Toward the economic-environmental sustainability of smallholder farming systems through judicious management strategies and optimized planting structures

Sustainable crop production practices have become a global issue. However, current smallholder farming systems face many challenges due to the unreasonable structure and management strategies associated with planting crops. Although optimization is crucial, implementation remains unclear. Accordingly, here we investigate three typical smallholder farming systems in Quzhou County, the North China Plain, China, including 100 smallholder family units growing either wheat-maize, cotton, or vegetables. Changes in economic and environmental indicators are comprehensively analyzed through optimized planting structure and management strategies. Results show that although the vegetable system is the most profitable (i.e., by magnitudes of 10.7 and 6.5 compared to wheat-maize and cotton systems, respectively), environmental pressures associated with this system are greater (by magnitudes of 2.2–2.6 and 4.1–5.6, respectively). The Emergy Sustainability Index value was lower in the vegetable system (0.1) compared to the wheat-maize (0.4) and cotton (3.9) systems. Findings highlight that the economic-environmental nexus trade-offs among these three cropping systems under the status quo are highly unfavorable to sustainable crop production. Moreover, suitable management strategies and optimized planting structures can mitigate the global warming potential by 30–57% with a 102–120% increase in profits, which hinges largely on management strategies and targeted requirements. Our multiple scenario analysis shows that achieving a synergy between the economic-environmental nexus among various cropping systems is viable at county level. Results from this study can be used as a reference for other developing regions worldwide dominated by smallholders using various cropping systems to achieve sustainable smallholder agriculture.