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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Booneville, Arkansas » Dale Bumpers Small Farms Research Center » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #370554
Research Project: Sustainable Small Farm and Organic Grass and Forage Production Systems for Livestock and Agroforestry

Location: Dale Bumpers Small Farms Research Center

Title: A soil spatial information system to aid decision-making in the Central America dry corridor

Author
item FUENTES, BRYAN - University Of Arkansas
item DORANTES, MINERVA - University Of Arkansas
item Owens, Phillip
item LIBOHOVA, ZAMIR - Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS, USDA)
item MILLER, DAVID - University Of Arkansas

Submitted to: ASA-CSSA-SSSA Annual Meeting Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/10/2019
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The Central American Dry Corridor (CADC) consists of diverse ecosystems which mainly present ecological characteristics of tropical and subtropical dry forests. The unbalanced use of fertilizer, the loss of organic matter, erosion and inefficient water management are some of the problems affecting soils in the CADC. The sustainable management of soil and water resources is necessary to reduce vulnerability to climate variability, mitigate the impact of natural disasters and improve the productivity of rainfed agriculture. Soil information is essential for sustainable management; however, the current state of the soil data and lack of information about it limits its use in management. A regional effort has been conducted to establish a soil spatial information system (SSIS) in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua. The main goal of the SSIS is to build databases of geo-located soil observations, as well as digital layers of spatial information related to soils and environmental data. As byproducts of the SSIS, digital soil maps were produced and evaluated by means of computational statistics and spatial modelling.