Data from: Diversified grain rotations can be highly and reliably productive in unstable climates

Data and analysis from:

Ewing, P. M., Chim, B. K., Lehman, R. M., & Osborne, S. L. (2024). Diversified grain rotations can be highly and reliably productive in unstable climates. Field Crops Research, 310, 109361.

Data was collected from the "Alternative Rotation" managed by Dr. Shannon Osborne at the USDA-ARS North Central Agricultural Research Laboratory in Brookings, SD USA. The study was established in 2000 and is a randomized complete block comparing the corn-soybean rotation with some regionally relevant, diversified rotations. It is still being conducted at the Eastern South Dakota Soil and Water Research Farm, also in Brookings. The presented data covers 2001-2016 and is the yield of eight crops grown in 6 rotations of 2-4 crops and years per rotation. Weather data is included.

Analyses in this repository tested whether diversified rotations could a) match the productivity (grain yield) of simplified rotations while b) stabilizing productivity against variable weather in the western Corn Belt. Follow-up analyses look at mechanisms behind observed productivity-stability patterns at the rotation scale.

This is an R repository. See README.md for use instructions. A full and possibly easier-to-use version of this repository is on github: https://github.com/PatrickEwing-USDA/NCARL_altrot_yield