Location: Agroecosystems Management Research
Project Number: 5030-13000-012-015-N
Project Type: Non-Funded Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Sep 1, 2023
End Date: Aug 31, 2028
Objective:
Assess the performance of mobile soil health kits in the Des Moines lobe and the Long Term Agroecosystem Research (LTAR) field sites under a variety of management systems (conventional and aspirational).
Approach:
1) ARS will order supplies and assemble the two test soil health kits under the directions of the cooperator by identifying and providing the needed supplies and learning how to put it together.
2) ARS will Test the performance of soil health kits under different management practices.
3) ARS and the cooperator will compare the kits' performance with established laboratory methods. The comparison will determine if the test kits have the potential to be a valuable tool for stakeholders to detect differences between management practices and, thus, be effectively used to raise the awareness of soil quality issues in Iowa and the U.S. Midwest.
4) Report results in the form of conference and refereed paper in partnership with cooperator.
