Recently, the Innovation Team of Resources Utilization and Regional Planning of Agriculture at the Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning (IARRP) of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) has made significant progress in the spatial optimization of crop planting structure. The research results, titled "A new approach for spatial optimization of crop planting structure to balance economic and environmental benefits," have been published in "Sustainable Production and Consumption" (IF 10.9).

In the context of limited land resources and water shortages, scientifically optimizing crop distribution is crucial for ensuring sustainable agricultural development. Previous studies on optimizing crop planting structure have primarily focused on quantity optimization rather than spatial optimization, resulting in  a lack of clear spatial location positions and layout, with complex processes and numerous uncertain parameters. Addressing these issues, the study proposes a new approach integrating the MaxEnt model, Multi-Objective Interval Parameter Programming (MOIPP), Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), and Dyna-CLUE model. This method spatially allocates the optimized crop planting structure quantities, providing a new approach for spatial optimization, enabling the precise mapping of specific locations for optimized crop layouts. Moreover, it systematically considers uncertainties inherent in crop planting structure optimization, such as dynamic socio-economic factors and environmental emissions effects. By incorporating interval variability and the interactions among variables within the objective functions and constraints, this study advances spatial optimization of crop planting structure under uncertain conditions, providing a more robust foundation for efficient utilization of farmland.

Taking Heilongjiang province as a case study, the results indicate that slope, population density, and mean temperature of the coldest season are the main factors influencing the distribution of rice, maize, and soybeans, respectively. Highly suitable areas for rice cultivation account for 10.3% of the province's land area, mainly concentrated in the Three Rivers Plain. Comparing the optimized simulated optimal planting structure with the 2021 baseline year, it was found that economic benefits may decrease by 1.7% to 4.2%, the crop carbon footprint could be reduced by 9.3% to 10.7%. These findings highlight the importance of balancing economic and environmental benefits in optimizing crop structure, advancing research from quantity optimization of crop planting structure to spatial optimization.

Assistant Researcher Hu Mengmeng from the IARRP is the first author of this paper, with Researcher Yu Qiangyi and Researcher Wu Wenbin as the co-corresponding authors. The research was funded by the National Key Laboratory for Efficient Utilization of Dryland and Semi-arid Farmland in Northern China, the National Natural Science Foundation, and the National Key Research and Development Program.

Original Article Link:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352550924003464#f0005