Wheat Productivity, Profitability and Environmental Performance Under Cooperative and Smallholder Management Packages in the North China Plain

Whether a cooperative management (CM) package can support higher winter wheat productivity and profitability while reducing energy requirements and environmental burdens warrants integrated evaluation. A three-season field comparison (2022–2025) was conducted in the North China Plain to compare CM and smallholder management (SM) packages through an integrated assessment of crop productivity, economic returns, energy performance, carbon footprints and life cycle environmental impacts. Compared with SM, grain yield and aboveground biomass under CM were 2.8–3.7% and 2.5–3.2% higher, respectively. Higher grain revenue and lower production costs were associated with 30.8–38.8% higher net income and a 60.3–72.6% higher net benefit–cost ratio. Total energy input was 14.2–15.6% lower, whereas energy output was 2.5–3.3% higher, with corresponding increases of 4.0–4.9% in net energy and 17.1–18.8% in energy-use efficiency. Fertilizer was the largest contributor to both energy inputs and indirect greenhouse gas emissions. Estimated total and grain yield-scaled carbon footprints were 11.1–13.0% and 13.5–15.6% lower, respectively. Life cycle assessment estimated reductions of 10.1–12.9% across 18 evaluated midpoint impact categories and 11.6% in the total endpoint score, with lower modelled damage scores for human health, ecosystems and resources. These findings indicate more favourable production, economic and modelled environmental performance under the specific CM package and conditions studied. Future studies should validate these findings through long-term, multi-site trials incorporating emission measurements, and soil carbon changes.