Long-Term Evidence Shows that Crop-Rotation Diversification Increases Agricultural Resilience to Adverse Growing Conditions in North America

TLDR

Producing food for a growing population amid climate change and environmental degradation is a grand challenge, and increasing agroecosystem diversity through crop rotations may enhance resilience to weather extremes without reducing yields. The study aimed to assess how temporal crop diversification affects maize yields in intensively managed grain systems. The assessment employed multilevel regression analyses of long‑term crop yield data across a continental precipitation gradient. Diverse rotations increased maize yields by an average of 28.1% across all conditions, including 22.6% in favorable years, and reduced yield losses in drought years by 14.0%–89.9%, highlighting crop‑rotation diversification as a key risk‑reduction strategy that should inform policy.

Abstract

A grand challenge facing humanity is how to produce food for a growing population in the face of a changing climate and environmental degradation. Although empirical evidence remains sparse, management strategies that increase environmental sustainability, such as increasing agroecosystem diversity through crop rotations, may also increase resilience to weather extremes without sacrificing yields. We used multilevel regression analyses of long-term crop yield datasets across a continental precipitation gradient to assess how temporal crop diversification affects maize yields in intensively managed grain systems. More diverse rotations increased maize yields over time and across all growing conditions (28.1% on average), including in favorable conditions (22.6%). Notably, more diverse rotations also showed positive effects on yield under unfavorable conditions, whereby yield losses were reduced by 14.0%–89.9% in drought years. Systems approaches to environmental sustainability and yield resilience, such as crop-rotation diversification, are a central component of risk-reduction strategies and should inform the enablement of policies.