Location: Rangeland Resources & Systems Research
Project Number: 3012-21500-001-051-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Jul 1, 2026
End Date: Jun 30, 2028
Objective:
1. Lead efforts associated with an Amplifier Group and AgPICKS (Agricultural Performance Indicator and Context Knowledge System) performance indicators in the Collaborative Adaptive Rangeland Management (CARM) project that provides two-way tech transfer of information to American ranchers
2. Advanced collaborative adaptive rangeland management by providing benchmarks to ranchers regarding their management practices against common metrics in the western Great Plains.
Approach:
This project is part of a larger effort involving the common experiment in the USDA Long-Term Agroecosystem Research (LTAR) network at the Central Plains Experimental Range (CPER) in shortgrass steppe, a semi-arid rangeland in the Western Great Plains where a rancher-led stakeholder group are collaborating with an interdisciplinary team of scientists involving rangeland scientists, rangeland ecologists, animal scientists, and technical support. We will build on work recently completed at the CPER site in the LTAR network. Specifically, this work will address developing an Amplifier Group and AgPICKS (Agricultural Performance Indicator and Context Knowledge System) performance indicators that provide benchmarks to ranchers regarding their management practices against common metrics in the western Great Plains. The intended beneficiaries of this collaboration are ranchers in semiarid rangelands of the western Great Plains that can interact with the Amplifier Group in two-way communications, as well as benchmarking their operation management practices against those common in this region.