Intensifying rotations increases soil carbon, fungi, and aggregation in semi-arid agroecosystems

Rosenzweig, Steven T.; Fonte, Steven J.; Schipanski, Meagan

doi:10.1016/j.agee.2018.01.016

Cited by 58 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…Crop footprint maps were developed for each three year rotation window by including pixels if they grew a particular crop at any point in the three year period. Soil carbon sequestration, herbicide use, grain production, and net income analyses Recent studies measured the differences in SOC, annualized grain yield, and input use between the different cropping system intensities in the High Plains across 96 farm fields representing the geographic extent of the study area examined here [12,15]. Data used for the spatial and regional analysis in this study include least-squared means and standard errors generated by statistical models of cropping system intensity and significant soil, management, and climate covariates (table 2).…”

Section: Crop Rotationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Data used for the spatial and regional analysis in this study include least-squared means and standard errors generated by statistical models of cropping system intensity and significant soil, management, and climate covariates (table 2). Sampling procedures for each metric are described in Rosenzweig et al [12,15]. We obtained regional assessments of C sequestration, herbicide use, annualized nitrogen fertilizer use, grain production, and net operating income by multiplying the least-squared means and standard errors for each cropping system by the number of hectares in each cropping system for each year.…”

Section: Crop Rotationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We recently assessed soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks to 10 cm on 96 dryland no-till fields across the full extent of the study area [15]. After accounting for potential evapotranspiration (PET) and soil clay content as covariates, we found that no-till mid-intensity rotations stored on average 0.02 Mg C ha −1 yr −1 and no-till continuous rotations stored 0.08 Mg C ha −1 yr −1 relative to no-till wheat-fallow.…”

Section: Implications Of Cropping System Intensificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…wheatcorn-fallow), and some have even eliminated summer fallow completely through diverse crop rotations, a practice called continuous cropping. Continuous cropping likely provides a greater environmental and economic benefit relative to mid-intensity and wheatfallow [12,15], but previous estimates of intensification have only been derived from changes in individual crop or fallow acreages, and thus we lack an estimate of cropping systems-level changes. For example, Hansen et al [14] report a reduction in summer fallow acres by 70% in the US Northern Great Plains since 1990, and Maaz et al [2] report similar reductions in several Canadian provinces, suggesting that millions of hectares are being intensified.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Landscape-scale cropping changes in the High Plains: economic and environmental implications

Rosenzweig

Schipanski

2019

Environ. Res. Lett.

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A global transformation in semi-arid cropping systems is occurring as dryland (non-irrigated) farmers in semi-arid regions shift from crop rotations reliant on year-long bare fallows, called summer fallow, to more intensively cropped systems. Understanding the rate of cropping system intensification at the landscape scale is critical to estimating the economic and environmental implications of this movement. Here, we use high-resolution satellite data to quantify dryland cropping patterns from 2008 to 2016 in the US High Plains. We use these estimates to scale up our previous field-level research in this region on soil carbon, herbicide use, yields, and profitability. Over the nine year study period, the High Plains witnessed a profound shift in cropping systems, as the historically dominant wheatfallow system was replaced by more intensified rotations as the dominant systems by land area. Out of the 4 million hectares of non-irrigated cropland in the study area, this shift coincided with a 0.5 million-hectare decline in summer fallow and a concurrent increase in alternative (non-wheat) crops. We estimate that, from 2008 to 2016, these patterns resulted in a 0.53 Tg (9%) increase in annual grain production, 80 million USD (10%) increase in annual net farm operating income, substantial reductions in herbicide use, and an increase in C sequestration that corresponds to greenhouse gas reductions of 0.32 million metric tons of CO 2 equivalents per year (MMTCO 2 e yr −1 ). We project each of these implications to a scenario of potential maximum 100% intensification and estimate that, relative to 2016 levels, herbicide use would be reduced by more than half, grain production would increase by 25%, net operating income would increase by 223 million USD (26%), and greenhouse gases would be reduced by an additional 0.8 MMTCO 2 e yr −1 . The scale of cropping intensification in the High Plains and its environmental and economic impacts has important implications for other regions undergoing similar transformations, and for policy that can either support or hinder these shifts toward more sustainable cropping systems.

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Section: Crop Rotationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Crop Rotationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Implications Of Cropping System Intensificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Landscape-scale cropping changes in the High Plains: economic and environmental implications

Rosenzweig

Schipanski

2019

Environ. Res. Lett.

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“…Transitions to intensified systems were rapid in Canada and the Northern Great Plains following the advent of no-till, but the High Plains have been slower to follow suit due to the drier climate (Cochran et al 2006;Hansen et al 2012;Smith and Young 2000). Recent research suggests the rate of soil carbon sequestration associated with continuous cropping in the High Plains has the potential to offset all of the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the life-cycle of dryland no-till grain production (Rosenzweig, Fonte and Schipanski 2018). Continuous cropping also improves soil structure via a doubling of soil aggregate stability, and improved nutrient cycling via a tripling of beneficial soil fungi relative to wheat-fallow (Rosenzweig, Fonte and Schipanski 2018;Rosenzweig, Stromberger and Schipanski 2018).…”

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confidence: 99%

A Dryland Cropping Revolution? Linking an Emerging Soil Health Paradigm with Shifting Social Fields among Wheat Growers of the High Plains

2019

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Soil and crop management systems that ameliorate damage caused by decades of dryland agroecosystem mismanagement

et al. 2020

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Sustainable crop production in the Great Plains of North America has been challenging since early settlement times, and mismanagement has severely damaged our dryland agroecosystems. The unintentional damage stemmed from using practices unsuited to dryer climates. In fact, the management practices imported from more humid agricultural areas during the settlement period were considered the best ways to farm. The Dust Bowl era was the disastrous result of creating bare soil surfaces, with aggregates pulverized by excessive tillage on millions of hectares of land. It became obvious to pioneer scientists that retaining cover on the soil surface was critical to sustainability and their early efforts resulted in a widely adopted practice known as stubble mulch. Stubble mulch practices markedly decreased the rate of damage to dryland ecosystems. Advent of herbicidal weed control led to reduced and no-till practices that not only increased soil cover, but also significantly enhanced soil water conservation. This paper focuses on how and why the coupling of conservation tillage and cropping intensification is ameliorating the damage that accrued over decades of agroecosystem mismanagement. The objectives of this paper are to (a) remind us of fragile nature of the Great Plains ecosystem, (b) review how and why ecosystems were degraded, and (c) identify principles and associated practices for amelioration. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.

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Intensifying rotations increases soil carbon, fungi, and aggregation in semi-arid agroecosystems

Cited by 58 publications

References 52 publications

Landscape-scale cropping changes in the High Plains: economic and environmental implications

Landscape-scale cropping changes in the High Plains: economic and environmental implications

A Dryland Cropping Revolution? Linking an Emerging Soil Health Paradigm with Shifting Social Fields among Wheat Growers of the High Plains

Soil and crop management systems that ameliorate damage caused by decades of dryland agroecosystem mismanagement

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