Abstract

One of the critical challenges in agriculture is enhancing yield without compromising its foundation, a healthy environment and, particularly, soils. Hence, there is an urgent need to identify management practices that simultaneously support soil health and production and help achieve environmentally sound production systems.To investigate how management influences production and soil health under realistic agronomic conditions, we conducted an on-farm study involving 60 wheat fields managed conventionally, under no-till or organically. We assessed 68 variables defining management, production and soil health properties. We examined how management systems and individual practices describing crop diversification, fertiliser inputs, agrochemical use and soil disturbance influenced production-quantity and quality-and soil health focusing on aspects ranging from soil organic matter over soil structure to microbial abundance and diversity.Our on-farm comparison showed marked differences between soil health and production in the current system: organic management resulted in the best overall soil health (+47%) but the most significant yield gap (-34%) compared to conventional management. No-till systems were generally intermediate, exhibiting a smaller yield gap (-17%) and only a marginally improved level of soil health (+5%) compared to conventional management. Yet, the overlap between management systems in production and soil health properties was considerably large.Our results further highlight the importance of soil health for productivity by revealing positive associations between crop yield and soil health properties, particularly under conventional management, whereas factors such as weed pressure were more dominant in organic systems.None of the three systems showed advantages in supporting production-soil health-based multifunctionality. In contrast, a cross-system analysis suggests that multifunctional agroecosystems could be achieved through a combination of crop diversification and organic amendments with effective crop protection.Synthesis and applications: Our on-farm study implies that current trade-offs in managing production and soil health could be overcome through more balanced systems incorporating conventional and alternative approaches. Such multifunctionality supporting systems could unlock synergies between vital ecosystem services and help achieve productive yet environmentally sound agriculture supported by healthy soils.

Keywords

balanced agricultural systems; conservation agriculture; ecosystem multifunctionality; organic farming; productivity; soil improving cropping systems; soil quality; trade-offs

Published in

Journal of Applied Ecology
2023, Volume: 60, number: 10, pages: 2091-2104
Publisher: WILEY

SLU Authors

• Colombi, Tino

  • Department of Soil and Environment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    
  • Agroscope

• Keller, Thomas

  • Department of Soil and Environment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    
  • Agroscope

Associated SLU-program

SLU Plant Protection Network


Sustainable Development Goals

SDG15 Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
SDG2 End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
SDG12 Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns


UKÄ Subject classification

Environmental Sciences related to Agriculture and Land-use


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.14484

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/123805