Diversified crop rotations enhance groundwater and economic sustainability of food production

Abstract Earth's water resources are critical for supporting livelihoods and food security but are being increasingly overexploited to support global agriculture. Diversifying cropping systems could potentially resolve unsustainable water use but trade‐offs with other aspects of sustainability...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales:	Xiaolin Yang, Tammo S. Steenhuis, Kyle Frankel Davis, Wopke van derWerf, Coen J. Ritsema, Steven Pacenka, Fusuo Zhang, Kadambot H. M. Siddique, Taisheng Du
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Wiley 2021
Materias:	crop productivity diversified crop rotations economic output groundwater use North China Plain Agriculture S Agriculture (General) S1-972
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/1e1315e66cd340dfb1e8650193bb69f3
Etiquetas:	Agregar Etiqueta Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!

id	oai:doaj.org-article:1e1315e66cd340dfb1e8650193bb69f3
record_format	dspace
spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:1e1315e66cd340dfb1e8650193bb69f32021-11-17T04:20:04ZDiversified crop rotations enhance groundwater and economic sustainability of food production2048-369410.1002/fes3.311https://doaj.org/article/1e1315e66cd340dfb1e8650193bb69f32021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1002/fes3.311https://doaj.org/toc/2048-3694Abstract Earth's water resources are critical for supporting livelihoods and food security but are being increasingly overexploited to support global agriculture. Diversifying cropping systems could potentially resolve unsustainable water use but trade‐offs with other aspects of sustainability and food security have not yet been assessed. We performed a detailed analysis of 31 different field crop rotations conducted during 1990–2019 in the North China Plain, to assess the potential impact of crop diversification on actual evapotranspiration (ETa), changes in regional groundwater table, grain yield, economic output, and water use efficiency (WUE) and to identify configurations that can achieve co‐benefits across multiple dimensions. We found that a combination of lowering the cropping index (i.e., harvest frequency), incorporating fallow periods, and introducing higher‐value crops into the currently dominant winter wheat–summer maize double cropping system can reduce growing season ETa by as much as 31%, mitigate groundwater decline by 19% or more, and increased economic output and economic WUE by more than 11% and 3%, respectively. We also found that multiple diversified wheat‐maize–based rotations—all with rotation lengths greater than 2 years—achieve co‐benefits across all evaluated dimensions. This study provides new empirical evidence of the opportunities for diversified crop rotations to balance the multiple objectives of food production, sustainable groundwater use, and farmer profitability. Extending this solution to other water‐stressed agricultural regions could be an effective strategy in achieving more sustainable food production system globally.Xiaolin YangTammo S. SteenhuisKyle Frankel DavisWopke van derWerfCoen J. RitsemaSteven PacenkaFusuo ZhangKadambot H. M. SiddiqueTaisheng DuWileyarticlecrop productivitydiversified crop rotationseconomic outputgroundwater useNorth China PlainAgricultureSAgriculture (General)S1-972ENFood and Energy Security, Vol 10, Iss 4, Pp n/a-n/a (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	crop productivity diversified crop rotations economic output groundwater use North China Plain Agriculture S Agriculture (General) S1-972
spellingShingle	crop productivity diversified crop rotations economic output groundwater use North China Plain Agriculture S Agriculture (General) S1-972 Xiaolin Yang Tammo S. Steenhuis Kyle Frankel Davis Wopke van derWerf Coen J. Ritsema Steven Pacenka Fusuo Zhang Kadambot H. M. Siddique Taisheng Du Diversified crop rotations enhance groundwater and economic sustainability of food production
description	Abstract Earth's water resources are critical for supporting livelihoods and food security but are being increasingly overexploited to support global agriculture. Diversifying cropping systems could potentially resolve unsustainable water use but trade‐offs with other aspects of sustainability and food security have not yet been assessed. We performed a detailed analysis of 31 different field crop rotations conducted during 1990–2019 in the North China Plain, to assess the potential impact of crop diversification on actual evapotranspiration (ETa), changes in regional groundwater table, grain yield, economic output, and water use efficiency (WUE) and to identify configurations that can achieve co‐benefits across multiple dimensions. We found that a combination of lowering the cropping index (i.e., harvest frequency), incorporating fallow periods, and introducing higher‐value crops into the currently dominant winter wheat–summer maize double cropping system can reduce growing season ETa by as much as 31%, mitigate groundwater decline by 19% or more, and increased economic output and economic WUE by more than 11% and 3%, respectively. We also found that multiple diversified wheat‐maize–based rotations—all with rotation lengths greater than 2 years—achieve co‐benefits across all evaluated dimensions. This study provides new empirical evidence of the opportunities for diversified crop rotations to balance the multiple objectives of food production, sustainable groundwater use, and farmer profitability. Extending this solution to other water‐stressed agricultural regions could be an effective strategy in achieving more sustainable food production system globally.
format	article
author	Xiaolin Yang Tammo S. Steenhuis Kyle Frankel Davis Wopke van derWerf Coen J. Ritsema Steven Pacenka Fusuo Zhang Kadambot H. M. Siddique Taisheng Du
author_facet	Xiaolin Yang Tammo S. Steenhuis Kyle Frankel Davis Wopke van derWerf Coen J. Ritsema Steven Pacenka Fusuo Zhang Kadambot H. M. Siddique Taisheng Du
author_sort	Xiaolin Yang
title	Diversified crop rotations enhance groundwater and economic sustainability of food production
title_short	Diversified crop rotations enhance groundwater and economic sustainability of food production
title_full	Diversified crop rotations enhance groundwater and economic sustainability of food production
title_fullStr	Diversified crop rotations enhance groundwater and economic sustainability of food production
title_full_unstemmed	Diversified crop rotations enhance groundwater and economic sustainability of food production
title_sort	diversified crop rotations enhance groundwater and economic sustainability of food production
publisher	Wiley
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/1e1315e66cd340dfb1e8650193bb69f3
work_keys_str_mv	AT xiaolinyang diversifiedcroprotationsenhancegroundwaterandeconomicsustainabilityoffoodproduction AT tammossteenhuis diversifiedcroprotationsenhancegroundwaterandeconomicsustainabilityoffoodproduction AT kylefrankeldavis diversifiedcroprotationsenhancegroundwaterandeconomicsustainabilityoffoodproduction AT wopkevanderwerf diversifiedcroprotationsenhancegroundwaterandeconomicsustainabilityoffoodproduction AT coenjritsema diversifiedcroprotationsenhancegroundwaterandeconomicsustainabilityoffoodproduction AT stevenpacenka diversifiedcroprotationsenhancegroundwaterandeconomicsustainabilityoffoodproduction AT fusuozhang diversifiedcroprotationsenhancegroundwaterandeconomicsustainabilityoffoodproduction AT kadambothmsiddique diversifiedcroprotationsenhancegroundwaterandeconomicsustainabilityoffoodproduction AT taishengdu diversifiedcroprotationsenhancegroundwaterandeconomicsustainabilityoffoodproduction
_version_	1718425974933028864

Diversified crop rotations enhance groundwater and economic sustainability of food production

Ejemplares similares