Dr Ambrogio Costanzo
Job title:
Academic qualifications:
- PhD in Agrobiosciences
Role and responsibilities:
I was previously Head of Research for ORC, and the Crops team leader responsible for managing the Crop Diversity & Agronomy research area.
Projects worked on:
LiveWheat (1/1/2020 – 31/12/2021) – Principal Investigator
https://ahdb.org.uk/farm-based-organic-wheat-variety-trials-network-livewheat
LIVESEED EU H2020 (1st June 2017 – 31st May 2021),
DIVERSIFOOD EU H2020 (1st January 2016 – 28th February 2019). Leader of WP2 “Participatory on-farm evaluation of underutilised crops”,
WHEALBI EU FP7 (1st January 2016, 31st December 2018), www.whealbi.eu
Research interests:
An agroecology researcher dedicated to understanding and improving the performance and resilience of arable cropping systems through functional crop diversity.
I am convinced that my role should not be to “teach” farmers how to grow their crops, but to coordinate the collection and integration of evidence and knowledge to support collective decisions. To this end, I am making the most of conducting crops research in cooperation with farmers and in their fields, to foster agroecological transition.
An example of this is the LiveWheat project, where evidence of wheat competitive ability, productivity, quality and resilience to climatic variation, as a function of genetics, environment and management, is being integrated in a large dataset that aims to inform future direction of crop breeding, cropping system management and climate change adaptation.
Publications:
- Costanzo A, Amos D, Bickler C, Trump A (2021) Agronomic and genetic assessment of organic wheat performance in England: a field-scale cultivar evaluation with a network of farms. Agron. Sustain. Dev. 41, 54 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-021-00706-y
- Orsini S, Costanzo A, Solfanelli F, Zanoli R, Padel S, Messmer MM, Winter E, Schaefer F (2020). Factors Affecting the Use of Organic Seed by Organic Farmers in Europe. Sustainability, 12, 8540: https://doi.org/10.3390/su12208540
- Chable V, Nuijten E, Costanzo A, Goldringer I, et al. (2020). Embedding Cultivated Diversity in Society for Agro-Ecological Transition. Sustainability 12(3), 784, DOI: 10.3390/su12030784 : https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/3/784
- Costanzo A, Amos D, Dinelli G, Sferrazza R, Accorsi G, Negri L, Bosi S (2019). Performance and Nutritional Properties of Einkorn, Emmer and Rivet Wheat in Response to Different Rotational Position and Soil Tillage. Sustainability 11 (22). DOI: 10.3390/su11226304 : https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/22/6304
- Ranaldo M, Carlesi S, Costanzo A, Bàrberi P (2019). Functional diversity of cover crops mixtures enhances biomass yield and weed suppression in a Mediterranean agroecosystem. Weed Research DOI: 10.1111/wre.12388 : https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/wre.12388
- Costanzo A, Bickler C (2019). Proposal for a toolbox for identification and description of organic heterogeneous material. Deliv. 2.8, LIVESEED project : https://www.liveseed.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/LIVESEED_D2.8_heterogeneous_material_toolbox.pdf
- Costanzo A, Serpolay E (2019) A guide to participatory experiments with underutilised genetic resources. Diversifood Booklet, no. #2. ITAB : https://orgprints.org/35259/
- Costanzo A (2018) Underutilized/forgotten crops: multi-actor and on farm evaluation. Keynote speech, DIVERSIFOOD Congress 2018, ‘Cultivating Diversity and Food Quality’ 10-12 December, Rennes, France : https://symposium.inrae.fr/diversifood2018/content/download/3499/36245/version/1/file/DIVERSIFOOD%20-%20Book%20of%20abstracts_Final.pdf
- Lazzaro M, Costanzo A, Bàrberi P (2017). Single vs multiple agroecosystem services provided by common wheat cultivar mixtures: weed suppression, grain yield and quality. Field Crops Research DOI: 10.1016/j.fcr.2017.10.006 : https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378429016304713
- Lazzaro M, Costanzo A, Hosam Farag D, Bàrberi P (2017). Grain yield and competitive ability against weeds in modern and heritage common wheat cultivars are differently influenced by sowing density. Italian Journal of Agronomy 11(4) DOI: 10.2081/ija.2017.901 : https://www.agronomy.it/index.php/agro/article/view/901/953
- Costanzo A, Bàrberi P (2016) Field-scale functional agrobiodiversty in organic wheat: effects on weed reduction, disease susceptibility and yield. European Journal of Agronomy 76, DOI: 10.1016/j.eja.2016.01.012 : https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1161030116300120
- Costanzo A, Barberi P (2014). Functional agrobiodiversity and ecosystem services in sustainable wheat production. A review. Agronomy for Sustainable Development. DOI: 10.1007/s13593-013-0178-1 : https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13593-013-0178-1
- Costanzo A, Bàrberi P, Meschinelli A (2008) Short-term solutions to improve land productivity – An action-research experience in the village of Saméné (Ségou region), Mali. 8th European IFSA Symposium, Clermont-Ferrand (France), July 2008 : http://ifsa.boku.ac.at/cms/fileadmin/Proceeding2008/2008_WS1_P16_Costanzo.pdf
- ResearchGate : https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ambrogio_Costanzo