Synergies and trade-offs between ecosystem services and economics in dryland cover crop systems

Replacing bare fallow periods with cover crops in dryland agroecosystems can help reverse soil degradation and control erosion but may also result in cash crop yield penalties due to water limitations. Two field trials were conducted on the Colorado Plateau to quantify the impact of cover cropping on crop production, multiple ecosystem services, and economic trade-offs in this semi-arid region. No-till and different cover crop planting windows (fall and spring) were explored as strategies to optimize ecosystem service provision and productivity trade-offs. After three full cover crop cycles (6 years), fall-planted cover crops improved soil structure and erosion control, but associated wheat yield penalties (48% decrease on average) and additional costs caused a 176 USD ha-1 cycle-1 average decrease in net returns. However, including the hypothetical sale of forage (based on 50% cover crop biomass removal) more than offset these costs in fall-planted treatments; with both forage and whea..., Experimental Design
Field trials were implemented at the Colorado State University Southwestern Colorado Research Center near Yellow Jacket, Colorado (37°32′ N latitude; 108°44′ W longitude; 2100 m.a.s.l.) on the Colorado Plateau. This region is semi-arid with an average rainfall of 370 mm yr-1 (yearly average from 1991-2020) and mean monthly high temperatures ranging from 3 °C in January to 31 °C in July (PRISM Climate Group, 2014). The dominant soil type is a Wetherill loam (fine-silty, mesic Aridic Haplustalfs; 36% sand, 41% silt, and 22% clay) (Soil Survey Staff, 2020) with low organic matter content (0.81% SOC) and neutral pH of 6.9. Prior to trial establishment, fields were in dryland, conventionally tilled production since 2010. Additional details regarding field history can be found in Eash et al. (2021), which presented the short-term productivity results of these trials. 
Two field trials were established to compare the common local two-year winter wheat-fallow rotation w..., # Synergies and trade-offs between ecosystem services and economics in dryland cover crop systems

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.6t1g1jxb0](10.5061/dryad.6t1g1jxb0)

## Description of the data and file structure

Two field trials were conducted in Yellow Jacket, CO from 2015 to 2021 to quantify the impact of cover cropping on crop production, multiple ecosystem services and economic trade-offs. No-till and different cover crop planting windows (fall and spring) were explored as strategies to optimize ecosystem service provision and productivity trade-offs. See Methods for more details. 

### Files and variables

#### File: Cover_Crop_Trials_Data.xlsx

**Description:** This dataset contains all data pertaining to field trials and includes the following components:

* **Metadata**: A brief description of methods and units for all parameters included.
* **Cover Crop Mixtures: **Species list for each cover crop mixture with percent contribution by seed weight.
* **Field Data**: All field dat...,