$1 Million Grant to Study Cropping Systems in the Western Great Plains

A $1 million grant from the Natural Resources Conservation Services has been awarded to a group of Colorado State University researchers to examine how crop rotations and management can help improve soils through the retention of both carbon and water on the Western Great Plains — Eastern Colorado and Western Kansas.CSU Soil and Crop Sciences Assistant Professor Dr. Meagan Schilpanski is leading this research project. She shares what they are hoping to gain through the project.
Schilpanski: “So we are working in non-irrigated areas and looking at how we can improve the stability of yields over the long-term in those systems. We are coming at it from the soil perspective in particular. So what are different crop rotations and management practices that will help build soil matter but also be profitable for farmers in that region.”
The research team is looking for additional farmers who might be interested in participating in the project as Schilpanski explains
Schilpanski: “ So we are going to do a broad range of activities we’re working with long-term trials we have both in Colorado and in Kansas — so this is collaboration with Kansas State University as well. But for the on-farm research component, we are specifically looking for producers that are doing some of that forage-mixture grazing within a dryland system. There are not too many folks trying that yet. But we’d love to hear from folks that are just starting into that or who have been doing that for a while and if be interested in participating — specifically in Eastern Colorado, Western Nebraska or Western Kansas region.”
To learn more go to http://soilcrop.agsci.colostate.edu