Developing Research and Extension Skills of Students in Integrated Agronomic Systems.

Interest is growing in the use of cover crops and annual forages in integrated agronomic systems to increase forage for grazing livestock and improve other ecosystem services.  Yet, much remains unknown about management of such systems and their impacts on corn/soybean yields, forage production, and soil and environmental quality. Thus, developing student skills in conducting research, communicating findings, and educating crop and livestock producers in this emerging area of agriculture is a priority.  In 2016, with support from the USDA-NIFA-AFRI Food, Agriculture, Natural Resources and Human Sciences Education and Literacy Initiative, we hosted at 10-week summer fellowship that provided a unique opportunity for eight undergraduate students from Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Texas to work directly with research and extension faculty mentors knowledgeable on corn/soybean cropping systems, cover crop/crop residue management, pasture ecology, and soil management.  Students participated in integrated agronomic system and graduate school workshops; toured public and private research and extension centers; shadowed extension educators; wrote Crop Watch articles, and presented their research in an extension event and an undergraduate research symposium.  Student learning was demonstrated by improved performance in pre- and post-fellowship assessments; surveys of students; competence in measuring and analyzing fundamental crop and soil variables; and effective communication of extension and research outcomes in written and oral communication platforms.  Goals for participants in this 3-yr program (2016-2018) include matriculation to graduate programs in agronomy, crop science, or soil science.