Location: Adaptive Cropping Systems Laboratory
Project Number: 8042-21600-001-007-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Sep 28, 2025
End Date: Sep 27, 2030
Objective:
Primary objective is to develop and provide decision support for risk management in the form of ground-truthed Adaptive Cropping Systems Laboratory crop and soil models to farmers in the US Midwest. Data regarding crop production and soil nitrogen and water content will be obtained and organized from multiple sources, including literature, farmers’ fields, state and county experiment station plots, and controlled environment facilities. Performance of corn, cotton, potato, and soybean models will be evaluated using this data set. Model will be improved and provided as part of a computerized graphical user interface program to collaborating scientists, growers, and extension agents for evaluating optimum field management strategies.
Approach:
Experimental data on crop production over a range of different management conditions will be identified, collected and organized into databases. Cooperators will be trained on the use of laboratory crop and soil models and use these tools to compare differences between model simulations and observed responses. Discrepancies in these comparison results will be used to identify knowledge gaps within the models that need to be addressed. Collaboration will focus on filling in these deficiencies in individual models as required to improve accuracy over a range of production conditions. Models will subsequently be tested using independent data sources for validation. These tools will be integrated into an existing computerized graphical user interface program and distributed to end-users, including farmers, extension agents, and scientists, for evaluating management options on-farm associated with nitrogen fertilizer and irrigation use and the influence of extreme weather events.