A comprehensive literature search was conducted for major row-crops to develop an open, publicly-available database of peer-reviewed SOC change measurements and crop yields related to adoption of conservation practices including reduced tillage intensity and cover crop adoption. Studies identified in previous systematic reviews were recollected in a manner to maximize information and the potential for relating various outcomes across contexts. The studies included in the database have been limited to include only those that are peer-reviewed, in English, implemented in North America, and meeting some other study quality criteria. Additional studies are added as they become available and meet the prior requirements.
This data package provides a spatially and temporally broad, multivariate dataset designed to quantify trade-offs and co-benefits of tillage (and related) management in North American row-crop systems. This dataset compiles treatment-level means for multiple ecosystem services, especially crop yield, soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks, and, when available, greenhouse gas emissions, alongside detailed agronomic and environmental metadata. Data were extracted from primary studies curated through existing systematic reviews and meta-analyses with a tillage emphasis (Pittelkow et al. 2016, Nicoloso & Rice 2021). However, data was collected with more granular detail, thus representing combinations of practices (e.g., tillage × cover cropping × fertilization) and capturing year-to-year variability. Each observation represents a unique treatment-year combination per study location, supporting analyses that account for context-specific interactions across climate, soil, and management factors. The dataset includes standardized variables describing management practices (tillage, cover cropping, irrigation, manure application, fertility, crop rotation) and basic soil characteristics, alongside coordinates for joining geospatial data layers. Appropriate uses include meta-analyses, agroecosystem model validation, and machine learning applications to explore how conservation practices influence multiple ecosystem services simultaneously.
conservation agriculture, cover crops, crop yield, meta-analysis, regenerative agriculture, residue management, soil carbon sequestration, soil health, soil organic carbon, tillage systems
This is a beta release that contains records for the tillage dataset that have undergone verification steps. Further releases up to the 1.0 version will contain additional records for both ‘tillage’ (management description, yields, GHG emissions) and ‘SOC’ (soil bulk density, organic carbon/matter) tables. After that, we welcome additional summaries for other papers following the aggregation methods outlined here. Contact Dr. Marshall McDaniel to coordinate contributions.