Abstract
Sustainable intensification calls for agroecological and adaptive management of the agrifood system. Here, we focus on intercropping and how this agroecological practice can be used to increase the sustainability of crop production. Strip, mixed, and relay intercropping can be used to increase crop yields through resource partitioning and facilitation. In addition to achieving greater productivity, diversifying cropping systems through the use of strategic intercrops can increase yield stability, reduce pests, and improve soil health. Several intercropping systems are already implemented in industrialized agricultural landscapes, including mixed intercropping with perennial grasses and legumes as forage and relay intercropping with winter wheat and red clover. Because intercropping can provide numerous benefits, researchers should be clear about their objectives and use appropriate methods so as to not draw spurious conclusions when studying intercrops. In order to advance the practice, experiments that test the effects of intercropping should use standardized methodology, and researchers should report a set of common criteria to facilitate cross-study comparisons. Intercropping with two or more crops appears to be less common with annuals than perennials, which is likely due to differences in the mechanisms responsible for complementarity. One area where intercropping with annuals in industrialized agricultural landscapes has advanced is with cover crops, where private, public, and governmental organizations have harmonized efforts to increase the adoption of cover crop mixtures.
Highlights
Calls for sustainable intensification (SI) have been resounding in the globally-scaled rhetoric of agrifood systems to produce food for a growing population, while minimizing the negative environmental impact
We identify cover crop mixtures as an entry point for more transformative systems of intercropping, since the planting of cover crops is relatively compatible with the current cash crop production system
While we suggest that intercropping with cover crops is a good starting point, we recognize that cover crops are only planted on 2–4% of the land involved in crop production in the United States due to perceived risks of yield loss and planting and termination timing [90] as well as enduring structural and normative barriers [91,92,93]
Summary
Calls for sustainable intensification (SI) have been resounding in the globally-scaled rhetoric of agrifood systems to produce food for a growing population, while minimizing the negative environmental impact. We discuss the potential of intercropping as an agroecological land management practice for SI. Intercropping is the practice of growing multiple crop species at the same time in the same place and has widely been utilized throughout the history of agriculture. Intercropping has been used to increase crop production and the efficiency of the land, as well as a strategy to mitigate risk. It is an essential component of smallholder cropping systems, but in industrialized production where nutrient cycles are more externally regulated, intercropping is underutilized.
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