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Extract: U.S. farmers increased double-cropped acreage from 5.8 to 12.4 million acres during 1974-82, from 1.9 percent of all acres harvested in 1974 to nearly 4 percent in 1982. Double cropping was expanding because of rising commodity prices and producers' adoption of advanced technologies in plant varieties and farming practices. Appalachia, the Delta States, and the Southeast showed the sharpest growth in double cropping, partly because growing seasons there are relatively long. Double cropping declined after 1982 because of weak soybean prices, Government-sponsored idling of some wheat acreage that would otherwise have been double cropped, and unfavorable weather in several important doub le-cropping areas.
Over the last decade, growing demand for agricultural commodities-for both food and fuel-has increased the incentives for farm operators to increase production. One way to expand production and potentially increase the return to farming is by intensifying the use of existing cropland. One form of intensification is double cropping-the harvest of two crops from the same field in a given year. From 1999 to 2012 double cropping occurred on about 2 percent of total cropland in most years. Soybeans were, on average, the most common crop found on double-cropped acres over this time period, and, in 2012, winter wheat most commonly preceded these soybean plantings. However, regional and temporal variation is apparent in all double-cropping trends, likely indicating farmers' responsive-ness to local conditions and changing market incentives. Although double cropping has the potential to limit the environmental consequences associated with cropland expansion (such as increased soil erosion and loss of wildlife habitat or carbon sinks) as U.S. farmers increase production to meet growing global demand, it also may introduce negative environmental consequences of its own. The trends and analysis provided in this report are intended to support future discussion on the factors influencing its use and help inform discussions about the merits of expanding its use.
Continued population growth, rapidly changing consumption patterns and the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation are driving limited resources of food, energy, water and materials towards critical thresholds worldwide. These pressures are likely to be substantial across Africa, where countries will have to find innovative ways to boost crop and livestock production to avoid becoming more reliant on imports and food aid. Sustainable agricultural intensification - producing more output from the same area of land while reducing the negative environmental impacts - represents a solution for millions of African farmers. This volume presents the lessons learned from 40 sustainable agricultural intensification programmes in 20 countries across Africa, commissioned as part of the UK Government's Foresight project. Through detailed case studies, the authors of each chapter examine how to develop productive and sustainable agricultural systems and how to scale up these systems to reach many more millions of people in the future. Themes covered include crop improvements, agroforestry and soil conservation, conservation agriculture, integrated pest management, horticulture, livestock and fodder crops, aquaculture, and novel policies and partnerships.