Water, Land, and Nutrient Use Efficiency for Intercropping Systems in the Dryland Pacific Northwest

In order to feed 9 billion people by the year 2050 current agricultural systems will need major increases in water, nutrient, and land use efficiencies. The monoculture production systems currently prevalent in developed countries will no longer be able to adequately support the population. Intensified agriculture will be required to replace and augment current production system. Intercropping has frequently been identified as a means of improving land use efficiency. To date most intercropping research has focused on grain-legume intercrops in organic systems. However, recent work in Canada and Australia has demonstrated massive potential for spring canola-pea intercrops. The current proposal seeks to intensify current dryland cropping systems through winter pea and winter canola intercrops. We will examine the potential of winter pea-canola intercrops to increase water use efficiency, nutrient use efficiency, and land equivalence ratio. In addition to calculating the resource use efficiencies we will estimate the economic benefits to growers and potential for increases in gross regional production.