Outlook for ecostacking

This chapter presents a synthesis of the concepts and potential of ecostacking, as well as outlining future strategies to implement the ecostacking techniques. The key methods covered in the book include well established techniques such as management of botanical diversity (e.g. cover crops, intercrops, trap crops, crop plant genetic diversity), judicious use of crop management tools (e.g. pesticides, fertilizers, ploughing), and soil management to enhance benefcial soil processes (e.g. microbial fauna and fora, earthworms). Emerging new approaches and their potential to promote ecostacking, presented in the book and discussed here, include the utilization of RNAi and autodissemination techniques, the manipulation of insect behaviour using infochemicals, and unravelling the mechanisms of olfactory pathways for facilitating improved insect control. The societal context of ecostacking and its economic benefts to the growers, communities and the society at large are treated along with obstacles to the uptake of the ecostacking techniques. Overall, existing knowledge and available techniques already allow for a much-improved exploitation of benefcial ecosystem services and of stacking them to increase the resilience, sustainability and yields in our cropping systems. Engaging exciting new and emerging techniques will further enhance the possibilities to fully beneft from the stacking of ecosystem services for crop production and biological resource management (e.g. in amenity areas and in forestry).