Conservation agriculture and cover crops enhances yield and profitability of grain production systems

This study aimed to verify whether diversified crop rotation systems are more productive and profitable than the wheat-soybean crop rotation system. In southern Brazil, five crop rotation systems with varying levels of species diversification (ranging from 4 to 10 species per three-year cycle) were compared to a wheat-soybean double-crop system over six agricultural years (2017-2018 to 2022-2023, in two three-year cycles ). Yield and economic indicators were evaluated. At the end of the six agricultural years, all treatments were profitable. The highest accumulated profit was observed in the treatment that rotated corn, bean, and soybean in summer with cover crops and cereals in winter. This system was 38% more profitable than the wheat-soybean crop rotation system. The results suggest that crop rotation with species diversification, especially when incorporating cover crops in conservation agriculture, can be more profitable, enhance soybean yields, and require lower investments compared to traditional wheat-soybean crop rotation system.