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Energy profiles of an agricultural frontier: the American Great Plains, 1860–2000

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Abstract

Agro-ecosystem energy profiles reveal energy flows into, within, and out of US Great Plains farm communities across 140 years. This study evaluates external energy inputs such as human labor, machinery, fuel, and fertilizers. It tracks the energy content of land produce, including crops, grazed pasture, and firewood, and also accounts unharvested energy that remains available for wildlife. It estimates energy redirected through livestock feed into draft power, meat, and milk, and estimates the energy content of final produce available for local consumption or market sale. The article presents energy profiles for three case studies in Kansas in 1880, 1930, 1954, and 1997. Two energy transformations occurred during that time. The first, agricultural colonization, saw farm communities remake the landscape, turning native grassland into a mosaic of cropland and pasture, a process that reduced overall landscape energy productivity. A second energy transition occurred in the mid-twentieth century, characterized by fossil fuel energy imports. That outside energy raised harvested and unharvested energy flows, reused biomass energy, and also final produce. This socio-ecological transition increased landscape energy productivity by 33 to 45% above presettlement conditions in grain-growing regions. These energy developments were not uniform across the plains. Variations in rainfall and soil quality constrained or favored energy productivity in different places. The case studies reveal the spatial variation of energy profiles in Great Plains agro-ecosystems, while the longitudinal approach tracks temporal change.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada’s Partnership Grant 895-2011-1020 and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, U.S. National Institutes of Health grants R01 HD033554 and R01 HD044889. Thanks to Simone Gingrich, Fridolin Krausmann, members of the Sustainable Farm Systems project and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments.

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Appendix: Sources and Methods

Appendix: Sources and Methods

Historical energy profiles depend on aggregate county-level data from agricultural censuses (U.S. Bureau of the Census 1880, 1930, 1954, 1997) that report crop area and production, number of livestock and machinery, and amount of irrigation and fertilizer use. With harvest index values and energy conversion factors, it is possible to convert reported harvests into energy equivalents. For example, according to Guzman Casado et al. (2014), heritage varieties of corn had a harvest index of 1.22 kg of residues for every 1 kg of grain produced. The grain had a gross fresh weight energy content of 14.44 MJ/kg and the residues 15.48 MJ/kg. The 1880 census reports that farmers in Nemaha County harvested 2.1 million bushels of corn that year. By converting to kilograms, multiplying by the energy coefficient, and separating grain from residues, it is possible to estimate that land planted in corn produced 774 GJ of energy in grain and another 892 GJ in residues. Similar calculations for all crops, plus grazed native grass, hay, and firewood, produce an estimate of Land Produce—all the energy flowing from croplands, pastures, and woodlands.

With census data about the number of horses, mules, swine, poultry, and milk and beef cows, it is possible to estimate energy flows through livestock. A feed balance approach relies on scientific literature about livestock feed, forage, and bedding requirements, based on monthly variations in draft animal workloads, fattening schedules, and milk production. It is assumed that farmers met livestock needs first from local crop production. Feed shortfalls must have been imported from outside the county. These flows are converted to their intrinsic energy equivalencies based on gross calorific values, measured in joules.

The energy content of native pasture comes from grass productivity reported in modern soil surveys (Neill 1974; Hamilton et al. 1989; Kutnink et al. 1982). Per-area calculations for the entire county determine NPPpot, while the same productivity rates applied to total pasture area reported in censuses estimate the contribution of grazing land to LP.

External Inputs are estimated using embodied energy values. Labor is estimated by applying a standard annual energy exertion of 2 GJ/person/year to the number of working-age men and women on farms (Cunfer and Krausmann 2016). From 1930 onward, the census reports the number of tractors in each county. It is possible to estimate the amount of energy expended to produce the steel and rubber components of a new tractor (Audsley et al. 1997), amortized over a 35-year lifespan, combined with the embodied energy content of diesel fuel to run it for a year. Multiplying those factors by the number of tractors, trucks, and harvesters in a county provides an estimate of the machinery and fuel energy deployed in the agro-ecosystem (Cleveland 1995; Miranowski 2005).

The census reports the dollar value of fertilizers and lime applied in 1880, which can be used to estimate application rates (Parker et al. 1946). In 1930 and 1954, the census reported the total quantity of fertilizers applied, but without specifying the proportion of Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium (N-P-K). For those years, proportional N-P-K rates, and the energy embodied in them, are estimated based on national-level data and regionally typical application patterns (U.S. Bureau of the Census 1960). In 1997, county-level fertilizer application data are available from IPNI (2012). Pesticide use is estimated as zero in 1880 and 1930. Pesticide use for 1954 is based on 1958 national-scale application rates on three major pesticide-receiving crops: cotton, corn, and potatoes (Osteen and Szmedra 1989; Strickler and Hinson 1962). Thelin and Stone (2013) provide county-level pesticide use for 1997. Electricity use estimates for 1954 come from detailed information about irrigation pumping needs (Sloggett 1985; Kansas Geological Survey 2002) plus a standard per-farm electricity consumption rate provided by Davis (1956). Electricity use in 1997 comes from the census and the U.S. Energy Information Administration (2013).

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Cunfer, G., Watson, A. & MacFadyen, J. Energy profiles of an agricultural frontier: the American Great Plains, 1860–2000. Reg Environ Change 18, 1021–1032 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-017-1157-x

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