Abstract: During land leveling topsoil of relative higher elevation zones are removed (cut) and deposited in relative lower elevation zones (fill), this operation could have negative impacts on soil conservation and potentially can affect productivity. Although land leveling is an efficient way of increasing water use efficiency and irrigation uniformity, it can be rather expensive and, in some cases, a significant movement of earth may be required. Nowadays, with the technological advancement a new option is available called Land-forming for irrigation (LFI).

Abstract CONTEXT Integrated crop-livestock systems are facing the pressure to intensify worldwide, yet decoupling crops and livestock can lead to specialized systems relying on greater external inputs and potential negative externalities. OBJECTIVE Our goal was to compare rice-pasture, as the business-as-usual rotation, with two intensified systems, rice-soybean and rice-cover crop, to address the following objectives:1) quantify partial carbon footprint (CF) including both crop and livestock, 2) develop a multi-criteria performance index based on productivity, economic, and environmental i