Project Funding: 2005 - 2008

Funded by USDA, NASA

Abstract:
Terrestrial soil carbon sequestration has roles in mitigating fossil fuel emissions of CO2 and enhancing soil quality. Optimizing agricultural carbon management must balance best management practices (conservation tillage, efficient nutrient management, erosion control, use of cover crops and restoration of degraded soils) with potential economic costs of reduced yields, reduced income, and increased risks. The overall goal of this research is to develop reliable tools for producers, consultant and decision-makers that assess the economic and environmental impacts of management decisions on crop yield and carbon sequestration. Specific objectives are: (1) Establish a current baseline for soil carbon (as organic matter) across a swath of the U.S. Corn Belt from an inventory of all available data on soils, climate and cropping and management practices. (2) Develop and evaluate new remote sensing products that can distinguish soil tillage intensity based on the amount of crop residue cover. (3) Assess soil carbon sequestration and crop yields for various agricultural practices using the EPIC-Century model and (4) Develop a DSS for carbon management to optimize farming practices for crop income and carbon sequestration. The U.S. Corn Belt was selected because the corn and soybeans from this region represent 35% of the total value of U.S. agriculture. The proposed regional swath represents an east-west precipitation gradient affecting crop and soil biogeochemical processes, which are also reflected in the variation of soil properties and management practices. The immediate end user is the USDA interagency Conservation Enhancement Assessment Project (CEAP) and the National Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) will transfer this technology to other end users.

Publications:

Causarano, H. J., Doraiswamy, P. C., McCarty, G. W., Hatfield, J. L., Milak, S., Stern, A. J. 2008. EPIC Modeling of Soil Organic Carbon Sequestration in Croplands of Iowa. Journal of Environmental Quality. 37(4), 1345-1353. DOI: 10.2134/jeq2007.0277

Daughtry, C. S. T., Hunt, E. R., Doraiswamy, P. C., McMurtrey, J. E. 2005. Remote Sensing the Spatial Distribution of Crop Residues. Agronomy Journal. 97(3), 864-871. DOI: 10.2134/agronj2003.0291

Daughtry, C. S. T., Doraiswamy, P. C., Hunt, E. R., Stern, A. J., McMurtrey, J. E., Prueger, J. H. 2006. Remote sensing of crop residue cover and soil tillage intensity. Soil and Tillage Research. 91(1-2), 101-108. DOI: 10.1016/j.still.2005.11.013

Doraiswamy, P. C., McCarty, G. W., Hunt, E. R., Yost, R. S., Doumbia, M., Franzluebbers, A. J. 2007. Modeling soil carbon sequestration in agricultural lands of Mali. Agricultural Systems. 94(1), 63-74. DOI: 10.1016/j.agsy.2005.09.011

Doraiswamy P.C., B. Akhmedov, L. Beard , A. Stern and R. Mueller, 2007. Operational prediction of crop yields using MODIS data and products. ISPRS Archives XXXVI-8/W48 Workshop proceedings: Remote sensing support to crop yield forecast and area estimates.

Zheng, D., Hunt, E.R., Doraiswamy, P.C., McCarty, G.W., Ryu, S.R. 2006. Using models and remote sensing approaches to understand the ecology of Landscapes. In Linking Ecology to Landscape Hierarchies. Editors: Jiquan Chen, Sari C. Saunders, Kimberly D. Brosofske and Thomas R. Crow.

2015 NASA Carbon Cycle & Ecosystems Joint Science Workshop Poster(s)

• Remote Sensing for Robust Estimates of Crop Residue Cover and Soil Tillage Intensity   --   (Craig Daughtry, Peter Beeson, Sushil Milak, Earle Raymond Hunt, Ali Sadeghi, Mark Tomer, Doug Karlen)   [abstract]

More details may be found in the following project profile(s):

• North American Carbon Program (NACP) Project Profile