Regenerating Agricultural Landscapes with Perennial Groundcover for Intensive Crop Production

Abstract

The Midwestern U.S. landscape is one of the most highly altered and intensively managed ecosystems in the country. The predominant crops grown are maize (Zea mays L.) and soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr]. They are typically grown as monocrops in a simple yearly rotation or with multiple years of maize (2 to 3) followed by a single year of soybean. This system is highly productive because the crops and management systems have been well adapted to the regional growing conditions through substantial public and private investment. Furthermore, markets and supporting infrastructure are highly developed for both crops. As maize and soybean production have intensified, a number of concerns have arisen due to the unintended environmental impacts on the ecosystem. Many areas across the Midwest are experiencing negative impacts on water quality, soil degradation, and increased flood risk due to changes in regional hydrology. The water quality impacts extend even further downstream. We propose the development of an innovative system for growing maize and soybean with perennial groundcover to recover ecosystem services historically provided naturally by predominantly perennial native plant communities. Reincorporating perennial plants into annual cropping systems has the potential of restoring ecosystem services without negatively impacting grain crop production and offers the prospect of increasing grain crop productivity through improving the biological functioning of the system.

The History of Domestication and Selection of Lucerne: A New Perspective From the Genetic Diversity for Seed Germination in Response to Temperature and Scarification

“…This range of diversity is interesting because subspecies freely intercross at a ploidy level. Wild populations that are under-represented in breeding pools ( Muller et al, 2006 ) could be used to integrate some traits for adaptation to new constraints, such as climate change, or new practices, such as cover crops ( Labreuche, 2017 ; Moore et al, 2019 ). These accessions were studied in seven temperatures ranging from 5°C, a temperature which mimics cold autumns or springs, to a temperature of 40°C, which could occur with late spring sowings under warm climates.…”

Increasing Dairy Sustainability with Integrated Crop–Livestock Farming

“…Grassland and pastures together could offset all farm emissions on site, whereas shrublands, corn, wheat and soybean fields took up the least amount of carbon, due to their shorter growing season (Supplementary Materials Figure S4), thus more area would be needed to offset farm emissions. Corn and soybean production systems may also be unsustainable due to their impact on SOC losses [82], as their root:shoot ratios are comparatively small [38], adding little to increase soil carbon stocks [69,83,84]. Furthermore, the management of corn fields at the Prairie du Sac dairy farm accumulated limited soil C because residues left on site were negligible, as the majority of the crop biomass was chopped for silage or baled for bedding following corn grain harvest.…”

A Midwest USA Perspective on Von Cossel et al.’s Prospects of Bioenergy Cropping Systems for a More Social-Ecologically Sound Bioeconomy

“…provides winter cover while producing biomass for biofuel production [9,10]. An emerging approach is to intercrop maize with a perennial groundcover [11]. In these systems, perennial species such as kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.), creeping red fescue (Festuca rubra L.), kura clover (Trifolium ambiguum M.…”

“…Bieb. ), and white clover (Trifolium repens L.) are grown primarily for environmental reasons, but in some cases are harvested as a forage crop [11][12][13]. Growing maize with perennial groundcover more than doubles the quantity of biomass that can be sustainably harvested in this system, significantly increasing the density of biomass available within a fuel shed and thereby reducing haul distance and transportation costs.…”