Location: Agroecosystem Management Research
Project Number: 3042-21660-001-016-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Jun 15, 2026
End Date: Jun 14, 2028
Objective:
Soil sampling for regulation, verification and monitoring is time consuming and labor intensive. Current best practices in agriculture use a standard grid sampling of 1 point per area (e.g. 2.5-acres). While this uniform grid sample is straight forward, it is often inefficient leading to extra costs. Cooperator has demonstrated that soil carbon, soil nitrogen and soil hydraulic properties can be more effectively sampled (reductions of up to 90% compared to uniform 2.5-acre grid) by incorporating geophysical layers and statistical techniques like Empirical Orthogonal Functions. Currently, software lead by the USDA Soil Salinity lab (ESAP) is available to incorporate an electrical conductivity map to select sample locations for soil salinity testing. In partial response to this need, Cooperator led the development of SSPOT version 1.0 (https://sspot.scinet.usda.gov/) which included some basic functionality. However additional algorithm development and updates need to be implemented in version 2.0.
Approach:
In this work, Cooperator will update the desktop software tool SSPOT version 1.0. This includes incorporating a third sampling option using a clustering algorithm developed and published by the Cooperator to identify smart sampling locations. The updated version 2.0 will allow the user to input spatial layers such electrical conductivity survey (GPS locations and conductivity), digital elevation model (GPS locations and elevation), and crop yield to use as the base information for the clustering algorithm. The clustering algorithm will then be available as a third option in addition to the uniform sampling and soil zone sampling options. The postdoc and consultant will work with USDA and ESRI staff for code implementation and compliance.