Crop Yield Gaps
Their Importance, Magnitudes, and Causes
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 23315567 |
|---|---|
| Authors | David B Lobell (0000-0002-5969-3476, Stanford University), Kenneth G Cassman (0000-0002-9775-3468, University of Nebraska–Lincoln), Christopher B Field (0000-0002-1684-8247, Carnegie Institution for Science) |
| Year | 2009 |
| Volume | 34 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 179-204 |
| Publication date | 2009-11-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Annual Review of Environment and Resources (BOOK_SERIES) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1543-5938 • E-ISSN: 1545-2050 |
| Publisher | Annual Reviews (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1146/annurev.environ.041008.093740 |
| OpenAlex | W2159292710 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 87 |
| References cited | 51 |
Future trajectories of food prices, food security, and cropland expansion are closely linked to future average crop yields in the major agricultural regions of the world. Because the maximum possible yields achieved in farmers' fields might level off or even decline in many regions over the next few decades, reducing the gap between average and potential yields is critical. In most major irrigated wheat, rice, and maize systems, yields appear to be at or near 80% of yield potential, with no evidence for yields having exceeded this threshold to date. A fundamental constraint in these systems appears to be uncertainty in growing season weather; thus tools to address this uncertainty would likely reduce gaps. Otherwise, short-term prospects for yield gains in irrigated agriculture appear grim without increased yield potential. Average yields in rainfed systems are commonly 50% or less of yield potential, suggesting ample room for improvement, though estimation of yield gaps for rainfed regions is subject to more errors than for irrigated regions. Several priorities for future research are identified.
Agricultural engineering · Agriculture · Agronomy · Biology · Constraint (computer-aided design) · Crop · Crop yield · Food security · Growing season · Yield (engineering) · Yield gap · Climate change impacts on agriculture · Crop Yield and Soil Fertility · Ecology · Environmental Science · Mathematics · Rice Cultivation and Yield Improvement
Ambitious food system interventions required to mitigate the risk of exceeding Earth’s environmental limits
Assessments of synergistic outcomes from sustainable intensification of agriculture need to include smallholder livelihoods with food production and ecosystem services
Smallholders’ uneven capacities to adapt to climate change amid Africa’s ‘green revolution’
Who is resilient in Africa’s Green Revolution? Sustainable intensification and Climate Smart Agriculture in Rwanda
Seeking justice in Green Revolutions
Food, Agriculture & the Environment
Closing Yield Gaps
Land-Use Indicators
Beyond Inputs and Outputs
Leverage points for improving global food security and the environment
Global food demand and the sustainable intensification of agriculture
Yield Trends Are Insufficient to Double Global Crop Production by 2050
Climate Change and Global Food Systems
Can sub-Saharan Africa feed itself?
The importance of reduced meat and dairy consumption for meeting stringent climate change targets
Yield gap analysis with local to global relevance—A review
Assessing agricultural risks of climate change in the 21st century in a global gridded crop model intercomparison
The crop yield gap between organic and conventional agriculture
Closing yield gaps through nutrient and water management
Satellite detection of rising maize yield heterogeneity in the U.S. Midwest
Accounting for socioeconomic constraints in sustainable irrigation expansion assessments
Quantifying irrigation adaptation strategies in response to stakeholder-driven groundwater management in the US High Plains Aquifer
Should long-term climate change adaptation be focused on smallholders
Eating on an interconnected planet
Impacts of varying agricultural intensification on crop yield and groundwater resources
Worldwide water constraints on attainable irrigated production for major crops
Increasing global crop harvest frequency
Global energy and carbon emissions of irrigation and fertilizers management for closing crop yield gaps
Past and present biophysical redundancy of countries as a buffer to changes in food supply
Regionalizing crop types to enhance global ecosystem modeling of maize production
Probabilistic global maps of crop-specific areas from 1961 to 2014
Global food self-sufficiency in the 21st century under sustainable intensification of agriculture
Increasing crop production in Russia and Ukraine—regional and global impacts from intensification and recultivation
Quantifying yield gaps in wheat production in Russia
Capital surpluses in the farming sector and agricultural expansion in Brazil
The imprint of crop choice on global nutrient needs
Reckoning wheat yield trends
Using satellite data to identify the causes of and potential solutions for yield gaps in India’s Wheat Belt
Is another genetic revolution needed to offset climate change impacts for US maize yields
Closing the yield gap while ensuring water sustainability
Drought effects on US maize and soybean production
Increased wheat price spikes and larger economic inequality with 2°C global warming
Farmers’ Demand and the Traits and Diffusion of Agricultural Innovations in Developing Countries
Trends in wood productivity of eucalypt plantations over five decades
Rainfall shocks and fertilizer use
Increasing soil organic carbon sequestration while closing the yield gap in Chinese wheat production
Agricultural carbon emission efficiency and its regional convergence in China
Impact of integrated soil fertility management on maize yield, yield gap and income in northern Ghana
Assessing the impact of soil degradation on food production
Reducing nitrous oxide emissions from the global food system
Current Agricultural Practices Threaten Future Global Food Production
Modelling food security
Global inequalities in food consumption, cropland demand and land-use efficiency
Are scenario projections overly optimistic about future yield progress
Changing the understanding of crop production
Do improved pollination services outweigh farm-economic disadvantages of working in small-structured agricultural landscapes? – Development and application of a bio-economic model
Disembedding grain
Agricultural adaptation mainstreaming and its study through a systemic adaptation assessment framework
Minimising the harm to biodiversity of producing more food globally
Evidence of slowing yield growth – The example of Swiss cereal yields
Food security in rural sub-Saharan Africa
Yield Gap-Based Poverty Gaps in Rural Sub-Saharan Africa
The Corn Price Surge
Attenuating measurement errors in agricultural productivity analysis by combining objective and self-reported survey data
Estimating the direct and indirect effects of improved seed adoption on yields
Fostering a climate-smart intensification for oil palm
The potential land-use impacts of bio-based plastics and plastic alternatives
The impact of agricultural interventions can be doubled by using satellite data
Proactive conservation to prevent habitat losses to agricultural expansion
Implications of native flora as a sustainable food resource
Of yield gaps and yield ceilings
Potential net primary production footprint of agriculture
Low-Quality Seeds, Labor Supply, and Economic Returns
A conceptual framework for analysing and measuring land-use intensity
Land system change and food security
Drivers of arable production stagnation and policies to combat stagnation based on a systematic analysis of drivers and agents of arable production in Cameroon
Revealing the determinants of wheat yields in the Siberian breadbasket of Russia with Bayesian networks
Impacts of historic climate variability and land use change on winter wheat climatic productivity in the North China Plain during 1980–2010
Identifying resource-conscious and low-carbon agricultural development pathways through land use modelling
Identifying opportunities to close yield gaps in China by use of certificated cultivars to estimate potential productivity
Identifying entry points to improve fertilizer use efficiency in Taihu Basin, China
Agriculture yield gap reduction
Sustainable development goal 2
Impact of urbanization trends on production of key staple crops
Crop Yield Gaps in Cameroon
From Agricultural Experiment Station to Farm
Potential impacts of reducing the microregional yield gaps for main food crops in Brazil
Quantifying and mapping the human appropriation of net primary production in earth's terrestrial ecosystems
Farming the planet
Ecological intensification of cereal production systems
Agricultural Intensification and Ecosystem Properties
The DSSAT cropping system model
Farming the planet
Global scale climate–crop yield relationships and the impacts of recent warming
World agriculture
Productivity Growth in World Agriculture
| Unique citing works | 87 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 5,12 |
| Citation span | 2009 - 2026 (18) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 80 |