*2.1. Site Description*

The village chosen for the study was Wangzhuang village in Quzhou County in the NCP (36◦5155" N; 115◦0206" E). The cropped area of the village covered approximately 177 ha and comprised a total of 540 fields, with an average farm size of 0.33 ha (Figure 1). The village is part of the Science and Technology Backyards (STB) initiative. The STB was established originally in Quzhou County in 2009 by China Agricultural University to carry out specific research and extension services aimed at transferring research technology to smallholder farmers [18]. The main cropping system of the village was winter wheat (*Triticum aestivum* L.) (sown in October) and summer maize (*Zea mays* L.) (sown in mid-June), with irrigation used by farmers on both crops. The soil was classified as silty-loam [20] and no significant slopes were present. The 2008–2018 weather had a mean, maximum and minimum air temperature during the growing season of 9.7, 15, and 4.3 ◦C, respectively.

**Figure 1.** Location of the Wangzhaung village in China (red mark), the area occupied by the village (white polygon), and an image of the typical field layout in Wangzhuang village, China. The fields were separated only by a thin bare patch of soil. The similar growth stages of the wheat plants sugges<sup>t</sup> that planting occurred at the same time in the different fields.
