Location: Water Quality and Ecology Research
Project Number: 6060-13660-009-016-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Aug 15, 2020
End Date: Jul 14, 2025
Objective:
This cooperative research project will provide support to assess the long-term sustainability of row crop systems in the Lower Mississippi River Basin using aspirational management technologies. Aspirational practices will be examined for their potential to protect and enhance soil and water resources while addressing critical water needs of crop production under variable and adverse climate conditions and declining Mississippi River Alluvial Aquifer levels. Aspirational systems will be compared with business as usual systems.
Approach:
Field scale sites will be established on farms in the Mississippi Delta, and plot scale studies will be conducted at or near the Delta Branch Experiment Station, Stoneville, MS, to quantify the contribution of various conservation practices toward sustaining soil and water resources and productivity with respect to row-crop production. Irrigation water management tools are installed to monitor and deliver supplemental water to the crop. Potential treatments include combinations of various conservation tillage practices, irrigation water management tools, and cover crop production systems. Crop yield and management inputs are quantified to obtain economic analysis of the irrigation production systems. Research monitoring equipment will be installed and maintained, including for gas flux (eddy covariance), climate (weather station), and water runoff.
