Optimizing crop rotations to enhance agronomic, economic and environmental performance
Crop Types
- Whole Farm
Collaborating Locations
AAFC BrandonBackground
This project aims to generate research-based information to support on-farm agronomic and farm management decisions by determining the effect of including soybean and field pea in Manitoba cropping systems on crop productivity and quality, diseases, soil health, nutrient cycling, and economic risk and return. The production and economic information gleaned from this project will also be used to investigate the effects of different rotation strategies on energy and resource use efficiency and to determine the environmental footprint of various rotations, in order to assist in addressing the broader issues now facing agriculture of how crop production strategies and more diverse rotations might influence and address climate change concerns.
Objectives
- To determine the effect of crop rotation (crop choice, crop sequence, and rotation duration) on: crop yield and quality, disease incidence and severity, profitability and economic risk, soil health and nutrient cycling.
- To generate a reliable, research-based dataset of production and economic information for a range of climate smart cropping systems and crop rotations in order to determine the effect of different rotation strategies on the energy and resource use efficiency and environmental footprint of various rotations.