Beyond the plot: technology extrapolation domains for scaling out agronomic science

Authors

Juan I. Rattalino Edreira, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Kenneth G. Cassman, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Zvi Hochman, CSIRO Agriculture and Food
Martin K. van Ittersum, Wageningen University
Lenny van Bussel, Wageningen University
Lieven Claessens, Wageningen University
Patricio Grassini, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

ORCID IDs

0000-0002-7501-842X

Date of this Version

2018

Citation

Environ. Res. Lett. 13 (2018) 054027

Comments

© 2018 The Author(s).

Open access

https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aac092

Abstract

Ensuring an adequate food supply in systems that protect environmental quality and conserve natural resources requires productive and resource-efficient cropping systems on existing farmland.Meeting this challenge will be difficult without a robust spatial framework that facilitates rapid evaluation and scaling-out of currently available and emerging technologies. Here we develop a global spatial framework to delineate ‘technology extrapolation domains’ based on key climate and soil factors that govern crop yields and yield stability in rainfed crop production. The proposed framework adequately represents the spatial pattern of crop yields and stability when evaluated over the data-rich US Corn Belt. It also facilitates evaluation of cropping system performance across continents, which can improve efficiency of agricultural research that seeks to intensify production on existing farmland. Populating this biophysical spatial framework with appropriate socio-economic attributes provides the potential to amplify the return on investments in agricultural research and development by improving the effectiveness of research prioritization and impact assessment.