Dynamic Cropping Systems for Sustainable Crop Production in the Northern Great Plains

Abstract

market conditions, input prices, government programs, and new technology and information represent broad Research to integrate the vast array of information needed by categories of externalities that producers must deal with producers to make decisions allowing them to remain sustainable in on a continual basis ( Fig. 1). This is a daunting challenge, our ever-changing agricultural environment is in its infancy. Present research has not provided crop production and soils information that is especially when one considers that producers' decisions adequately comprehensive and holistic for producers to make critical are carried out in a financial environment of diminishing decisions. We propose a dynamic cropping systems approach to help economic returns, where one wrong decision could mean producers make those critical decisions they need to remain sustainfinancial hardship and potentially the end to a way of able. Our definition of a dynamic cropping system is a long-term life. strategy of annual crop sequencing that optimizes crop and soil useTo meet this challenge, producers must manage exteroptions and the attainment of production, economic, and resource nalities by arriving at decisions that optimize the outconservation goals by using sound ecological management principles. come of multiple goals. This is not a simple task. Produc-Implicit to this strategy is the need for producers to possess informaers need to possess the ability to integrate vast amounts tion necessary to respond to continual change. Key factors associated of information on externalities that are constantly with dynamic cropping systems are diversity, adaptability, reduced input cost, multiple enterprise systems, and awareness of environment changing. The information needs to be understood well and information. Development of a dynamic cropping systems re-enough to take advantage of situations in which extersearch program involves creating a crop portfolio, crop sequence nalities interact (e.g., choosing an appropriate crop to evaluation, and multidirectional flow of information among research,

Diversification and ecosystem services for conservation agriculture: Outcomes from pastures and integrated crop–livestock systems

“…To increase cropping system responsiveness to externalities, opportunity/flex crop sequences have been developed to allow for adjustments in cropping intensity and/or diversity using critical information at planting, such as soil water status 53,55 . Even greater flexibility in annual crop sequencing may be realized through the application of a dynamic cropping system concept, where crop sequence decisions are made annually to optimize production, economic and resource conservation goals 56 . Dynamic cropping systems are location specific, with unique crop portfolios (i.e., adapted crop species) within an ecoregion, and require a thorough understanding of short-term (one to three years) crop sequencing effects on relevant agronomic and environmental response variables 57 .…”

“…The application of dynamic cropping systems has increased crop yield and decreased yield variability in the northern Great Plains 58 . Strategic inclusion of dry pea (Pisum sativum L.) in a dynamic cropping system increased subsequent spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) grain yield by 30% compared with monoculture spring wheat because of improvements in precipitation-use efficiency 50 .…”

Diversifying crop rotations with pulses enhances system productivity

“…8,36,37 such as evaporation (which is typically greater than 1500 mm annually at the experimental area) and evapotranspiration. However, the main difference between the summerfallow systems and the diversified system with pulses in terms of water use occurs during the period of 1 May to 31 August in Year-2 of the cropping sequence, where 79% of the un-conserved rainwater by the summerfallow system can be utilized for grain production through the adoption of the alternative, non-summerfallowing pulse systems.…”

On Farm Agronomic and First Environmental Evaluation of Oil Crops for Sustainable Bioenergy Chains

“…Considering that on-farm, participatory researches can promote rapid adoption of agricultural innovations (Wuest et al, 1999;Andrews et al, 2002), allow a multidirectional flow of information among farmers and researchers (Tanaka et al, 2002).…”