropping system in which alternating rows of different vegetable crops are sown. It is hypothesized that strip-cropping will provide floral resources during an extended period, supporting agroecosystem services provided by beneficial insects, including natural biological control and insect pollination. In the current study, we investigated a cropping system involving two insect pollinated crops: hokkaido pumpkin and faba... |
