Kenneth G. Cassman

TL;DR: A doubling in global food demand projected for the next 50 years poses huge challenges for the sustainability both of food production and of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and the services they provide to society.

TL;DR: This report provides a direct evidence of decreased rice yields from increased nighttime temperature associated with global warming and a close linkage between rice grain yield and mean minimum temperature during the dry cropping season.

TL;DR: The global challenge of meeting increased food demand and protecting environmental quality will be won or lost in cropping systems that produce maize, rice, and wheat as discussed by the authors, and the research agenda and developing effective policies to meet this challenge requires quantitative understanding of current levels of N-use efficiency and losses in these systems, the biophysical controls on these factors, and the economic returns from adoption of improved management practices.

TL;DR: It is concluded that major scientific breakthroughs must occur in basic plant physiology, ecophysiology, agroecology, and soil science to achieve the ecological intensification that is needed to meet the expected increase in food demand.

TL;DR: The magnitude of the scientific challenge should not be underestimated because it becomes increasingly difficult to control the fate of N in cropping systems that must sustain yield increases on the world's limited supply of productive farm land.