Adaptation through diversification: Crop diversity and the resilience of U.S. agricultural yields to weather shocks

Benjamin Ignoto, Shuaiqi Wu, Bruno Lanz and Erwan Monier

No 25-07, IRENE Working Papers from IRENE Institute of Economic Research

Abstract: We combine 2008-2023 county-level yield data with 30-meter crop classification imagery to test whether crop diversity mitigates yield losses from weather shocks. Diversity is measured with the exponential Shannon index, capturing county-level species richness and evenness as the effective number of crops. Two-way fixed-effects regressions replicate standard nonlinear damages from extreme heat and precipitation, but show that each additional effective crop attenuates heat impacts for corn and soybean and moderates winter wheat losses in unusually wet years. Resilience benefits are concentrated in rainfed counties, where irrigation offers limited protection, indicating that diversification can complement water-based adaptation to climate change.

Keywords: Adaptation; Agriculture; Crop Diversity; Weather shocks; Climate change; Extreme temperatures; Drought (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C23 Q10 Q15 Q54 Q57 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 36 pages.
Date: 2025-09
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:irn:wpaper:25-07

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