Optimizing Soil, Water and Nutrient Use Efficiency in Integrated Cropping-Livestock Production Systems

The introduction, adaptation and implementation of good farming practices are needed to address the challenges of increasing global population, food scarcity and making agriculture resilient to climate change. These practices are also important to maintain local and national food security and livelihoods, improve agricultural resource use efficiency and provide social and economic benefits. The integration of crops with livestock in agricultural production systems is a winning combination which results in many benefits such as: (1) conserving natural resources, (2) enhancing ecosystem services and environmental sustainability, (3) providing natural pest control (4) improving soil quality and crop yield, and (5) reducing risk through diversification of crop and livestock enterprises. However, many of these benefits have not yet been quantified or clearly understood. Persuading farmers to adopt integrated crop-livestock production systems, and policy makers to provide institutional support for implementing these systems is critically important. Success depends on the provision of quantitative information on the economic, environment and resource use benefits of such systems. ?The proposed CRP assesses?farming practices?to improve the efficiency of soil, water and nutrient use in integrated crop-livestock production systems and?to unlock?the?resources for improving food security. Both outcomes depend on identifying and quantifying improved management of soil, water, nutrient and soil quality, GHG emissions and nutrient losses from animal manure and crop residues. Using isotopic and nuclear techniques will provide more insight on the soil-water-crop-nutrient-animal interactions in integrated crop-livestock production systems.