Balancing agricultural and hydrologic risk in farming systems of the Chaco Plains

The research analyzes how different crop timing and intensity in the semiarid Chaco affect water stress and deep drainage. While late-summer crops minimize production risk for most of the region, they increase drainage rates. Conversely, double-crop systems reduce ecohydrologic risk in drainage-prone areas. The study suggests that flexible cropping sequences based on soil water content can balance these competing risks.

• Water stress decreases as crop systems are shifted closer to the rainy season, following the order of winter, spring, summer, and late-summer; however, the late-summer strategy, while productively safer, exhibits the highest drainage rates.
• In most of the semiarid Chaco, conservative late-summer systems are preferable due to high production risk and low drainage probability, but intensive double-crop systems are required in areas or years with higher rainfall to minimize high drainage fluxes.
• Implementing flexible cropping sequences that alternate between conservative and intensive systems based on soil water status significantly reduces mean annual drainage in drainage-prone areas, with only an acceptable increase in the mean water stress index.

APA

Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (2025). Balancing agricultural and hydrologic risk in farming systems of the Chaco Plains. https://iai.int/es/pub_acad/balancing-agricultural-and-hydrologic-risk-in-farming-systems-of-the-chaco-plains/

Chicago

Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research. Balancing agricultural and hydrologic risk in farming systems of the Chaco Plains. 2025. https://iai.int/es/pub_acad/balancing-agricultural-and-hydrologic-risk-in-farming-systems-of-the-chaco-plains/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research |title=Balancing agricultural and hydrologic risk in farming systems of the Chaco Plains |date=15 January 2025 |url=https://iai.int/es/pub_acad/balancing-agricultural-and-hydrologic-risk-in-farming-systems-of-the-chaco-plains/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{interamericaninstituteforglobalchangeresearch2025balancing, author = {{Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research}}, title = {{Balancing agricultural and hydrologic risk in farming systems of the Chaco Plains}}, institution = {Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research}, year = {2025}, month = jan, url = {https://iai.int/es/pub_acad/balancing-agricultural-and-hydrologic-risk-in-farming-systems-of-the-chaco-plains/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }