Location: Office of The Area Director
2018 Annual Report
Objectives
Objective 1. Develop integrated conservation management cropping systems that improve soil health, water availability, water quality, and productivity.
Objective 2. Develop integrated irrigation and crop management systems that increase profitability, conserve water, and protect water quality in the Mid-South.
Objective 3. Assess the profitability and risks associated with integrated production agriculture and conservation systems in the Mid-South.
Objective 4. Assess surface and subsurface hydrology, surface runoff, and contaminant transport in conservation crop production systems at plot and field scales.
Objective 5. Develop tools and technologies to enhance the sustainability of water resources for agriculture in the Lower Mississippi River Basin (LMRB) by improving the knowledge and understanding of the hydrological and climate variability processes governing the movement, storage, quantity and quality of water.
Approach
A multi-disciplinary team of scientists will conduct research to develop economically and environmentally sustainable production systems adapted to conditions in the Lower Mississippi River Basin. Strategies will include improved water application technology and water utilization efficiency, and development of alternative water supplies for irrigated agriculture that ultimately consider sustainability of water resources. This research will result in improved recommendations for irrigation scheduling, as well as optimization of the number and placement of soil moisture sensors and distribution of wells. Water management practices such as warped surface land leveling, capturing and storing runoff, and placement of irrigation equipment will be investigated. Research on agronomic practices that conserve water will include improved fertility recommendations for irrigation management, and optimum agronomic practices such as row width, plant densities, tillage, cover crop, and drought tolerant cultivars. Assessment of water quality, contaminant transport, water movement (surface runoff, leaching), and associated processes will lead to a better understanding of the impacts of water management on ecosystem services. Long-term research will help in the development of regional water conservation strategies that provide resilience to climate extremes. Investigations of soils will include characterizing physical properties and processes that control the flow and transport of water, gases, nutrients, and contaminants in the soil. Research evaluating conservation and irrigation management impacts on soil physical processes and soil-water-plant relationships should lead to improved interpretation and application of sensors measuring soil properties (e.g., relationships between soil moisture sensors versus soil type) and improved fertility recommendations for irrigation management. Development and application of modeling tools will help to link irrigation recommendations and rainfall probability in a decision support system for efficient use of irrigation, integrate conservation and irrigation scheduling technologies to achieve both crop production and natural resource protection goals, and enable proper implementation of conservation practices in the landscape. Economics assessments will address connections and interdependence between human economies (e.g., agricultural management) and natural ecosystems, and determine trade-offs between agricultural production and soil and water conservation practices.
Progress Report
This report documents progress for the Project 6001-13000-001-00D Integrated Strategies to Improve Water Resource Management and Sustainable Production Systems in the Lower Mississippi River Basin. Progress was made toward the establishment of the unit through development, submittal and approval of a Program Adjustment Decision Item. Recruiting authority was requested for an Agricultural Engineer to address surface water and surface to groundwater interactions, a Plant Physiologist to address plant/crop water relations and sensing of water and soil fertility stress at the field and management zone scale and a Soil Scientist to address specialized expertise in soil physics to assess management impacts on soil physical processes and soil-water relationships.
Long-term research was established with the Mississippi State University Delta Research and Extension Center in Stoneville, Mississippi, to develop the new Alluvial Aquifer Water Research Center that will be staffed by an interdisciplinary research group addressing regional agricultural concerns to provide more coordination between federal and state scientists. The new Alluvial Aquifer Water Research Center is strategically located in one of the most important agricultural regions in the United States at the heart of Mississippi agriculture and will provide the critical mass of research personnel to focus on developing and advancing new technologies to address challenges of water resource management.
Collaborative research was initiated with Mississippi State University in Starkville, Mississippi, to assess the integration of conservation and irrigation scheduling technologies to protect and enhance soil and water resources while addressing critical water needs of crop production under variable and adverse climate conditions and declining Mississippi River Alluvial Aquifer levels and to quantify wave erosion of vegetated embankments in aquaculture ponds and in a laboratory flume.
Collaborative research was initiated with the University of Mississippi in University, Mississippi, to test a full-scale experimental floating wave barrier in an irrigation reservoir and quantify the relationship between wave energy and erosion with and without protection from the wave barrier. A secondary goal of this effort is to investigate wave erosion of vegetated embankments in a laboratory flume and in an aquaculture pond.
Accomplishments
