Comprehensive evaluation of environmental footprints of regional crop production: A case study of Chizhou City, China

Thanks to Green Revolution, worldwide crop production was significantly enhanced and hunger substantially reduced. However, China's crop production has been developed at high-resource consumption and high-environmental costs, varying regionally in total intensity and proportion of different inputs. Exploring the driving factors for changes in environmental pressures could be a key approach for manipulating agricultural sustainability at regional scale. This case study examined the agricultural development of a prefecture city, Chizhou Municipality, in lower reach of Yangtze River valley, China, over the period 2004–2015. The driving forces underlying the environmental pressures were explored in terms of carbon and water footprint along with reactive nitrogen release, associated with crop production. Analysis of the decadal trend of these footprint indicators revealed decoupling between crop production growth and environmental pressures. This decoupling, however, did not occur in a uniform manner, the threat of high-material input and high-environmental costs from crop production remains. In general, investment, technology, and urbanization accelerated low-carbon and environmentally friendly crop production, whereas agricultural economic level and population size have had contrasting effects. Thus, for sound development of regional agriculture, substantial investments for and with innovative technology should be promoted to improve crop production in the region administrated under prefecture cities. •We show evidence of decoupling increased crop production from environmental impact.•Enhanced crop yields can be achieved with reductions in agricultural inputs.•We propose cost-effective strategies for promoting environmental stewardship.•We highlight measures for reducing agriculture-related pollution.