Teams

Field Research

Nitrogen Cycling

Pest Interactions

Goal: determine how grass and legume cover crops impact soil N cycling and optimum N fertilizer management for the subsequent crop.

Goal: quantify how timing of cereal rye termination influences pest (insects and slugs), disease, and weed populations in the subsequent corn cash crop.

On-Farm Network

Goal: deploy common research protocols studying the short-term effects of cover crops on farms that currently grow cover crops, but may differ in management.

Processes and Tools

Data Flow

Decision Support Tools

Goal: oversee the operations of data collection, structure, and data management and provide support to the whole PSA Network from data collection to data visualizations.

Goal: develop and refine tools designed to simplify decision-making related to cover crops in the areas of species selection and management, nutrient and water management, and economics.

Remote Sensing

Modeling

Goal: facilitate the use of remote sensing technologies (e.g., satellites, sensor boxes) to minimize the need for destructive field sampling.

Goal: develop, calibrate, and validate models relating cover crop performance to biotic and abiotic factors using data from the PSA field experiments.

Human - Cover Crop Interface

Education

Extension

Goal: create and deliver a novel multi-institution, multi-region upper-level undergraduate course centered on cover crops.

Goal: effectively integrate CC research and practice by engaging stakeholders as collaborators and exchanging information in a variety of ways.

Social Science

Goal: determine the effectiveness of a cover crop information ecology for participatory research and practice.