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ARS Home » Plains Area » Mandan, North Dakota » Northern Great Plains Research Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #263604
Title: Farming systems with improved returns to inputs of energy and water in the Northern Great Plains of North America

Author
item BYRON, IRVINE - Agriculture And Agri-Food Canada
item Tanaka, Donald
item CUTFORTH, HERB - Agriculture And Agri-Food Canada

Submitted to: Book Chapter
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/15/2009
Publication Date: 12/6/2010
Citation: Byron, I.R., Tanaka, D.L., Cutforth, H. 2010. Farming systems with improved returns to inputs of energy and water in the Northern Great Plains of North America. Book Chapter 15. p. 409-427. IN: S.S. Malhi et al. (Eds.) Recent trends in soil science and agronomy research in the Northern Great Plains of North America. Research Signpost, Kerala, India.

Interpretive Summary: Currently, agricultural systems need to be environmentally responsible, economically robust, and energy efficient to be sustainable in the Northern Great Plains. Increasing cropping intensity along with direct seeding has had profound impacts on increasing water-use efficiency (WUE) and improving the energy use efficiency (EUE) of agricultural systems in the Northern Great Plains. Environmental factors and crop needs are not well synchronized; therefore, timely management practices to reduce evapotranspiration, control pests, and improve nutrient use in agricultural systems is ongoing – at present, agricultural systems are strongly dependent on external energy to be productive. Reducing external energy inputs by including annual and perennial legumes, timely nitrogen application, and use of crop sequence to take advantage of soil/plant/water interactions will be needed to improve WUE and EUE of future agricultural systems.

Technical Abstract: Farming systems which are environmentally responsible, economically robust and energy reduced [refers to a term of(ER)] are in various stages of development and implementation in the Northern Great Plains. Improving the energy use energy (EUE) or net energy balance of farming systems in a sustainable manner involves many factors. Crop production requires energy in the following areas: machinery use, fuel, transportation, fertilizer and pesticides. A system that successfully improves EUE must consider energy inputs in each of these areas and be economically viable and environmentally responsible. Water availability and water use are not well coordinated in this region, with most of the rainfall occurring in the earlier part of the growing season, prior to maximum leaf area index of field crops. Water use efficiency (WUE) involves collecting and directly using water more efficiently. Increasing cropping intensity and direct seeding have had major impacts on increasing WUE in the semiarid areas of the Northern Great Plains. Tall stubble left when direct seeding is practiced not only traps more snow, but also increases crop growth, improving WUE throughout much of the southern and western portions of this growing area. Early planting of cool-season crops has been shown to be an excellent method of improving WUE since crop growth occurs with temperatures are more favorable and evapotranspiration potential is low. WUE and EUE are greatly increased by timely management of pests (primarily weeds). Currently, most farming systems are strongly dependent on external energy. In most of these farming systems, the largest energy input into annual cropping systems is nitrogen fertilizer. One way to manage nitrogen energy input is by including annual and perennial legumes into these cropping systems. However, a lack of market opportunities for some of these crops has limited their use. Another way to improve nitrogen fertilizer efficiency is by applying the product at the appropriate rate in a timely manner using application methods which reduce losses. Further research will result in additional improvements to nitrogen use efficiency. One area for further research is to improve the effectiveness of inorganic nitrogen use and cover crops to enhance crop production. Research also needs to focus on the improvement of production and utilization of forage and grain legumes to increase efficiency of farming systems. Several possible systems exist for increasing water and energy use efficiency in the Northern Great Plains. However, the ideal system for increasing efficiency must not only be environmentally responsible and, energy reduced but also economically robust for producers to adopt such new farming systems.