UNL Research Shows High-Input Agriculture Systems Are Better

Two University of Nebraska-Lincoln researchers, Ken Cassman and Patricio Grassini, proved false a popular belief that high-input agricultural systems are harmful to the environment, according to the Daily Nebraskan. The pair recently co-authored an article titled, “High-yield Maize With Large Net Energy Yield & Small Global Warming Intensity”, which can be found at pnas.org.

Cassman and Grassini’s research shows that Nebraska corn grown by an irrigated system contributes to efficient energy, water and fertilizer usage. The fear of greenhouse gases and the desire to “go green” by taking measures to benefit and protect the environment are prevalent sentiments in American culture.

Cassman said all production industries are being faced with the challenge of improving their impact on the environment, and this extends past agriculture into other sectors like transportation and energy. It was previously believed that using high-input agricultural systems to produce crops would also produce more greenhouse gases and was dangerous for the environment; Cassman and Grassini say that is not true.

According to their research, high-input farming is the most efficient way to produce crops because it results in the highest crop yield. Although rain-fed agriculture uses less fossil fuels and produces fewer greenhouse gases than high-input systems, Cassman and Grassini discovered that high-input agriculture comes out on top when comparing the per-unit energy yield and gas emissions.

For the first time, according to Grassini, UNL research on this subject involved primary data collected by the researchers themselves, rather than secondary data obtained from the Department of Agriculture.