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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Sustainable Agricultural Systems Laboratory » Research » Research Project #430574

Research Project: Water: The Story that will Finally push Cover Adoption in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic

Location: Sustainable Agricultural Systems Laboratory

Project Number: 8042-21660-005-037-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Apr 1, 2016
End Date: Sep 30, 2019

Objective:
1. Demonstrate the role of cover crop surface mulches in mitigating soil nitrogen dynamics and water availability and subsequent drought stress and yield in cash crops grown on farms throughout the mid-Atlantic and Southeastern U.S. 2. Deploy models both on the web and through extension outlets that show how timing of cover crop management impacts soil water budgets and nitrogen dynamics for each region and soil type in the mid Atlantic and Southeast.

Approach:
The Location is engaged in research including University of Maryland. Under the authority of 7 USC 3319a, ARS desires to acquire goods and personnel services from the Cooperator to further agricultural research supporting the independent interests of both parties. This Agreement serves as an order for services to be funded on an annual basis. Project will involve collecting soil water and N availability data on-station and on-farm across a wide range of crop management histories. Empirically derived data will be used to validate existing process-based models. Poor model fit will be addressed through additional empirical studies to improve model parameters.