Crop rotations synergize yield, nutrition, and revenue: a meta-analysis
Increasing agricultural yields through crop diversification may help achieve food and nutrition security. However, the benefits of a transition from monoculture to crop rotation may be reduced if trade-offs exist between yields, dietary energy, nutrients, and revenue. Here, we synthesize 3663 paired field-trial yield observations (1980-2024) and show that globally, crop rotation increased subsequent crop yield, with legume pre-crops outperforming non-legume pre-crops (23% and 16% average increases, respectively). Considering the entire sequence (i.e., pre-crop plus main crop), rotations increased total yields, dietary energy, protein, iron, magnesium, zinc, and revenue by 14-27% relative to continuous monoculture. Notably, win-win relationships among yield, nutrition, and revenue were consistently higher (33-54%) than trade-offs. Different high-performing crop rotations have been identified for several major agricultural production regions worldwide. These findings establish crop rotations as a strategic pathway to enhance synergies among agricultural yields, nutrition, and revenue compared to monoculture, offering scalable solutions for sustainable intensification.
Authors
- Shingirai Mudare (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6352-4886)
- Thomas Cherico Wanger (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0435-1153)
- David Makowski (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6385-3703)
- David Tilman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6395-7676)
- Zhengyuan Liang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1294-897X)
- Fusuo S. Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8971-0129)
- Jingying Jing
- Wen‐Feng Cong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6615-7241)
- Xueqing He (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9530-2030)
- Zoe Sims
Institutions
- University of Minnesota (US)
- University of California, Santa Barbara (US)
- AgroParisTech (FR)
- Université Paris-Saclay (FR)
- Westlake University (CN)
- Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement (FR)
- Jingchu University of Technology (CN)
- Interaction Sol Plante Atmosphère (FR)
- Beijing Academy of Food Sciences (CN)
- Agroscope (CH)
- Institute of Grassland Research (CN)
- China Agricultural University (CN)
- Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (CN)
- Wageningen University & Research (NL)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2025-10-29
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-64567-9
- Citations
- 11
- Primary Topic
- Agronomic Practices and Intercropping Systems
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 20.93
Funders
- University of Nebraska-Lincoln
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
- National Key Research and Development Program of China
- Project 211