Project Number: 5358-21410-002-06
Project Type: Specific Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Sep 29, 2004
End Date: Sep 28, 2009

Objective:
The objective of this cooperative agreement is to develop a validated model for determining the multi-objective set of solutions to optimize conservation practice selection and placement at the watershed level and apply this model to the study watersheds in the ARS Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP).

Approach:
The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) physical effects and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) economic models will be integrated using a generic algorithm to solve a multiple objective optimization problem. The integrated model will be used to calculate a set of conservation solutions that address the diverse objectives of multiple stakeholders in agricultural conservation policy and evaluate choices based on optimal trade-offs. The application will be to the ten designated CEAP study watersheds. This is a large computational problem that requires solution on the NFSPRC Beowulf cluster parallel computer. Documents SCA with OSU in support of CEAP Benchmark Watershed Study.