Long-Term Evidence Shows that Crop-Rotation Diversification Increases Agricultural Resilience to Adverse Growing Conditions in North America

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Authors

Timothy M. Bowles, University of California, Berkeley
Maria Mooshammer, University of California, Berkeley
Yvonne Socolar, University of California, Berkeley
Francisco Calderon, USDA-ARS Central Great Plains Research Station
Michel A. Cavigelli, USDA-ARS Sustainable Agricultural Systems Laboratory
Steve W. Culman, Ohio State University
William Deen, University of Guelph
Craig F. Drury, Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada
Axel Garcia y Garcia, University of Minnesota
Amelie C. M. Gaudin, University of California, Davis
W. Scott Harkcom, Pennsylvania State University
R. Michael Lehman, USDA-ARS North Central Agricultural Research Laboratory
Shannon L. Osborne, USDA-ARS North Central Agricultural Research Laboratory
G. Philip Robertson, Michigan State University
Jonathan Salerno, Colorado State University
Marty R. Schmer, Agroecosystem Management Research Unit
Jeffrey Strock, University of Minnesota
A. Stuart Grandy, University of New Hampshire, DurhamFollow

Abstract

A grand challenge facing humanity is how to produce food for a growing population in the face of a changing climate and environmental degradation. Although empirical evidence remains sparse, management strategies that increase environmental sustainability, such as increasing agroecosystem diversity through crop rotations, may also increase resilience to weather extremes without sacrificing yields. We used multilevel regression analyses of long-term crop yield datasets across a continental precipitation gradient to assess how temporal crop diversification affects maize yields in intensively managed grain systems. More diverse rotations increased maize yields over time and across all growing conditions (28.1% on average), including in favorable conditions (22.6%). Notably, more diverse rotations also showed positive effects on yield under unfavorable conditions, whereby yield losses were reduced by 14.0%–89.9% in drought years. Systems approaches to environmental sustainability and yield resilience, such as crop-rotation diversification, are a central component of risk-reduction strategies and should inform the enablement of policies.

Department

Soil Biogeochemistry and Microbial Ecology

Publication Date

3-20-2020

Journal Title

One Earth

Publisher

Elsevier

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2020.02.007

Document Type

Article

Recommended Citation

Timothy M. Bowles, Maria Mooshammer, Yvonne Socolar, Francisco Calderón, Michel A. Cavigelli, Steve W. Culman, William Deen, Craig F. Drury, Axel Garcia y Garcia, Amélie C.M. Gaudin, W. Scott Harkcom, R. Michael Lehman, Shannon L. Osborne, G. Philip Robertson, Jonathan Salerno, Marty R. Schmer, Jeffrey Strock, A. Stuart Grandy, Long-Term Evidence Shows that Crop-Rotation Diversification Increases Agricultural Resilience to Adverse Growing Conditions in North America, One Earth, Volume 2, Issue 3, 2020, Pages 284-293, ISSN 2590-3322, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2020.02.007.

Rights

© 2020 The Authors.

Comments

This is an open access article published by Elsevier in One Earth in 2020, available online: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2020.02.007