TY - JOUR
T1 - Exploring the relationship between agricultural intensification and changes in cropland areas in the US
AU - Lin, Meimei
AU - Huang, Qiping
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2019/3/15
Y1 - 2019/3/15
N2 - Rapid increase in human population, per capita food consumption (i.e., meat-intensive diet), and biofuel production further drives increasing demand for land. One critical solution is agricultural intensification of crop yield (i.e., crop production per unit area) improvement on the existing croplands. Therefore, the pressure to convert other land for food production can be reduced. Here, we used a panel data of the three most important crops (i.e., corn, soybean, and wheat) in the US Midwest to explore trends of change in agricultural yields and cropland areas at both county and crop levels during 1974–2008. We then utilized mapping to visualize and explicitly examine the spatial patterns of land-sparing and agricultural expansion. Finally, we related cropland area changes to changes in yield and other factors that may impact the contraction/expansion of cropland areas. We detected agricultural expansion with yield increases when considering all counties together. However, cropland area increases were less rapid than rises in crop production. Counties located at the southern periphery of the Corn Belt experienced land-sparing, whereas counties located at the western margin of the Corn Belt, that are more arid and potentially require higher input, exhibited highest agricultural expansion. Higher crop prices and USDA farm subsidies were associated with agricultural expansion.
AB - Rapid increase in human population, per capita food consumption (i.e., meat-intensive diet), and biofuel production further drives increasing demand for land. One critical solution is agricultural intensification of crop yield (i.e., crop production per unit area) improvement on the existing croplands. Therefore, the pressure to convert other land for food production can be reduced. Here, we used a panel data of the three most important crops (i.e., corn, soybean, and wheat) in the US Midwest to explore trends of change in agricultural yields and cropland areas at both county and crop levels during 1974–2008. We then utilized mapping to visualize and explicitly examine the spatial patterns of land-sparing and agricultural expansion. Finally, we related cropland area changes to changes in yield and other factors that may impact the contraction/expansion of cropland areas. We detected agricultural expansion with yield increases when considering all counties together. However, cropland area increases were less rapid than rises in crop production. Counties located at the southern periphery of the Corn Belt experienced land-sparing, whereas counties located at the western margin of the Corn Belt, that are more arid and potentially require higher input, exhibited highest agricultural expansion. Higher crop prices and USDA farm subsidies were associated with agricultural expansion.
KW - Agricultural expansion
KW - Agricultural intensification
KW - Crop yield
KW - Land-sparing
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85059847109&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.agee.2018.12.019
DO - 10.1016/j.agee.2018.12.019
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85059847109
SN - 0167-8809
VL - 274
SP - 33
EP - 40
JO - Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment
JF - Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment
ER -