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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Madison, Wisconsin » U.S. Dairy Forage Research Center » Environmentally Integrated Dairy Management Research » Research » Research Project #443718

Research Project: Quantifying Soil Resources and Carbon Stocks at the UW Marshfield Agricultural Research Station (MARS)

Location: Environmentally Integrated Dairy Management Research

Project Number: 5090-12630-006-024-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: May 1, 2023
End Date: Apr 30, 2025

Objective:
The overall objective of this study is to quantify and map the soil resources and carbon stocks at MARS using a combination of field attributes collected from sampling and digital soil mapping (DSM) techniques.

Approach:
During the first year of the project, cooperators will focus on obtaining digital geospatial data and digital soil mapping (DSM). A digital elevation model will be built from light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data and used in the map. Soil cores samples from across the farm landscape will be analyzed (vNIR, MIR, and XRF) by the cooperator. Machine learning algorithms will be used (partial least squares regression, regression kriging, regression tree) to predict/validate soil carbon stocks and a suite of related soil properties. We will also partner with other stakeholders to interpret the new soils data generated in relation to the original soil survey mapping.