Crop yield
hideIn agriculture, crop yield (also known as "agricultural output") is not only a measure of the yield of cereal per unit area of land under cultivation, it is also the seed generation of the plant itself, i.e. one grain of wheat produces a stalk yielding three grain, or 1:3. The figure, 1:3 is considered by agronomists as the minimum required to substain human life: one of the three seeds must be set aside for the next planting season, the remaining two either consumed by the grower, or one for human consumption and the other for livestock feed.
Historically speaking, a major increase in crop yield took place in the early eighteenth century with the end of the ancient, wasteful cycle of the three course system of crop rotation whereby a third of the land laid fallow every year -- and hence taken out of human food, and animal feed, production. It was to be replaced by the four-course system of crop rotation, devised in England in 1730 by Viscount Charles Townshend or "Turnip" Townshend during the British Agricultural Revolution as he was called by his early, but quickly converted, detractors. Both simple and obvious in hindsight, the new procedure was nothing short of revolutionary. In the first year wheat or oats were planted; in the second year barley or oats; in the third year clover, rye, rutabaga and/or kale was planted; in the fourth year turnips were planted but not harvested. Instead, sheep were driven on to the turnip fields to eat the crop, trample the leavings under their feet into the soil, and by doing all this, the sheep also fertilized the land with their droppings. In the fifth year (or first year of the new rotation), the cycle began once more with a planting of wheat or oats, in an average, a thirty percent increased yield.
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News tagged with crop yields
U.S. Crop Yields Could Wilt in Heat
Aug 24, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Yields of three of the most important crops produced in the United States - corn, soybeans and cotton - are predicted to fall off a cliff if temperatures rise due to climate change.
More food at lower cost: Important step forward towards increasing crop yields
Biology /
Dec 14, 2008 |
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In the face of climate change, being able to increase crop yields by enabling plants to take up nutrients and water more efficiently becomes increasingly important, as fertiliser and water supplies incur significant ...
Farmers warned to get ready as climate change threatens crops
Sep 07, 2009 |
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Even if global temperatures rise slowly, climate change could slash the yields of some of the world's most important crops almost in half, according to a new study co-authored by an N.C. State University scientist.
Natural seed treatment could drastically cut pesticide use
Jun 08, 2009 |
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The technology - which makes plants significantly more resistant to pests - has now been licensed for use by US agricultural company Becker Underwood in collaboration with Plant Bioscience Limited.
New study: Farmers protecting and growing significant amount of world's trees
Aug 24, 2009 |
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Although agriculture, particularly in the developing world, is often associated with massive deforestation, scientists from the World Agroforestry Centre demonstrated today, in a study using detailed satellite imagery, that ...
Greatest thing since sliced bread: New data offer important clues toward improving wheat yields
Mar 10, 2009 |
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Breed a better crop of wheat? That's exactly what a team of researchers from Kansas State University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture hope their research will lead to. In their study, appearing in the March 2009 issue ...
Researchers find long awaited key to creating drought resistant crops
Dec 03, 2009 |
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Van Andel Research Institute (VARI) researchers have determined precisely how the plant hormone abscisic acid (ABA) works at the molecular level to help plants respond to environmental stresses such as drought and cold. ...
