Project Number: 1902-13000-011-14
Project Type: Reimbursable

Start Date: Jun 01, 2006
End Date: Dec 31, 2007

Objective:
(1) Evaluate environmental and economic status of selected farms from the Cornell Cooperative Extension pilot farms using IFSM. Data and management conditions from the CCE pilot farms prior to implementation of improved forage management will be used to assess project "before" conditions. (2) Extend IFSM to alternative forage management systems being proposed for CCE pilot farms by CCE and the farmers. (3) Incorporate IFSM farm-level forage system designs from objective 2 into the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to represent watershed-scale response to potential management changes. The scenarios modeled will be developed in collaboration with CCE, WAC, and Delaware County planning personnel to represent the range of levels of adoption expected and/or desired, and SWAT will illustrate the environmental consequences, at the watershed outlet, of their implementation.

Approach:
Personnel from the Pasture Systems and Watershed Management Unit, USDA-ARS, will establish a modeling procedure whereby the Integrated Farming System Model (IFSM) and the Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) are used conjunctively to address economic and environmental questions at the farm scale, and environmental consequences at the watershed scale, related to transition from traditional confined dairy operations to implementation of improved forage management systems. Establishment of a new modeling system that integrates the farm-scale and watershed-scale models is essential for incorporating farm-based planning in the watershed-scale management programs, such as the Watershed Agricultural Program being implemented within the New York City Water Supply Watersheds, and the NRCS-ARS CEAP effort.