Yield gap analyses of individual crops have been used to estimate opportunities for increasing crop production at local to global scales, thus providing information crucial to food security. However, increases in crop production can also be achieved by improving cropping system yield through modification of spatial and temporal arrangement of individual crops. In this paper we define the croppi...

Predicting the hydrologic consequences of biomass cropping systems requires an understanding of how different crops and management practices affect soil hydraulic properties across space and time. To inform such predictions, I investigated the impacts of five biomass cropping systems on the hydraulic properties of soils across a landscape gradient in wet, dry, and average rainfall years. I used...

Cropping pattern in the Himalayan region of India has undergone a significant change in the recent past. Introduction of horticultural crops such as vegetables, fruits and flowers has led to more intensive agriculture. Such a change, resulting in higher incomes and improvements of the overall living conditions has, however, been accompanied with increased income risk. This emphasizes the need f...

Continuous cropping changes soil physiochemical parameters, enzymes and microorganism communities, causing "replant problem" in strawberry cultivation. We hypothesized that soil nematode community would reflect the changes in soil conditions caused by long-term continuous cropping, in ways that are consistent and predictable. To test this hypothesis, we studied the soil nematode communities and...

Despite recent progress, computational visual aesthetic is still challenging. Image cropping, which refers to the removal of unwanted scene areas, is an important step to improve the aesthetic quality of an image. However, it is challenging to evaluate whether cropping leads to aesthetically pleasing results because the assessment is typically subjective. In this paper, we propose a novel casca...

ABSTRACF: Bench terracing's effect on erosion, soil characteristics, crop yields, and cropping area and socioeconomic factors that affect farmers views and use of bench terraces were evaluated in the Kerinci uplands of Sumatra , Indonesia. Bench terraces reduced soil loss 70% (P<0.05) on enclosed runoff plots in comparison to unterraced fields under the same cropping pattern. Erosion under benc...

Transitioning farmland to certified organic vegetable production can take many paths, each varying in their costs and benefits. Here, the effects of four organic transition strategies (i.e., tilled fallowing, mixed-species hay, low-intensity vegetables, and intensive vegetable production under high tunnels), each with and without annual compost applications for 3 years prior to assessment, were...