Scope for improved eco-efficiency varies among diverse cropping systems
Open Access
- 13 May 2013
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Vol. 110 (21), 8381-8386
- https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1208050110
Abstract
Global food security requires eco-efficient agriculture to produce the required food and fiber products concomitant with ecologically efficient use of resources. This eco-efficiency concept is used to diagnose the state of agricultural production in China (irrigated wheat–maize double-cropping systems), Zimbabwe (rainfed maize systems), and Australia (rainfed wheat systems). More than 3,000 surveyed crop yields in these three countries were compared against simulated grain yields at farmer-specified levels of nitrogen (N) input. Many Australian commercial wheat farmers are both close to existing production frontiers and gain little prospective return from increasing their N input. Significant losses of N from their systems, either as nitrous oxide emissions or as nitrate leached from the soil profile, are infrequent and at low intensities relative to their level of grain production. These Australian farmers operate close to eco-efficient frontiers in regard to N, and so innovations in technologies and practices are essential to increasing their production without added economic or environmental risks. In contrast, many Chinese farmers can reduce N input without sacrificing production through more efficient use of their fertilizer input. In fact, there are real prospects for the double-cropping systems on the North China Plain to achieve both production increases and reduced environmental risks. Zimbabwean farmers have the opportunity for significant production increases by both improving their technical efficiency and increasing their level of input; however, doing so will require improved management expertise and greater access to institutional support for addressing the higher risks. This paper shows that pathways for achieving improved eco-efficiency will differ among diverse cropping systems.Keywords
This publication has 24 references indexed in Scilit:
- Failing to Yield? Ploughs, Conservation Agriculture and the Problem of Agricultural Intensification: An Example from the Zambezi Valley, ZimbabweThe Journal of Development Studies, 2012
- High-yield maize with large net energy yield and small global warming intensityProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2012
- Global food demand and the sustainable intensification of agricultureProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2011
- Integrated soil–crop system management for food securityProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2011
- Increasing productivity by matching farming system management and genotype in water-limited environmentsJournal of Experimental Botany, 2010
- Eco-efficient Agriculture: Concepts, Challenges, and OpportunitiesCrop Science, 2010
- Reducing environmental risk by improving N management in intensive Chinese agricultural systemsProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2009
- Influence of nutrient management strategies on variability of soil fertility, crop yields and nutrient balances on smallholder farms in ZimbabweAgriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 2006
- An overview of APSIM, a model designed for farming systems simulationEuropean Journal of Agronomy, 2002
- SIMULATING RESPONSE OF MAIZE TO NITROGEN FERTILIZER IN SEMI-ARID ZIMBABWEExperimental Agriculture, 2002