Long-Term Agroecosystem Research Advancing Sustainable Intensification in Fields, Farms, and Regions Across the United States

TitleLong-Term Agroecosystem Research Advancing Sustainable Intensification in Fields, Farms, and Regions Across the United States
Publication TypeConference Proceedings
Year of Publication2018
AuthorsSpiegal S., Kleinman PJA
Conference NameUS-International Association for Landscape Ecology
VolumeS12
Date Published04/2018
ARIS Log Number352623
Abstract

The Long-Term Agroecosystem Research network is building a road map for the sustainable intensification of U.S. agriculture by designing strategies that are locally appropriate and applicable to multiple scales of agricultural organization. The 18 sites in the LTAR network represent a diversity of land use types and environmental, economic, and social opportunities for sustainable intensification, yet commonalities among strategies for sustainable intensification are evident across the sites. Explicit attention to spatial pattern and process are interwoven into these common sustainable intensification strategies, and that conceptualization is allowing for useful qualitative and quantitative comparisons among rangelands, croplands, and pasturelands at field, farm, and regional scales. For instance, at the field scale, GPS technologies are allowing western rangeland scientists and eastern pastureland scientists to compare the use of pasture resources by cattle, and to exchange ideas about management approaches that can help improve grazing distribution for improved economic and environmental outcomes in both types of systems. In this talk we illustrate the connection between LTAR’s research and various scales of agricultural organization and showcase one LTAR network initiative that integrates field, farm, region, and industry scales. With a focus on tightening resource cycles, this approach has the potential to advance sustainable intensification within and among the biogeographically diverse agroecosystems of the United States.