The Field to Market alliance says in an assessment issued every four years that, on the whole, 10 major U.S. crops have produced more yield on less land with improved environmental outcomes on a per-unit-of-production basis. The alliance calls this “a significant step toward a more sustainable farming system,” but cautions that “improvements are plateauing for a number of crops and indicators.”
“Moreover, recent studies indicate an increase in crop area in certain regions of the country at the expense of grasslands and other ecosystems and highlights the continued water quality challenges in many river basins,” says the alliance. Continued progress will require work by farmers and researchers, says the report, “Environmental and socioeconomic indicators for measuring outcomes of on-farm agricultural production in the United States.”
The report examines trends in corn, cotton, potatoes, rice, soybeans, barley, corn silage, peanuts and sugar beets through the prism of eight environmental indicators and five social and economic indicators. For corn, the most widely grown crop in the country, the report said its land use indicator improved in recent years, but four other primary indicators have plateaued. Indicators for soybeans, second to corn in plantings, “have become flat trends in recent years,” said the report. But for crops overall, “the national trend is consistently positive” for increasing the carbon content of soils when land in complex crop rotations and in perennial grass, such as hayfields, is considered.