Agriculture Intercropping Land Equivalent Ratio
Sum partial crop land-equivalent ratios on matched full intercrop-land denominators and report signed equivalent sole-land saving; no duplicate alternate LER route or inferred economic/ecological preference.
Description
Land equivalent ratio compares intercrop output with comparable sole-crop yields.
Land equivalent ratio compares intercrop output with comparable sole-crop yields. Every intercrop component must use the full intercrop land area as its denominator for the summed ratio to have the intended meaning.1
Sum partial crop land-equivalent ratios on matched full intercrop-land denominators and report signed equivalent sole-land saving; no duplicate alternate LER route or inferred economic/ecological preference.
When to use Agriculture Intercropping Land Equivalent Ratio
Use this tool to sum partial crop land-equivalent ratios on matched full intercrop-land denominators and report signed equivalent sole-land saving; no duplicate alternate LER route or inferred economic/ecological preference.
Prepare the field, crop, soil or material measurements for the intended period. Confirm units, dry/wet bases and supplied parameters; keep paired observations aligned.
How to use Agriculture Intercropping Land Equivalent Ratio and understand its results
- Prepare the field, crop, soil or material measurements for the intended period. Confirm units, dry/wet bases and supplied parameters; keep paired observations aligned.
- Enter intercropYieldsPerTotalLandArea, comparableSoleCropYieldsPerLandArea using the field table and calculation rules, then run the tool.
- Read partialLandEquivalentRatios, landEquivalentRatio, equivalentSoleLandSavingFraction. The explanation below defines the units, signs, ordering and any flags or placeholder values.
- If the tool reports an input issue, correct the values and run it again. Apply the stated assumptions when interpreting a successfully returned result.
| Input field | Meaning | Value type; see rules below | Requirement |
|---|---|---|---|
| intercropYieldsPerTotalLandArea | Intercrop yields per total land area | list of number | Required |
| comparableSoleCropYieldsPerLandArea | Comparable sole crop yields per land area | list of number | Required |
Pair nonnegative intercrop yields per total land area with positive comparable sole yields in matching units. Total LER must be positive. Return partial ratios, their sum and signed equivalent sole-land saving. A total below one returns a negative saving.
Paired lists must be nonempty and have equal lengths.
partialLER_i = intercropYield_i/soleYield_i; LER = ΣpartialLER; landSavingFraction = 1−1/LER Units, indexing, boundary conditions and exceptional cases are defined in the calculation rules above.
| Output field | Meaning | Value type |
|---|---|---|
| partialLandEquivalentRatios | Partial land equivalent ratios | list of number |
| landEquivalentRatio | Land equivalent ratio | number |
| equivalentSoleLandSavingFraction | Equivalent sole land saving fraction | number |
{
"input": {
"intercropYieldsPerTotalLandArea": [
2,
3
],
"comparableSoleCropYieldsPerLandArea": [
4,
4
]
},
"output": {
"partialLandEquivalentRatios": [
0.5,
0.75
],
"landEquivalentRatio": 1.25,
"equivalentSoleLandSavingFraction": 0.19999999999999996
}
}Limitations and assumptions
Yield bases, periods and comparison conditions are caller responsibilities. The ratio does not establish profitability, nutritional value or ecological preference, and no automatic management choice is made.
Numeric inputs must be finite. Follow the calculation-specific rules for overflow, underflow and exceptional cases. Numeric lists are limited to 100,000 entries; the rules above may require smaller limits. Missing required fields, extra fields, wrong value types and violations of the calculation rules are input errors.
Alternative or Complementary methods
Use Agriculture Crop Yield Per Hectare: Pool actual marketable harvest inventories by harvested area, retaining plot yields instead of averaging unequal areas; masses must share a declared moisture/grade basis. For a complementary task, use Agriculture Farm Budget Gross Margin: Account explicit farm sold-product lines and variable cost items into signed enterprise/per-area gross margin; excludes fixed overhead, financing and unsold inventory, not guaranteed profitability.
References
Similar or alternative tools
- Agriculture Crop Yield Per Hectare
Pool actual marketable harvest inventories by harvested area, retaining plot yields instead of averaging unequal areas; masses must share a declared moisture/grade basis.
- Agriculture Farm Budget Gross Margin
Account explicit farm sold-product lines and variable cost items into signed enterprise/per-area gross margin; excludes fixed overhead, financing and unsold inventory, not guaranteed profitability.