Energy efficiency, carbon footprint, and profitability of winter wheat under different production types and cultivation patterns: A 12-year field study

Sustainable grain production in the North China Plain (NCP) faces persistent yield–environment trade-offs. High–low seedbed cultivation (HLSC) offers yield benefits, yet long-term field evidence integrating energy, environmental, and economic performance across different production organizations remains limited. Here, a 12-year field experiment was conducted to evaluate four wheat production systems formed by the combination of two production types (cooperative vs. smallholder farming) and two cultivation patterns (HLSC vs. flat cultivation, FC). Grain yield, energy budgets, carbon footprint, soil carbon sequestration, and economic performance were assessed to quantify system-level sustainability outcomes. Results showed that cooperative farming combined with high-low seedbed cultivation (C-HLSC) consistently outperformed other treatments across multiple sustainability dimensions. Compared with the smallholder with flat cultivation (S-FC), C-HLSC increased grain yield by 12.1% and net income by 67.7%, while achieving the only benefit–cost ratio exceeding unity (1.06). Despite relatively low energy input (29.23 GJ ha−1), C-HLSC produced the highest net energy output (269.6 GJ ha−1), resulting in superior energy-use efficiency (10.3) and energy productivity (0.31 kg MJ−1). Simultaneously, carbon performance improved markedly, with the lowest grain-scaled carbon footprint (0.66 kg CE kg−1) and the greatest annual soil organic carbon sequestration (698.0 kg CO2-eq ha−1). These improvements indicate that enhanced productivity diluted energy and carbon intensity while coordinated farm management improved operational efficiency and economic returns. Overall, the C-HLSC pattern therefore represents a practical pathway for advancing energy-efficient and low-carbon wheat production, providing empirical support for policies promoting cooperative farming and resource-efficient cultivation strategies in the NCP and comparable agroecosystems worldwide.