Innovations through crop switching happen on the diverse margins of US agriculture.

Autor:	Kling MM; Department of Biology, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405.; Gund Institute for Environment, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405., Brittain CT; Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405., Galford GL; Gund Institute for Environment, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405.; Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405., Waring TM; School of Economics, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469.; Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469., Hébert-Dufresne L; Department of Computer Science, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405.; Vermont Complex Systems Center, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405., Dube MP; Department of Computer Information Systems, University of Maine at Augusta, Augusta, ME 04330., Sabzian H; School of Economics, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469.; Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469., Gotelli NJ; Department of Biology, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405.; Gund Institute for Environment, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405., McGill BJ; Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469.; School of Biology and Ecology, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469., Niles MT; Gund Institute for Environment, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405.; Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405.
Jazyk:	angličtina
Zdroj:	Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America [Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A] 2024 Oct 15; Vol. 121 (42), pp. e2402195121. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Oct 07.
DOI:	10.1073/pnas.2402195121
Abstrakt:	Crop switching, in which farmers grow a crop that is novel to a given field, can help agricultural systems adapt to changing environmental, cultural, and market forces. Yet while regional crop production trends receive significant attention, relatively little is known about the local-scale crop switching that underlies these macrotrends. We characterized local crop-switching patterns across the United States using the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Cropland Data Layer, an annual time series of high resolution (30 m pixel size) remote-sensed cropland data from 2008 to 2022. We found that at multiple spatial scales, crop switching was most common in sparsely cultivated landscapes and in landscapes with high crop diversity, whereas it was low in homogeneous, highly agricultural areas such as the Midwestern corn belt, suggesting a number of potential social and economic mechanisms influencing farmers' crop choices. Crop-switching rates were high overall, occurring on more than 6% of all US cropland in the average year. Applying a framework that classified crop switches based on their temporal novelty (crop introduction versus discontinuation), spatial novelty (locally divergent versus convergent switching), and categorical novelty (transformative versus incremental switching), we found distinct spatial patterns for these three novelty dimensions, indicating a dynamic and multifaceted set of cropping changes across US farms. Collectively, these results suggest that innovation through crop switching is playing out very differently in various parts of the country, with potentially significant implications for the resilience of agricultural systems to changes in climate and other systemic trends. Competing Interests: Competing interests statement:The authors declare no competing interest.
Databáze:	MEDLINE
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