137-11 Site-Specific, Climate-Friendly Farming.



Monday, October 17, 2011
Henry Gonzalez Convention Center, Hall C, Street Level

David Brown1, Erin Brooks2, Jan Eitel3, Ann-Marie Fortuna4, David Huggins5, Kathleen Painter6, Jeffrey Smith7, Claudio Stockle8 and Lee Vierling3, (1)Washington State University, Pullman, WA
(2)Biological and Agricultural Engineering, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID
(3)Rangeland Ecology and Management, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID
(4)Dept. of Crop and Soil Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman, WA
(5)USDA-ARS, Pullman, WA
(6)Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID
(7)USDA-ARS, Pulman, WA
(8)Biological Systems Engineering, Washington State University, Pullman, WA
Of the four most important atmospheric greenhouse gasses (GHG) enriched through human activities, only nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions are due primarily to agriculture. However, reductions in the application of synthetic N fertilizers could have significant negative consequences for a growing world population given the crucial role that these fertilizers have played in cereal yield increases since WWII. Increasing N use efficiency (NUE) through precision management of agricultural N in space and time will therefore play a central role in the reduction of agricultural N2O emissions. Precision N management requires a greater understanding of the spatio-temporal variability of factors supporting N management decisions such as crop yield, water and N availability, utilization and losses.

We present an overview of a large, collaborative, multi-disciplinary project designed to both improve our basic understanding of nitrogen (N), carbon (C) and water (H2O) spatio-temporal dynamics for wheat-based cropping systems on complex landscapes, and develop management tools to optimize water- and nitrogen-use efficiency for these systems and landscapes. Major components of this project include: (a) cropping systems experiments addressing nitrogen application rate and seeding density for different landscape positions; (b) GHG flux experiments and monitoring; (c) soil microbial genetics and stable isotope analyses to elucidate biochemical pathways for N2O production; (d) proximal soil sensing for construction of detailed soil maps; (e) LiDAR and optical remote sensing for crop growth monitoring; (f) hydrologic experiments, monitoring, and modeling; (g) refining the CropSyst simulation model to estimate biophysical processes and GHG emissions under a variety of management and climatic scenarios; and (h) linking farm-scale enterprise budgets to simulation modeling in order to provide growers with economically viable site-specific climate-friendly farming guidance.

See more from this Division: S06 Soil & Water Management & Conservation
See more from this Session: Agricultural Practices to Increase Nitrogen-Use Efficiency, Carbon Sequestration, and Greenhouse Gas Mitigation : II