Project Number: 6420-12610-003-07
Project Type: Specific Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Jul 18, 2006
End Date: Mar 31, 2011

Objective:
Modify existing farming systems and develop new production systems that, through use of conservation tillage and intensive cropping practices, improve profitability and reduce economic risks by enhancing carbon storage, plant available water, and soil productivity and quality.

Approach:
Research challenges include developing integrated conservation systems for livestock-row crop production, integrating residue management and other soil management practices to increase plant available water, improving nutrient use efficiencies of organic nutrient sources, and developing rapid soil quality assessment tools for use in management decisions and evaluating the economics of their use. Three replicated field studies will be conducted on Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station (AAES) facilities: (1) Site-specific agriculture and landscape dynamics of soil quality as affected by management, (2) Tillage and rotation as factors for changing soil quality of a Decatur silt loam in the Tennessee Valley, and (3) Tillage requirements for winter-annual grazing rotations. The research task is not complete until the information is effectively delivered to the customers and stakeholders; consequently, a technical information specialist will be dedicated to transferring the information and technology to action agencies and the general public.