Project Grant 20196701929468

CLIMATE IMPACTS ON FOOD AND ENVIRONMENTAL SECURITY PRESENT SERIOUS AGRICULTURAL CHALLENGES. UNDERSTANDING COMPLEX INTERACTING BIOTIC AND ABIOTIC FACTORS AFFECTING CROPPING SYSTEMS PERFORMANCE REQUIRES ROBUST SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL DATA UNIQUELY AVAILABLE FROM LONG-TERM CROPPING SYSTEMS STUDIES.WE WILL DEVELOP A FRAMEWORK FOR ADDRESSING SERIOUS PENDING CHALLENGES IN AGRICULTURE BYCREATING A PUBLICLY ACCESSIBLE DATABASE OF CROP PERFORMANCE AND ASSOCIATED DATA FROM 13 EXISTING LONG-TERM US AND CANADIAN CROPPING SYSTEMS STUDIES UNIQUELY REPRESENTING DIVERSE GEOGRAPHICAL REGIONS. DATA FROM THESE LONG-TERM CROPPING SYSTEMS STUDIES WILL BE COMBINED INTO A SEARCHABLE DATA BASE CONTAINING META-DATA ON SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT ALONG WITH YIELDS, SOIL PHYSICAL, CHEMICAL, AND BIOLOGICAL MEASUREMENTS, AND WEATHER DATA.APPLING STATISTICAL MODELING TO THESE DATA TO ASSESS CROP ROTATION DIVERSIFICATION EFFECTS ON MULTIPLE FACETS OF SYSTEM PERFORMANCE ACROSS SOIL-CLIMATE GRADIENTS. USING MULTIPLE STATISTICALAND MODELING APPROACHES THE DATA WILL BE USED TO EVALUATE MULTIPLE INTERACTING EFFECTS ON CROP PRODUCTION WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF CROP ROTATION BENEFITS (NUMBER OF CROPS, TYPES OF CROPS, CROP SEQUENCE ETC).INCORPORATING THESE DATA WITH THE AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION SYSTEMS SIMULATOR AND STATISTICAL MODELS, TO EVALUATE HOW CROP ROTATION AFFECTS PRODUCTIVITY AND RESILIENCE UNDER FUTURE CLIMATE SCENARIOS. RESULTS WILL BE USED IN SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS AND WHITE PAPERS TO INFORM THE SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY, PRIVATE, PUBLIC AND POLICY ENTITIES ON THE ROLES OF CROP ROTATION IN REDUCING PRODUCER RISK ASSOCIATED WITH FUTURE CLIMATE CHANGE.WE WILL ALSO IDENTIFY SIGNIFICANT GAPS IN OUR UNDERSTANDING OF MECHANISMS RESPONSIBLE FOR CROP ROTATION DIVERSITY EFFECTS ON MULTIPLE FACETS OF SYSTEM PERFORMANCE. THIS PROJECT WILL FACILITATE A HIGH LEVEL OF COMMUNICATION AND COLLABORATION AMONG RESEARCHERS, REPRESENTING DIVERSE DISCIPLINES, GEOGRAPHICAL REGIONS, AND ORGANIZATIONS WHICH WILL LEAD TO ACCELERATED SCIENTIFIC UNDERSTANDING FOR ENHANCED AGROECOSYSTEM SUSTAINABILITY. OPEN ACCESS TO THE ASSEMBLED DATA WILL ALLOW OTHER RESEARCHERS FROM MULTIPLE DISCIPLINES TO ALSO MAKE NEW DISCOVERIES THAT ARE IMPOSSIBLE TO ACHIEVE WITHOUT ACCESS TO RICH LONG-TERM DATASETS.THE PROJECT WILL RESULT IN SEVERAL HIGH IMPACT PUBLICATIONS THAT WILL PROVIDE VALUABLE INFORMATION TO FARMERS, EXTENSION WORKERS, SCIENTISTS, AND POLICY MAKERS SEEKING WAYS TO DEVELOP PRODUCTION AND MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS THAT SUSTAIN HIGH LEVELS OF PRODUCTIVITY, PROFITABILITY, AND ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITYTHE INSTITUTIONS PARTICIPATING IN THIS PROPOSAL HAVE INVESTED SIGNIFICANT FUNDS AND MANY YEARS CONDUCTING LONG-TERM CROPPING SYSTEMS RESEARCH. THESE PROJECTS HAVE BEEN USED TO ANSWER QUESTIONS AT THE LOCAL AND REGIONAL SCALE RELATED TO CROP ROTATION LENGTH, CHANGES IN SOIL PROPERTIES, AND ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS ON CROP PRODUCTION. MANY QUESTIONS ON CARBON SEQUESTRATION, NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT, CONSERVATION TILLAGE AND OTHER AREAS HAVE BEEN ADDRESSED WITHIN THESE PROJECTS PROVIDING ANSWERS UNIQUELY BASED ON THE LONG-TERM EFFECTS. THIS COHORT OF INSTITUTIONS HAS A MUTUAL INTEREST IN SHARING DATA TO ANSWER QUESTIONS ON A NATIONAL SCALE THAT CAN ONLY BE ADDRESSED WITH A LARGE POOL OF DATA.COMBINING THE EXISTING DATA WILL CREATE A RESOURCE MUCH GREATER THAN THAT AVAILABLE FROM ANY ONE OF THE INSTITUTIONS.