Large-scale farmer-led experiment demonstrates positive impact of cover crops on multiple soil health indicators

Wood, Stephen A.; Bowman, Maria

doi:10.1038/s43016-021-00222-y

Cited by 71 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…109 At the same time, crop diversity has recently been identified as an important driver of the stability of crop production. [110][111][112] High crop diversity also enhances other important ecosystem functions and services, such as soil functioning 113 and soil health, 114 and recent studies suggest that increasing crop heterogeneity within countries represents a potential lever to increase synergies between food production and biodiversity conservation. 115 We make use of the spatial explicitness of the data compiled for this review (main text and supplemental information) and analyze relationships between global crop diversity and crop product trade.…”

Section: The Heterogeneous Impacts Of Agricultural Tradementioning

confidence: 99%

Global agricultural trade and land system sustainability: Implications for ecosystem carbon storage, biodiversity, and human nutrition

et al. 2021

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Global land systems are increasingly shaped by international trade of agricultural products. An increasing number of studies have quantified the implications of agricultural trade for single different aspects of land system sustainability. Bringing together studies across different sustainability dimensions, this review investigates how global agricultural trade flows have affected land systems and resulting impacts on food and nutrient availability, natural habitat conversion, biodiversity loss, and ecosystem carbon storage. We show that the effects of trade on land systems are highly heterogeneous across regions and commodities, revealing both synergies and trade-offs between improved nutrition and environmental conservation. For instance, we find that while the concentration of cereal production in North America has spared land, the increased demand for tropical products induced by trade has negatively impacted tropical ecosystems. Based on the current state of knowledge, we identify six pathways for how future research can contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of how agricultural trade can positively contribute to meeting global sustainability goals.

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Section: The Heterogeneous Impacts Of Agricultural Tradementioning

confidence: 99%

Global agricultural trade and land system sustainability: Implications for ecosystem carbon storage, biodiversity, and human nutrition

et al. 2021

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“…All analyses in this study used data from the nontreated strips to examine the soil health assessment frameworks and scores without interference from treatments. Evaluation of soil health indicator temporal and spatial variation is available in Crookston et al (2021), and an analysis of cover crop effects on soil health indicators at SHP locations was reported by Wood and Bowman (2021). Further publication of treatment effects on indicators and soil health assessment scores at SHP locations is forthcoming.…”

Section: Data Collection From On-farm Evaluations Of Soil Healthmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relationships of on‐farm soil health scores with corn and soybean yield in the midwestern United States

Crookston

Yost

Bowman

et al. 2021

Soil Science Soc of Amer J

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Soil health assessments are interpretive frameworks that estimate a soil's health by scoring various soil biological, chemical, and physical attributes to guide soil and crop management. Few large-scale analyses of soil health assessment scores exist. Thus, our objectives were to (a) summarize soil health scores at farms across much of the midwestern United States, (b) evaluate how individual soil health indicators influence assessment composite scores, (c) assess correlations among composite scores, and (d) determine the strength of significant correlations between soil health assessment scores and crop yield at three spatial and temporal scales: individual site-year, individual site, and all sites and years combined. Soil health and yield data were collected from 96 Soil Health Partnership (SHP) farmers across nine midwestern states over 2-5 yr. Soil texture influenced soil health indicator values and scores in the study region. Correlation strengths among the comprehensive assessment of soil health (CASH), the soil management assessment framework (SMAF), and the Haney soil health tool (HSHT) composite scores were soil texture dependent. Multiple years of data at individual sites improved the statistical correlations between yield and soil health scores compared with individual site years. When practitioners judge how well crop yield relates to soil health scores, examining data over time should enhance relationships. These results demonstrate that a multiyear commitment greatly improves soil health monitoring at the site level.

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“…In places where eutrophication and soil degradation levels are high, the inclusion of cover crops between the harvesting and planting of subsequent main crops has been shown to provide various ecosystem services, reduce nutrient runoff, and help protect against soil erosion [38,39]. In Australia, various sugarcane programs are being implemented together with growers to reduce the aforementioned eutrophication in the Great Barrier Reef, including the application of soil analysis together with soil-specific nutrient management practices [40].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fuelling the future of sustainable sugar fermentation across generations

Lips

2021

Engineering Biology

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Biomanufacturing in the form of industrial sugar fermentation is moving beyond pharmaceuticals and biofuels into chemicals, materials, and food ingredients. As the production scale of these increasingly consumer‐facing applications expands over the next decades, considerations regarding the environmental impact of the renewable biomass feedstocks used to extract fermentable sugars will become more important. Sugars derived from first‐generation biomass in the form of, for example, corn and sugarcane are easily accessible and support high‐yield fermentation processes, but are associated with the environmental impacts of industrial agriculture, land use, and competition with other applications in food and feed. Fermentable sugars can also be extracted from second‐ and third‐generation feedstocks in the form of lignocellulose and macroalgae, respectively, potentially overcoming some of these concerns. Doing so, however, comes with various challenges, including the need for more extensive pretreatment processes and the fermentation of mixed and unconventional sugars. In this review, we provide a broad overview of these three generations of biomass feedstocks, outlining their challenges and prospects for fuelling the industrial fermentation industry throughout the 21st century.

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Large-scale farmer-led experiment demonstrates positive impact of cover crops on multiple soil health indicators

Cited by 71 publications

References 47 publications

Global agricultural trade and land system sustainability: Implications for ecosystem carbon storage, biodiversity, and human nutrition

Global agricultural trade and land system sustainability: Implications for ecosystem carbon storage, biodiversity, and human nutrition

Relationships of on‐farm soil health scores with corn and soybean yield in the midwestern United States

Fuelling the future of sustainable sugar fermentation across generations

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