Exploring integrated crop–livestock systems in different ecoregions of the United States |
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| Institution: | 1. USDA-ARS, Northern Great Plains Research Laboratory, P.O. Box 459, Mandan, ND 58554-0459, USA;2. INRA, UMR 1248 AGIR, F-31324 Castanet-Tolosane, France;3. New Mexico State University, Department of Animal and Range Sciences, Las Cruces, NM 88003-8003, USA |
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| Abstract: | Large-scale, energy-intensive, specialized production systems have dominated agricultural production in the United States for the past half-century. Although highly productive and economically successful, there is increasing concern with unintended negative environmental impacts of current agricultural systems. Production systems integrating crops and livestock have potential for providing additional ecosystem services from agriculture by capturing positive ecological interactions and avoiding negative environmental outcomes, while sustaining profitability. A diversity of ecologically sound integrated crop-livestock systems have been and can be employed in different ecoregions: sod-based crop rotations, grazing cover crops in cash-crop rotations, crop residue grazing, sod intercropping, dual-purpose cereal crops, and agroforestry/silvopasture. Improved technologies in conservation tillage, weed control, fertilization, fencing, and planting, as well as improved plant genetics offer opportunities to facilitate successful adoption of integrated systems. This paper explores the use and potential of integrated crop-livestock systems in achieving environmental stewardship and maintaining profitability under a diversity of ecological conditions in the United States. |
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| Keywords: | Crop-livestock integration Cover crop grazing Sod-based crop rotation Sod-intercropping Silvopasture Dual-purpose crop |
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