Large-scale farming operations are win-win for grain production, soil carbon storage and mitigation of greenhouse gases

Zhu, Yafang; Waqas, Muhammad; Li, Yue; Zou, Xiaojuan; Jiang, Defeng; Wilkes, Andreas; Qin, Xiaobo; Gao, Qingzhu; Wan, Yunfan; Ganjurjav, Hasbagan

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.11.205

Cited by 72 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…In this study, SI was also driven mostly by the carbon emissions embodied in N fertilizer and diesel (Figure 5), whose application rates were inversely related with farm size (Figure 2). These findings align with previous studies in that large‐scale farming may reduce GHG emission rates from agricultural inputs (Todde et al, 2018b; Zhu et al, 2018). Therefore, to improve the SI of maize farms as well as mitigate GHG emissions from these croplands, it is critical to decrease land fragmentation that may be actualized by land circulation or land consolidation.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…Compared to small farms, larger farms had significantly greater product yield, thereby reducing the relative environmental consequences of production despite consuming more energy per area (Todde et al, 2018a). In some cases, increasing farm size not only leads to higher yields but also to lower agro-chemical inputs and fuel consumption per unit area, thereby increasing the sustainability of larger farms (Syp et al, 2015;Zhu et al, 2018).…”

Section: Practical Implications Of Farm Size On Carbon-based Simentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For instance, compared to small farms, larger farms tend to consume more fuel but have lower carbon dioxide emissions per unit product due to the relatively higher yields (Todde et al, 2018a). Moreover, increasing farm size achieves higher yields for lower agro-chemicals inputs and fuel consumption per unit area, thereby reducing the carbon footprint (Syp et al, 2015;Zhu et al, 2018). However, assessments of the overall systemic carbon balance relative to carbon inputs are currently lacking.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Increasing farm size to improve energy use efficiency and sustainability in maize production

Zhang

Qian²,

Carlson

et al. 2021

Food and Energy Security

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While the relationship between crop yields and the environmental impacts of crop agriculture has been well‐documented, research on the relationship between farm size and the sustainability of cereal production is limited. Using survey data on 120 farms with both small‐ and large‐scale fields in Northeast China, this paper combines a life cycle assessment and the carbon‐based sustainability index (SI) algorithm to examine how maize productivity and agricultural inputs vary with farm size and to clarify how increasing farm size is correlated with energy use efficiency (EUE) and the SI. The results indicate that maize grain yield did not vary with farm size. Increasing farm size was shown to lead to reductions in the areal (per ha) rates of agro‐chemical inputs, energy depletion, and greenhouse gas emissions and increased in EUE and SI. Fertilizer‐ and fuel‐related agricultural inputs dominated the variations of EUE and SI. A scenario analysis indicates that, if farmers adopt a comprehensive management strategy (i.e., machines appropriate to farm size and recommended fertilizer application rates and crop management strategies), EUE and SI would increase by 68.5% (from 4.45 to 7.50) and 74.3% (from 10.1 to 17.6), respectively. Although increasing farm size could benefit maize sustainable production when matched with technical innovation and machinery coordination, supporting smallholder farmers to increase their resource use efficiency and sustainability is also key in China and other regions where smallholder farms comprise a large portion of the cropland area.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Practical Implications Of Farm Size On Carbon-based Simentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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Increasing farm size to improve energy use efficiency and sustainability in maize production

Zhang

Qian²,

Carlson

et al. 2021

Food and Energy Security

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“…In general, 1% increase in farm size would cause a 1.8% decrease in the use of herbicides & pesticide and 0.3% decrease in fertilizer and pesticide use (Wu et al, 2018). Compared to small-scale farms, land used by large farms has 6-9% more soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks (Zhu et al, 2018), 48% less carbon dioxide emissions (Todde et al, 2018) and an 8%-28% carbon footprint reduction (Zhu et al, 2018). Meanwhile, the global warming potential, eutrophication potential, acidification potential, aquatic eco-toxicity and human toxicity impacts per unit area in large farms are 1.6-12.7% lower than that of small farms (Syp et al, 2015;Wang et al, 2017).…”

Section: Environmental Consequences Related To Farm Sizementioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of farm size on agricultural sustainability

Ren

Liu

Grinsven

et al. 2019

Journal of Cleaner Production

262

124

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“…Therefore, tractors consume a large amount of energy by burning fossil fuels in the engine that converts thermal energy to mechanical energy for pulling and rotating the tillage implements. Emissions of greenhouse gases through the burning of fossil fuels in the tractor engine during cultivation process are the main source of Agronomy 2021, 11, 168 2 of 16 environmental contamination and global warming as CO 2 mainly emitted through fossil fuels burning [2,[4][5][6]. If the use of fossil fuels and consequently CO 2 emissions continued at their current rate, massive climate changes will be possible [7][8][9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental Investigation of Traction Power Transfer Indices of Farm-Tractors for Efficient Energy Utilization in Soil Tillage and Cultivation Operations

et al. 2021

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Farm tractors in cultivation consume a big amount of fossil fuels and emit greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Improving traction performance and power transfer indices of wheeled tractors and field terrain soil with higher traction (pull ability) at optimal travel reduction (TR) can optimize energy utilization. This study compares the traction performance, fuel consumption, and field productivity, of a farm tractor equipped with a new drive wheel “rigid lugged wheel (RLW)” and conventional tire wheel (CTW) in field tillage operations. Tractor with RLW resulted 24.6 kN drawbar pull and 6.6 km.h−1 travel speed at 80% tractive efficiency and 15.6% TR. While with CTW, the drawbar pull and the travel speed were 23.2 kN and 6.0 km h−1 respectively at 68% tractive efficiency and 36.3% TR. The RLW resulted in improved traction performance with similar equipment weight. Tractor with RLW also resulted 220.5% lower TR, 14.8% higher field productivity, and 15.4% lower fuel consumption. RLW can control equipment weight and field traffic intensity with the improved traction performance of wheeled tractors and will make the field operations more energy-efficient and economical. For enhanced field drivability of RLW, further work is required to test for diverse field conditions and differently sized tractors.

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Large-scale farming operations are win-win for grain production, soil carbon storage and mitigation of greenhouse gases

Cited by 72 publications

References 26 publications

Increasing farm size to improve energy use efficiency and sustainability in maize production

Increasing farm size to improve energy use efficiency and sustainability in maize production

The impact of farm size on agricultural sustainability

Experimental Investigation of Traction Power Transfer Indices of Farm-Tractors for Efficient Energy Utilization in Soil Tillage and Cultivation Operations

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