“…Bridging yield gaps is a crucial goal in agricultural research, though achieving this objective is challenging in tropical environments, where yield is highly spatially and temporally variable, a result of environmental influences (e.g., pedogenesis, landscape position, and climate) and farmers' management practices (e.g., historical and current tillage, nutrient, irrigation, pest and weed management practices, varieties, rotation, and cropping intensity) (Delmotte et al, 2011;Lobell et al, 2005;Tittonell et al, 2008). In farmer-managed and participatory trials, subtle differences in farm characteristics, management practices, and data collection methods can make it difficult to elucidate the factors that control yield, despite the use of standardized experimental designs.…”