Skip to main content
ARS Home » Plains Area » Fort Collins, Colorado » Center for Agricultural Resources Research » Water Management and Systems Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #400045
Research Project: Improving Resiliency of Semi-Arid Agroecosystems and Watersheds to Change and Disturbance through Data-Driven Research, AI, and Integrated Models

Location: Water Management and Systems Research

Title: Western U.S. multistate research project on “water movement in soils”: A retrospective

Author
item HOPMANS, JAN - University Of California, Davis
item Green, Timothy
item YOUNG, MICHAEL - University Of Texas At Austin

Submitted to: Vadose Zone Journal
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/21/2022
Publication Date: 12/22/2022
Citation: Hopmans, J., Green, T.R., Young, M. 2022. Western U.S. multistate research project on “water movement in soils”: A retrospective. Vadose Zone Journal. 22(1). Article e20245. https://doi.org/10.1002/vzj2.20245.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/vzj2.20245

Interpretive Summary: N/A

Technical Abstract: To prioritize agricultural research in the USA and to improve its competitiveness globally, Multistate Research Funds were set aside under the Research and Marketing Act of 1946. Agricultural Experiment Station (AES) Directors in the western USA met regularly to evaluate, fund, and review multistate research projects, with membership of AES scientists named by the Technical Committee. This article highlights the history of research collaboration in the soil and vadose zone scientific community that was initiated in the western USA. The scientific interactions that started in 1958 with ten scientists in western land-grant universities and the USDA to address “Water Movement in Soil” have grown in membership and scope through successive 5-year projects. We highlight the value of such collaboration and the scientific advances in soil science and vadose zone hydrology.