J Bioecon DOI 10.1007/s10818-016-9242-7 Eco-efficient choice of cropping system for reducing nitrate-N leaching in an agricultural watershed Emmanuel K. Yiridoe 1 · Frederick Amon-Armah 2 · Dale Hebb 3 · Rob Jamieson 4 © Springer Science+Business Media New York 2017 Abstract Eco-efficiency analysis framework was used to evaluate joint economic and environmentally optimal N application rates for alternative cropping systems man- aged in a watershed in Atlantic Canada. Eco-efficiency indexes were estimated as the ratio of economic returns from N fertilizer application to groundwater-N leach- ing associated with crop production. Trade-offs between crop yield and associated reduction in groundwater-N leaching were also estimated. Data for the analysis were generated using the soil and water analysis tool modeling, and allowed for evalu- ating crop yield and groundwater-N leaching effects for a given crop in rotations assumed to be managed at varying N fertilizer application rates. The cropping systems evaluated included: (i) corn-based cropping systems involving corn–corn–alfalfa– alfalfa–alfalfa (CCAAA, and CCCAA) rotations; (ii) potato-based cropping systems B Emmanuel K. Yiridoe emmanuel.yiridoe@dal.ca Frederick Amon-Armah frederick.amon-armah@crig.org.gh Dale Hebb hebbd@agr.gc.ca Rob Jamieson jamiesrc@dal.ca 1 Department of Business and Social Sciences, Dalhousie University (Agricultural Campus), P.O. Box 550, Truro, NS B2N 5E3, Canada 2 Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (Social Science and Statistics Unit), P.O. Box 8, Akim-Tafo, Eastern Region, Ghana 3 Atlantic Food and Horticulture Research Centre, 32 Main St., Kentville, NS B4N 1J5, Canada 4 Department of Process Engineering and Applied Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3J 1Z1, Canada 123