Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
10
Simulating Crop Growth
and Biogeochemical
Fluxes in Response to Land
Management Using the
SALUS Model
Bruno Basso and Joe T. Ritchie
The Green Revolution, through the adoption of new crop varieties, irrigation, and
agrochemicals, saved about 1 billion people from famine by increasing global
food production (FAO 2011). We now recognize that these enormous gains in agri-
cultural production were accompanied by harm to agriculture's natural resource
base, jeopardizing our future ability to meet human food, fuel, and fiber needs for
a growing population. Earth's population is projected to increase from ~7 billion
in 2011 to ~9 billion in 2050. Given the future challenges to food production and
environmental integrity, it is imperative that sustainable land management of agri-
cultural production become an important priority for policy makers. Agricultural
crop and soil management practices often cause degradation of the environment,
especially the quality of ground and surface water and the fertility of agricultural
soils. Clearly, a sustainable framework for developing and improving land use for
crop production must be based on long-term and broad-based perspectives.
Sustainable land management is the focus of many research programs, ranging
from socioeconomic to ecological, since sustainability is an integrated concept with
associated challenges. A multiplicity of factors can prevent production systems
from being sustainable; the goals set by a sustainable crop production system may
be in conflict with one another, and solutions that work in one site or region with
a particular soil, climatic, and socioeconomic setting may not be appropriate in
others (Robertson and Harwood 2013). On the other hand, with sufficient attention
to indicators of sustainability, a number of practices and policies could be imple-
mented to accelerate the adoption of sustainable practices. Indicators to quantify
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