Producing more grain with lower environmental costs.

Area of Science:

• Agricultural Science
• Environmental Science
• Agronomy

Background:

• Global food security is threatened by the need to increase crop yields while minimizing environmental damage.
• Intensive agriculture presents challenges in balancing productivity with ecological sustainability.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate integrated soil-crop system management (ISSM) practices for enhancing yields and reducing environmental costs in Chinese agriculture.
• To assess the potential of ISSM to meet future food demands in China.

Main Methods:

• Conducted 153 site-year field experiments across major agro-ecological zones for rice, wheat, and maize in China.
• Applied ISSM practices based on crop ecophysiology and soil biogeochemistry.
• Utilized model simulation and life-cycle assessment to evaluate environmental impacts.

Main Results:

• Average yields increased from 7.2 to 8.5 Mg ha⁻¹ for rice, 7.2 to 8.9 Mg ha⁻¹ for wheat, and 10.5 to 14.2 Mg ha⁻¹ for maize.
• These yield increases were achieved without augmenting nitrogen fertilizer application.
• Reactive nitrogen losses and greenhouse gas emissions were substantially reduced by ISSM.

Conclusions:

• ISSM offers a viable strategy to increase crop production for food and feed security in China.
• Widespread adoption of ISSM could significantly decrease the environmental footprint of intensive agriculture.
• Achieving 80% of the demonstrated yield improvements by 2030 could meet China's projected demand while lowering environmental costs.