Location: Delta Water Management Research
Project Number: 6024-13000-004-070-T
Project Type: Trust Fund Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Sep 15, 2023
End Date: Sep 14, 2025
Objective:
Augment existing understanding of water and soil management in Arkansas cropland to help scale climate smart agricultural practices globally.
Approach:
Agriculture is responsible for a significant portion of anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Rice cultivation has a higher global warming potential (GWP) than most other cereal crops, largely due to the methane (CH4) emissions associated with continuous flooding. To address these concerns, research has focused on non-continuous flooding strategies (i.e., Alternate wetting and drying (AWD); mid-season drainage; aerobic rice; furrow-rice) in an effort to mitigate CH4 emissions and reduce water use. AWD decreased average water use by 23.4% - 53%. This study aims to collect water level information at the field scale in rice/soybean rotation in northeastern Arkansas using commercially available equipment and tools. Collect in-field soil moisture data to confirm and inform soil moisture mapping algorithms. Collect field-scale data on irrigation practices, cover crop implementation, and residue management at the county level with existing smart farm apps to further expand our understanding on the spatial extent of practice implementation.
