Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
KBS LTER (MCSE) vs. Regional Crop Yields
KBS LTER crop yields are typical of rain-fed yields elsewhere in the North Central
Region. For the 21-year period from 1989 to 2009, MCSE no-till soybean yields
(2.6 ± 0.2 SD Mg ha
−1
at standard 13% moisture; or 39 bu acre
−1
) were similar to
average Kalamazoo County yields (2.5 ± 0.1 Mg h
−1
; 37 bu acre
−1
), which were sim-
ilar to soybean yields for the entire United States (2.8 ± 0.1 Mg ha
−1
; 42 bu acre
−1
)
(NASS 2012a). No-till wheat yields at KBS LTER (3.7 ± 0.3 Mg ha
−1
at standard
13% moisture; 55 bu acre
−1
) were slightly higher than average Kalamazoo County
yields (3.4 ± 0.3 Mg ha
−1
; 51 bu acre
−1
) and national yields (3.5 ± 0.1 Mg ha
−1
; 52
bu acre
−1
) for soft red wheat, which makes up ~25% of total U.S. wheat production
and is the dominant class grown around KBS.
Corn yields are more variable, reflecting the greater sensitivity of corn yields to
low rainfall periods and growing season heat waves, especially during pollination
Figure 1.9
. Corn yields in (A) 2008 and (B) 2011 in the KBS LTER Resource Gradient
Experiment. For comparison, average U.S. corn yields in 2008 and 2011 (ERS 2013) were
9.7 and 9.2 Mg ha
-1
, respectively (154 and 147 bu acre
-1
).
