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ARS Home » Plains Area » Las Cruces, New Mexico » Range Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #352623
Title: Long-Term Agroecosystem Research Advancing Sustainable Intensification in Fields, Farms, and Regions Across the United States

Author
item Spiegal, Sheri
item Kleinman, Peter

Submitted to: US-International Association for Landscape Ecology
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/19/2018
Publication Date: 4/11/2018
Citation: Spiegal, S.A., Kleinman, P.J. 2018. Long-Term Agroecosystem Research Advancing Sustainable Intensification in Fields, Farms, and Regions Across the United States [abstract]. US-International Association for Landscape Ecology, April 8-12, 2018, Chicago, Illinois. S12.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The Long-Term Agroecosystem Research network is building a road map for the sustainable intensification of U.S. agriculture by designing strategies that are locally appropriate and applicable to multiple scales of agricultural organization. The 18 sites in the LTAR network represent a diversity of land use types and environmental, economic, and social opportunities for sustainable intensification, yet commonalities among strategies for sustainable intensification are evident across the sites. Explicit attention to spatial pattern and process are interwoven into these common sustainable intensification strategies, and that conceptualization is allowing for useful qualitative and quantitative comparisons among rangelands, croplands, and pasturelands at field, farm, and regional scales. For instance, at the field scale, GPS technologies are allowing western rangeland scientists and eastern pastureland scientists to compare the use of pasture resources by cattle, and to exchange ideas about management approaches that can help improve grazing distribution for improved economic and environmental outcomes in both types of systems. In this talk we illustrate the connection between LTAR’s research and various scales of agricultural organization and showcase one LTAR network initiative that integrates field, farm, region, and industry scales. With a focus on tightening resource cycles, this approach has the potential to advance sustainable intensification within and among the biogeographically diverse agroecosystems of the United States.