Transformative changes are needed to address agriculture's grand challenge of increasing food production while maintaining environmental integrity

Changes must mitigate: agricultures high energy demand; impending water scarcity and herbicide-resistant weeds; consequences of climate change (more frequent flooding, droughts, and extreme heat); and decline in soil health, critical for improving soil and water quality. This proposal will address these unprecedented threats by providing the infrastructure necessary to support and accelerate cover crop (CC) use nationwide, thereby meeting nifa program goals of 1) increasing total factor productivity, 2) improving water and nitrogen use efficiency, and 3) reducing losses due to biotic and abiotic stresses. An integrated transdisciplinary approach of research (54%), extension (30%), and education (16%) components will address our objectives to: 1) transform CC data connectivity via nationwide social and technical infrastructure; 2) develop key technologies to improve CC performance, inform management, and determine impacts on agronomic productivity, stability, and ecosystem services; 3) deploy key technologies with CCS to assess abiotic and biotic factors affecting crop performance; 4) transform education and extension knowledge delivery to catalyze CC adoption; and 5) determine the effectiveness of a CC information ecology as a model for integrating participatory research and practice. A nationwide team of dedicated research, extension and NGO personnel from 28 institutions will establish on-station and on-farm research networks, novel teaching curriculum, and extensive social-science based outreach. Our overall goal is to increase crop productivity, conserve natural resources, and reduce our agro-ecological footprint through increased and improved use of CCS.