Long-term evidence for ecological intensification as a pathway to sustainable agriculture

Ecological intensification (EI) could help return agriculture into a ‘safe operating space’ for humanity. Using a novel application of meta-analysis to data from 30 long-term experiments from Europe and Africa (comprising 25,565 yield records), we investigated how field-scale EI practices interact w...

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Main Authors: MacLaren, C., Mead, A., Balen, D. van, Claessens, Lieven, Etana, A., Haan, J. de, Haagsma, W., Jack, O., Keller, T., Labuschagne, J., Myrbeck, A., Necpalova, M., Nziguheba, G., Six, Johan, Strauss, J., Swanepoel, P.A., Thierfelder, Christian L., Topp, C., Tshuma, F., Verstegen, H., Walker, R., Watson, C., Wesselink, M., Storkey, J.
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: Springer 2022
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/124980
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author MacLaren, C.
Mead, A.
Balen, D. van
Claessens, Lieven
Etana, A.
Haan, J. de
Haagsma, W.
Jack, O.
Keller, T.
Labuschagne, J.
Myrbeck, A.
Necpalova, M.
Nziguheba, G.
Six, Johan
Strauss, J.
Swanepoel, P.A.
Thierfelder, Christian L.
Topp, C.
Tshuma, F.
Verstegen, H.
Walker, R.
Watson, C.
Wesselink, M.
Storkey, J.
author_browse Balen, D. van
Claessens, Lieven
Etana, A.
Haagsma, W.
Haan, J. de
Jack, O.
Keller, T.
Labuschagne, J.
MacLaren, C.
Mead, A.
Myrbeck, A.
Necpalova, M.
Nziguheba, G.
Six, Johan
Storkey, J.
Strauss, J.
Swanepoel, P.A.
Thierfelder, Christian L.
Topp, C.
Tshuma, F.
Verstegen, H.
Walker, R.
Watson, C.
Wesselink, M.
author_facet MacLaren, C.
Mead, A.
Balen, D. van
Claessens, Lieven
Etana, A.
Haan, J. de
Haagsma, W.
Jack, O.
Keller, T.
Labuschagne, J.
Myrbeck, A.
Necpalova, M.
Nziguheba, G.
Six, Johan
Strauss, J.
Swanepoel, P.A.
Thierfelder, Christian L.
Topp, C.
Tshuma, F.
Verstegen, H.
Walker, R.
Watson, C.
Wesselink, M.
Storkey, J.
author_sort MacLaren, C.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Ecological intensification (EI) could help return agriculture into a ‘safe operating space’ for humanity. Using a novel application of meta-analysis to data from 30 long-term experiments from Europe and Africa (comprising 25,565 yield records), we investigated how field-scale EI practices interact with each other, and with N fertilizer and tillage, in their effects on long-term crop yields. Here we confirmed that EI practices (specifically, increasing crop diversity and adding fertility crops and organic matter) have generally positive effects on the yield of staple crops. However, we show that EI practices have a largely substitutive interaction with N fertilizer, so that EI practices substantially increase yield at low N fertilizer doses but have minimal or no effect on yield at high N fertilizer doses. EI practices had comparable effects across different tillage intensities, and reducing tillage did not strongly affect yields.
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publishDate 2022
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spelling CGSpace1249802025-12-08T09:54:28Z Long-term evidence for ecological intensification as a pathway to sustainable agriculture MacLaren, C. Mead, A. Balen, D. van Claessens, Lieven Etana, A. Haan, J. de Haagsma, W. Jack, O. Keller, T. Labuschagne, J. Myrbeck, A. Necpalova, M. Nziguheba, G. Six, Johan Strauss, J. Swanepoel, P.A. Thierfelder, Christian L. Topp, C. Tshuma, F. Verstegen, H. Walker, R. Watson, C. Wesselink, M. Storkey, J. climate smart agriculture intensification fertilizers yields ecological agriculture Ecological intensification (EI) could help return agriculture into a ‘safe operating space’ for humanity. Using a novel application of meta-analysis to data from 30 long-term experiments from Europe and Africa (comprising 25,565 yield records), we investigated how field-scale EI practices interact with each other, and with N fertilizer and tillage, in their effects on long-term crop yields. Here we confirmed that EI practices (specifically, increasing crop diversity and adding fertility crops and organic matter) have generally positive effects on the yield of staple crops. However, we show that EI practices have a largely substitutive interaction with N fertilizer, so that EI practices substantially increase yield at low N fertilizer doses but have minimal or no effect on yield at high N fertilizer doses. EI practices had comparable effects across different tillage intensities, and reducing tillage did not strongly affect yields. 2022-09 2022-10-12T08:37:10Z 2022-10-12T08:37:10Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/124980 en Open Access application/pdf Springer MacLaren, C., Mead, A., van Balen, D., Claessens, L., Etana, A., de Haan, J., ... & Storkey, J. (2022). Long-term evidence for ecological intensification as a pathway to sustainable agriculture. Nature Sustainability, 5(9), 770-779.
spellingShingle climate smart agriculture
intensification
fertilizers
yields
ecological agriculture
MacLaren, C.
Mead, A.
Balen, D. van
Claessens, Lieven
Etana, A.
Haan, J. de
Haagsma, W.
Jack, O.
Keller, T.
Labuschagne, J.
Myrbeck, A.
Necpalova, M.
Nziguheba, G.
Six, Johan
Strauss, J.
Swanepoel, P.A.
Thierfelder, Christian L.
Topp, C.
Tshuma, F.
Verstegen, H.
Walker, R.
Watson, C.
Wesselink, M.
Storkey, J.
Long-term evidence for ecological intensification as a pathway to sustainable agriculture
title Long-term evidence for ecological intensification as a pathway to sustainable agriculture
title_full Long-term evidence for ecological intensification as a pathway to sustainable agriculture
title_fullStr Long-term evidence for ecological intensification as a pathway to sustainable agriculture
title_full_unstemmed Long-term evidence for ecological intensification as a pathway to sustainable agriculture
title_short Long-term evidence for ecological intensification as a pathway to sustainable agriculture
title_sort long term evidence for ecological intensification as a pathway to sustainable agriculture
topic climate smart agriculture
intensification
fertilizers
yields
ecological agriculture
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/124980
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