Addressing concerns about future food supply and climate change requires management practices that maximize productivity per unit of arable land while reducing negative environmental impact. On-farm data were evaluated to assess energy balance and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of irrigated maize in Nebraska that received large nitrogen (N) fertilizer (183 kg of N · ha(-1)) and irrigation water...

Irrigated crops are produced on 645,000 ha in east-central Washington and northcentral Oregon (1). Approximately 70% of this cropland is irrigated with water diverted from rivers, while water for the remaining hectares is pumped from deep wells. Much of the irrigated cropland is found in areas of less than 200 mm annual precipitation, where dryland farming is difficult or impossible. Wind erosi...

Biodiversity relevant to pest management of tropical irrigated rice pests is discussed in terms of variation within rice plants, rice fields, groups of rice fields and rice associated ecosystems. It is concluded that, in the unique cropping conditions and stable water supply of tropical irrigated rice, the manipulation of a relatively few manageable components of diversity can confer stability ...

Background: To mitigate climate impacts associated with energy consumption, renewable fuel policies have been established in the USA that encourage production and use of corn ethanol. Current fuel usage of corn ethanol is approximately 15 billion gallons/year (57 billion liters/year), with nearly all of this in the form of E10 (10% blend in gasoline). There is now interest in increasing fuel et...