Abstract
Increases in agricultural commodity price triggered by ethanol production and other socioeconomic conditions have dramatically affected land uses and agronomic practices in the U.S. This study used crop-specific land cover data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to analyze agricultural expansion and crop rotation pattern from 2006 to 2013 in the Midwest Corn Belt (MWCB): nine states including Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, and South Dakota. We identified a total of 3.9 million acres’ grassland loss between 2007 and 2012. The net loss of grassland occurred mainly along the western MWCB, an area with competing demand for limited water supply. Net conversion of grassland to corn or soybean is likely the result of a resumption of cropping on lands previously enrolled under the USDA Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), as well as expansion beyond CRP lands. Wheat, small grains, and other crops were also impacted by corn and soybean expansion. The amount of corn planted on corn increased by 23% between 2006 and 2013, whereas the amount of continuous soybean cropping fluctuated over time.
Highlights
The world population of 7.2 billion in mid-2013 is projected to increase to 8.1 billion in 2025, and 9.6 billion in 2050, an increase of almost one billion more people within the 12 years [1]
The objectives of this study are to: (i) analyze short-term (2006–2013) trends of major crops using the U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA) Cropland Data Layers (CDL); (ii) quantify recent land use/cover changes between 2006 and 2013 using the USDA CDL; (iii) determine where and at what rates corn and soybean expansion has occurred between 2006 and 2013 by analyzing crop-specific satellite imagery of the USDA CDL; and (iv) examine and measure biannual crop rotation sequences between corn and soybean during 2006–2013 from the USDA CDL
Considering crop rotation practices from 2006 to 2007, we found that continuous corn cropping accounted for 32.4% (~72,400 km2) and corn-soybeans rotation was 48.9% (~109,200 km2) of the total corn area in 2006 (Table 6)
Summary
The world population of 7.2 billion in mid-2013 is projected to increase to 8.1 billion in 2025, and 9.6 billion in 2050, an increase of almost one billion more people within the 12 years [1]. Overall food demand is projected to double or triple by 2050 [2]. U.S fuel ethanol production increased by 731% from 1.6 billion gallons to 13.3 billion gallons between 2000 and 2013 [3]. This large and rapid expansion of U.S ethanol production resulted in increasing demand for corn, the primary feedstock for ethanol in the U.S, contributing to unprecedented rises in agricultural commodity prices [4]. Data from the U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) (2014) showed that the market prices of corn more than tripled in the past decade. During 2000–2013, the total U.S corn production increased from 9.9 billion bushels to 13.9 billion bushels, while the total corn area increased from 79.6 million acres to 95.4 million acres [5]
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