Emerging Trends in Cropping Systems Research

SUMMARY The demand for producers to farm in an environmentally sound, ethical, economically viable, and socially acceptable manner has driven cropping systems research beyond basic production agronomy. Cropping systems research today encompasses a broad range of topics ranging from agronomic to ecological, environmental, social, and economic dimensions of systems and should also effectively integrate these factors. New trends are emerging among technical aspects and new research tools are being developed. The biological basis of sustainability is also being revisited. Humanity may be seen as following a learning circle that began with the inception of agriculture as a slightly modified form of harvesting from nature, to input-intensive agriculture, and now back again to Natural Systems Agriculture where an attempt is made to learn from and even mimic nature and to accentuate natural processes. This contribution briefly outlines the trends and paradigm shifts that have taken place globally in agricultural cropping systems research.