Crop Rotation Enhances Agricultural Sustainability: From an Empirical Evaluation of Eco-Economic Benefits in Rice Production

Abstract

Cropping systems greatly impact the productivity and resilience of agricultural ecosystems. However, we often lack an understanding of the quantitative interactions among social, economic and ecological components in each of the systems, especially with regard to crop rotation. Current production systems cannot guarantee both high profits in the short term and social and ecological benefits in the long term. This study combined statistic and economic models to evaluate the comprehensive effects of cropping systems on rice production using data collected from experimental fields between 2017 and 2018. The results showed that increasing agricultural diversity through rotations, particularly potato–rice rotation (PR), significantly increased the social, economic and ecological benefits of rice production. Yields, profits, profit margins, weighted dimensionless values of soil chemical and physical (SCP) and heavy metal (SHM) traits, benefits and externalities generated by PR and other rotations were generally higher than successive rice cropping. This suggests that agricultural diversity through rotations, particularly PR rotation, is worth implementing due to its overall benefits generated in rice production. However, due to various nutrient residues from preceding crops, fertilizer application should be rationalized to improve the resource and investment efficiency. Furthermore, we internalized the externalities (hidden ecological and social benefits/costs) generated by each of the rotation systems and proposed ways of incenting farmers to adopt crop rotation approaches for sustainable rice production.

Ways to Improve the Productivity of Oasis Agriculture: Increasing the Scale of Household Production and Human Capital? A Case Study on Seed Maize Production in Northwest China

“…Owing to the farm conditions in the arid area of northwest China-namely sufficient sunlight, heat, and scarce water resourcestwo modes of agriculture, irrigated agriculture and rain-fed agriculture, coexist. Therefore, assisting farmers to learn dry farming and water-saving techniques, including water and fertilizer integration under film drip irrigation and other practical techniques, and to understand pest and disease prevention and control technology, will assist in significantly improving the efficiency and level of agricultural production [59,60]. According to our investigations and studies, in recent years, villages and towns in Zhangye have used methods such as on-site guidance on production technology problems, centralized training in towns, demonstration of new technologies, and household training to provide practical technical training to farmers.…”

Sustainability, Efficiency, and Circularity of Weedy Rice Management Strategies

“…Although crop rotation is efficient, sustainable, and consistent with the bioeconomy, its adoption remains lower than expected [27,59]. Two main reasons explain this situation.…”

“…They depend on the time horizon (short-vs long-term), how the rotation is organized (crop, pasture, fallow), the market price of the crops that rotated, and the various costs incurred to produce these crops. Some studies conclude that, compared to monoculture, economic returns are lower in the short-term (e.g., [27]) while others demonstrate that crop rotation significantly increases the social, economic, and ecological benefits of rice production [59]. These various conclusions show that even though crop rotation is a well-known and long-used method for maintaining or increasing crop yields, more research is needed to understand factors affecting its economic impacts as well as weed demography in different rotation systems.…”

Biological Control of Plant Diseases: An Evolutionary and Eco-Economic Consideration

“…Farmers decide what technologies they use to control plant diseases, and their attitude to biological control is powered by economic, technological, and practical factors such as effectiveness, profit, availability, and convenience [114,118]. To attract farmers' adaptation of biological control, technology should be easy to assess, ready to use, and lead to economic advantages relative to others in terms of the supply and demand relationship and cost efficiency (Figure 1).…”

“…From a broader perspective, good BCAs also generate economic impacts on society because their positive externalities reduce the social costs to retain a functional ecosystem, while negative externalities resulting from pitfalls of biological control inevitably escalate the financial burden of society necessary to restore the damaged ecosystems [80,103]. To fully understand the economic benefits of biological control, a comprehensive evaluation of its natural and societal functions, social (public) and individual (farmer) benefits, and long-and short-term impacts are required [118]. Farmers' attitudes to biological control can be promoted by the internalization of positive externalities through governmental and public incentives of financial supports.…”