Sustainable cropping systems should be both stable and resilient to erratic and extreme climate, while remaining profitable and providing critical ecosystem services. Stable cropping systems exhibit minimal interannual variability while resilient systems remain productive under disturbances. It is unclear however which cropping system charataristics (e.g., perenniality, diversity, management) contribute the most to stability or resilience. Using a 26-year experiment we calculated food-energy output from five cropping systems typical of the North Central U.S.: continuous maize, maize-soybean under minimum tillage, organic maize-soybean-wheat system, and two forage rotations including maize and alfalfa. We found that output was greatest for non-organic maize rotations, followed by the forage rotations and the organic grain system. Output improved in all systems over time and was more stable in systems with a greater degree of perenniality. Soil health indicators were positively associated with both stability and perenniality. More diverse cropping systems exhibited greater resilience in the face of drought, due in part to having less maize in rotation. Perennial and diverse cropping systems are critical to sustainable food production, especially under increasingly erratic climate patterns, and should be actively promoted by policy.

可持续的种植系统应既稳定又能抵御不稳定和极端的气候，同时保持盈利并提供关键的生态系统服务。稳定的种植系统表现出最小的年际变化，而弹性系统在干扰下仍保持高产。但是，目前尚不清楚哪种作物系统特性（例如多年生性，多样性，管理）对稳定性或复原力的贡献最大。通过一项长达26年的实验，我们计算了美国中北部五个典型种植系统的粮食能量输出：连续玉米，最小耕作下的玉米-大豆，有机玉米-大豆-小麦系统以及包括玉米和苜蓿在内的两个牧草轮作。我们发现，对于非有机玉米轮作，产量最大，其次是草料轮作和有机谷物系统。随着时间的推移，所有系统的输出均得到改善，并且在具有更高程度的常年性的系统中输出更加稳定。土壤健康指标与稳定性和多年生性均呈正相关。更加多样化的耕作系统在干旱面前表现出更大的适应力，部分原因是玉米轮作减少。多年生和多样化的种植系统对于可持续粮食生产至关重要，特别是在气候格局日趋不稳定的情况下，应通过政策积极促进。