Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
15
Designing Cropping Systems
for Ecosystem Services
Sieglinde S. Snapp, Richard G. Smith, and
G. Philip Robertson
Almost all intensive row-crop ecosystems depend on external chemical inputs such
as nitrogen fertilizers and pesticides for their high yields. This dependency has
had important consequences for the environment and for ecosystem services (MEA
2005; Swinton et al. 2015a, Chapter 3 in this volume) that underpin these systems'
long-term sustainability (Robertson and Swinton 2005). Well-known consequences
of chemical inputs include biodiversity loss, reductions in water quality, increased
greenhouse gas emissions, and degradation of soil resources (Matson et al. 1997,
Tilman et al. 2002, Robertson et al. 2004). Agriculture is also facing mounting
challenges in the form of climate change and increasing fossil fuel costs—all in the
context of an increasing global demand for food over the coming decades. These
challenges call for a reevaluation of modern agricultural practices and the support-
ing and provisioning services that agroecosystems provide.
Several key questions must be answered before we can hope to ensure the long-term
sustainability of row-crop production systems and their associated ecosystem ser-
vices. First, to what degree can agricultural systems be designed to be regenerative
(Pearson 2007), enhancing supporting and regulating services so that nutrients and
other resources are conserved within the system and any external inputs are used most
efficiently? Second, what factors determine agricultural resilience and the capacity for
agriculture to maintain productivity in the face of external stressors (Snapp 2008)?
The future of agriculture depends on our ability to understand both the effi-
cient use of natural resources and the ecological principles that promote agroeco-
system resilience and stability. While the production of food, fiber, and fuel will
remain core goals of farming systems, the provision of other ecosystem services
will become increasingly important. Measures to enhance agricultural yield will
be evaluated with greater attention to potential trade-offs among other ecosystem
services (Syswerda and Robertson 2014).
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