Cropping Systems & Water Quality USDA Soil & Water Conservation Research since 1929 ARS – Columbia, Missouri
Dec 26, 2015
Cropping Systems & Water QualityUSDA Soil & Water Conservation Research since 1929
ARS – Columbia, Missouri
ARS ResearchinNatural Resources & Sustainable Agricultural Systems
494 Scientists159 Research Projects62 Locations
Water Availability & Watershed Management
Climate Change, Soils, and Emissions
Bioenergy and Energy Alternatives
Agricultural and Industrial Byproducts
Pasture, Forage, and Rangeland Systems
Agricultural System Competitiveness and Sustainability
Water Availability & Watershed Management
Effectiveness of Conservation Practices
Irrigation Water ManagementDrainage Water Management
Systems Integrated Erosion and
Sedimentation TechnologiesWatershed Management, Water
Availability, and Ecosystem Restoration
Water Quality Protection Systems
Total Projects: 39Total Locations: 26Total Scientists: 133
Climate Change, Soils, and EmissionsEnable Improvements of Air
Quality via Management and Mitigation of Emissions from Agricultural Operations
Develop Knowledge and Technologies for Reducing Atmospheric Greenhouse Gas Concentrations Through Management of Agricultural Emissions and Carbon Sequestration
Enable Agriculture to Adapt to Climate Change
Maintain and Enhance Soil ResourcesTotal Projects: 38
Total Locations: 29Total Scientists: 99
Bioenergy and Energy Alternatives
Feedstock Development (Enable new varieties and hybrids of bioenergy feedstocks with optimal traits)
Sustainable Feedstock Production Systems (Enable new optimal practices and systems that maximize the sustainable yield of high-quality bioenergy feedstocks)
Biorefining (Enable new, commercially preferred biorefining technologies)Total Projects: 14
Total Locations: 6Total Scientists: 45
Agricultural and Industrial ByproductsManagement,
Enhancement, and Utilization of Manure
Nutrients and Resources
Manure Pathogens and Pharmaceutically Active Compounds (PACs)
Atmospheric EmissionsDeveloping Beneficial
Uses of Agricultural, Industrial and Municipal ByproductsTotal Projects: 16
Total Locations: 14Total Scientists: 50
Pasture, Forage, and Rangeland Systems
Rangeland Management Systems to Improve Economic Viability and Enhance the Environment
Pasture Management Systems to Improve Economic Viability and Enhance the Environment
Sustainable Harvested Forage Systems for Livestock,
Bioenergy and Bioproducts
Sustainable Turf SystemsTotal Projects: 36Total Locations: 24Total Scientists: 116
Agricultural SystemCompetitiveness and Sustainability
Agronomic Crop Production Systems
Specialty Crop Production Systems
Integrated Whole Farm Production Systems
Integrated Technology and Information to Increase Customer Problem Solving Capacity
Total Projects: 16Total Locations: 16Total Scientists: 50
How We Got Here1929 USDA
Bureau of Soils & Chemistry, Bureau of Public Roads
1930 Bethany Erosion Plots started1933 Dept of Interior - Soil Erosion Service1935 USDA-Soil Conservation Service 1937 McCredie Erosion Plots started1953 USDA-ARS 1961 North Central Hydrology Research Watershed
Added Treynor IA Deep Loess station
1971 Goodwater Creek Experimental Watershed 1988 Merged Watershed and Crop Production1990 MSEA project, followed by ASEQ project2000 Irrigation research started at Delta Center2003 CEAP project
People
• John Sadler, Research Leader
• Claire Baffaut, Hydrologist
• Newell Kitchen, Soil fertility
• Bob Lerch, Soil chemistry
• Bob Kremer, Microbiology
• Ken Sudduth, Sensor engineering
• Earl Vories, Irrigation engineering
Scientific and Administrative Support Staff
• Technical expertise: – Production
operations– Hydrology– Soil fertility, physics,
and microbiology– Water and soil
chemistry– Molecular biology– Machining and
fabrication
– Electronics – GPS– Computer
programming– Modeling– Databases– GIS– CAD– Image analysis– Statistical analysis
Facilities
• Offices and laboratories– Agricultural Engineering– Anheuser-Busch Natural Resources– Delta Research Center
• Support buildings– Field Research Building, South Farm– Tee Building, South Farm– Centralia Research Support Building
Goodwater Creek Experimental Watershed
• General description– Start of record April 1971– Located north of Centralia– Area of 28 mile2 (72.5 km2)
• Measurements and flow sites– 3 stream weirs, Weir 1 remains in service– 3 fields with weirs, Field 1 remains in service– 30 plots 0.85 acre (0.34 ha)– 9 rain gages– Weather station– 5 Groundwater well nests
• Data in STEWARDS database system
Research in Other Space• MU South Farm– SPARC– N-sensing plots
• MU Bradford Farm– Rainfall simulator plots– Kremer plots
• Mark Twain Lake/Salt River basin CEAP• Tucker Prairie, Prairie Fork Cons. Area• MU Delta Research Center–Marsh, Lee, Rhodes Farms
• Producer fields
• Division of Food Systems and Bioengineering – Biological Engineering– Agricultural Systems Management– WQ Extension – Delta Center Irrigation Engineering Extension
• School of Natural Resources– UM Center for Agroforestry– Soils, Environmental and Atmospheric Sciences– Fisheries & Wildlife Sciences
• Division of Plant Sciences– Agronomy– Soils Extension– Delta Center DPS researchers
Leveraging with MU
Leveraging outside projects
• CEAP
• Mississippi River Basin Initiative
• Active light sensing for N management
• CAP biomass proposal
• White River Irrigation District
• Howard G. Buffet Foundation
• Brazil Center for Advanced Studies in Weed Research, Univ.of Maringá
• LTAR network planning