Single- and double-cropping soybean production systems in Brazil: EPIC-IIASA GGCM simulations

Soy production in Brazil continues to expand in response to growing global demand. This expansion has been enabled by improved soy varieties and greater agricultural flexibility, allowing for practices such as double-cropping. Being able to model recent past areal expansion and productivity increase of these cropping systems requires a good assessment of their productivity and environmental externalities (e.g., soil organic carbon, soil erosion, nutrient leaching) under alternative management practices. To assess the productivity and environmental impacts of soybean production systems in Brazil, we employed a gridded modelling framework EPIC-IIASA GGCM, based on the process-based model EPIC (Environmental Policy Integrated Climate, https://epicapex.tamu.edu/about/epic). The analysis included key cropping systems and conservation practices commonly used in Brazil today: soy mono-cropping, no-till double cropping with corn, and no-till soy cultivation with pearl millet cover cropping. Additionally, we evaluated the role of irrigation and cultivar transitions as management options to support the sustainable transformation of soybean production. Simulations were conducted on a 0.5° resolution grid covering the period from 1982 to 2016, contributing to Deliverable 6.1, “Non-food biomass production based on biophysical modelling”, developed under the CLEVER project (Creating Leverage to Enhance Biodiversity Outcomes of Global Biomass Trade), funded by the Horizon Europe programme (Topic: HORIZON-CL6-2021-BIODIV-01-15, Project Number: 101060765). Among other goals, the CLEVER project seeks to enhance biodiversity outcomes through improved modelling of global biomass trade. These files are included: 1) CLEVER_BRA_SOY_YLD.zip including 20 NetCDF files containing gridded soybean yield data modelled for soybean production systems, based on the simulation design described in the ReadMe file 2) CLEVER_BRA_SOY_ENVI.zip including 60 NetCDF files containing gridded environmental externality data modelled for soybean production systems, based on the simulation design described in the ReadMe file. 3) ReadMe.docx: Simulation design and metadata description.