Skip to content
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Menu
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Menu
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
Diversified crop rotations enhance groundwater and economic sustainability of food production
Food and Energy Security, Volume 10, No. 4, Article e311, Year 2021
Notification
URL copied to clipboard!
Description
Earth's water resources are critical for supporting livelihoods and food security but are being increasingly overexploited to support global agriculture. Diversifying cropping systems could potentially resolve unsustainable water use but trade-offs with other aspects of sustainability and food security have not yet been assessed. We performed a detailed analysis of 31 different field crop rotations conducted during 1990–2019 in the North China Plain, to assess the potential impact of crop diversification on actual evapotranspiration (ETa), changes in regional groundwater table, grain yield, economic output, and water use efficiency (WUE) and to identify configurations that can achieve co-benefits across multiple dimensions. We found that a combination of lowering the cropping index (i.e., harvest frequency), incorporating fallow periods, and introducing higher-value crops into the currently dominant winter wheat–summer maize double cropping system can reduce growing season ETa by as much as 31%, mitigate groundwater decline by 19% or more, and increased economic output and economic WUE by more than 11% and 3%, respectively. We also found that multiple diversified wheat-maize–based rotations—all with rotation lengths greater than 2 years—achieve co-benefits across all evaluated dimensions. This study provides new empirical evidence of the opportunities for diversified crop rotations to balance the multiple objectives of food production, sustainable groundwater use, and farmer profitability. Extending this solution to other water-stressed agricultural regions could be an effective strategy in achieving more sustainable food production system globally. © 2021 The Authors. Food and Energy Security published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Authors & Co-Authors
Siert Steenhuis, Tammo S.
United States, Ithaca
Cornell University
Davis, Kyle Frankel
United States, Newark
University of Delaware
van der Werf, Wopke
Netherlands, Wageningen
Wageningen University & Research
Ritsema, Coen J.
Netherlands, Wageningen
Wageningen University & Research
Pacenka, Steven
United States, Ithaca
Cornell University
Zhang, Fusuo
China, Beijing
China Agricultural University
Siddique, Kadambot H.m.
Australia, Perth
The University of Western Australia
Statistics
Citations: 22
Authors: 7
Affiliations: 5
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1002/fes3.311
ISSN:
20483694
Research Areas
Environmental
Food Security