Managing a second‐generation crop portfolio through sustainable intensification: Examples from the USA and the EU

Abstract

Sustainable intensification of agricultural systems has been suggested – in addition to reducing waste and changing consumption habits – as a way to increase food, feed, fuel, and fiber security in the twenty‐first century. Here we describe three primary strategies of agricultural intensification – conventional intensification, temporal intensification, and spatial intensification – and how they can be used to manage and integrate food and second‐generation crop portfolios. While each strategy has individual merits, combining them to meet case‐specific targets may achieve optimum results. Multiple experiments and examples from the USA and the EU illustrate the potential of combining these approaches for agroecological intensification that can provide ecosystem services while maintaining or increasing economic output, thus striking a balance between ‘land sparing’ and ‘land sharing’. Management strategies will vary by the types of markets available, e.g., food, fuel and/or ecosystem services, and the scale of markets supplied, e.g., small heat and power vs. large cellulosic ethanol. Future research should holistically and methodologically evaluate the trade‐offs between different management strategies. © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

To integrate or to segregate food crop and energy crop cultivation at the landscape scale? Perspectives on biodiversity conservation in agriculture in Europe

“…Examples are an inclusion of switchgrass or mixed-grass-forb prairie in maize production [24], strips of wildflower mixtures for biogas in maize-dominated areas [70] and alternative crops to maize, such as the cup plant Silphium perfoliatum L. [71]. Including dedicated energy crops, perennial crops in particular, in intensive foodcropping systems could mitigate some of the pressures on farmland biodiversity by lowering input levels, lowering the speed of production cycles, increasing crop diversity, regenerating soils and providing continuous resources for ecosystem service providers [24,50,72,73].…”

“…Trials have found CFE to be considerably less resource demanding and more amenable to sustainable production than conventional food-cropping systems [49]. In the developed countries, CFE systems are also expected to improve overall ecosystem functions [50]. Land sharing of food and energy crops could thus be a means of supporting sustainable intensification of agriculture [51].…”

“…1) combines the ideas that (i) a diversification of food production systems through energy crops does not undermine food security [50] and (ii) sufficient and sustainable cultivation of energy crops on marginal land is not achievable because of low yields, low feedstock quality, higher land take and the associated environmental and social issues [45]. In comparison to the segregation scenario, LUC occurs predominantly on the productive agricultural land and also on the economically marginal land.…”

Enhancing agroecosystem performance and resilience through increased diversification of landscapes and cropping systems

“…Additional options for diversifying landscapes and cropping systems include the use of mixed species pastures for dairy and beef production (Sulc and Tracy, 2007); perennial grains for food and feed production (Cox et al, 2006); cover crops to fill otherwise unoccupied temporal niches (Snapp et al, 2005); dedicated perennial grasses and native mixed-species communities for biofuel feedstock production (Heaton et al, 2013); herbaceous and woody species for reconstructing wetlands (Zedler, 2003) and riparian corridors (Schultz et al, 2004); and trees for agroforestry plantations ( Jose et al, 2012).…”

“…Thus, in addition to the need to supply farmers with necessary technical information and inputs for producing non-traditional crops, planning for generating a critical mass of producers and the development of expedited paths to markets are needed. This is particularly true in the case of 'second-generation' bioenergy crops, for which new biomass collection strategies and processing facilities are needed (Heaton et al, 2013).…”