Changes in rainfed and irrigated crop yield response to climate in the western US
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 15544949 |
|---|---|
| Authors | X Li (0000-0002-0135-8800, Lehigh University, corresponding author), Tara J Troy (0000-0001-5366-0633, Lehigh University) |
| Year | 2018 |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Pages | 064031-064031 |
| Publication date | 2018-05-15 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Environmental Research Letters (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1748-9326 • E-ISSN: 1748-9326 |
| Publisher | IOP Publishing (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1088/1748-9326/aac4b1 |
| OpenAlex | W2804669363 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 5 |
As the global population increases and the climate changes, ensuring a secure food supply is increasingly important. One strategy is irrigation, which allows for crops to be grown outside their optimal climate growing regions and which buffers against climate variability. Although irrigation is a positive climate adaptation mechanism for agriculture, it has a potentially negative effect on water resources as it can lead to groundwater depletion and diminished surface water supplies. This study quantifies how crop yields are affected by climate variability and extremes and the impact of irrigation on crop yield increases under various growing-season climate conditions. To do this, we use historical climate data and county-level rainfed and irrigated crop yields for maize, soybean, winter and spring wheat over the US to analyze the relationship between climate, crop yields, and irrigation. We find that there are optimal climates, specific to each crop, where irrigation provides a benefit and other conditions where irrigation proves to have marginal, if any, benefits. Furthermore, the relationship between crop yields and climate has changed over the last decades, with a changing sensitivity in the relationship of soybean and winter wheat yields to certain climate variables, like crop reference evapotranspiration. These two conclusions have important implications for agricultural and water resource system planning, as it implies there are more optimal climate conditions where irrigation is particularly productive and regions where irrigation should be reconsidered as there is not a significant agricultural benefit and the water could be used more productively
Agriculture · Agroforestry · Agronomy · Biology · Climate change · Crop · Crop yield · Deficit irrigation · Evapotranspiration · Geography · Growing season · Irrigation · Irrigation management · Rainfed agriculture · Water resource management · Water resources · Agricultural risk and resilience · Climate change impacts on agriculture · Environmental Science · Rice Cultivation and Yield Improvement · Ecology
Empirical estimation of weather-driven yield shocks using biophysical characteristics for U.S. rainfed and irrigated maize, soybeans, and winter wheat
Envisioning a sustainable agricultural water future across spatial scales
Combined heat and drought suppress rainfed maize and soybean yields and modify irrigation benefits in the USA
Stochastically modeling the projected impacts of climate change on rainfed and irrigated US crop yields
| Citations per year | 0.57 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2019 - 2023 (5) |
| Highly cited | No |