Location: Food Systems Research Unit
Project Number: 8090-44000-001-010-N
Project Type: Non-Funded Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: May 1, 2024
End Date: Dec 31, 2024
Objective:
Execute a multi-location field study to evaluate whether polycultures of cool-season grain crops can improve land use efficiency and resist both biotic and abiotic stressors versus traditional monocultures. Sites will be across the northern US, from Nevada to Vermont, which span a range of temperature, rainfall, disease, and pest pressures. The ability to resist these pressures and improve the utilization of existing agricultural land is essential to the reliability of US agricultural systems as weather, pest, and pathogen pressures shift with changing climates and chemical effectiveness. This ultimately will impact the long-term economic viability of American farms.
Approach:
Cooperator will establish a field study comparing mixtures of oat, field pea, canola, and berseem clover in an irrigated field using locally appropriate practices. Cooperator will collect soil, plant, weed, and disease data using methods standardized across sites. Cooperator will send all plant, grain, and soil samples to the USDA-ARS for chemical and quality analysis.
