Project Title: Developing Guidelines for Organic Grain Growers to Manage Soil Health and Mitigate Climate Change Impacts
This project is investigating soil health in organic grain systems in Wisconsin. It will help to determine region- and field-specific soil health promoting strategies and improve our understanding of crop climate resilience.
Project Title: Linking Dairy Cow Traits and Management to Manure CH4, N2O, and CO2 Emissions During Storage and Field Application
The objectives of this work are:
- Determine how different starch levels in dairy cow diet impact greenhouse gas emissions during manure storage and soil application
- Investigate connections between cow and manure traits and manure emissions
Project Title: Dairy Water Quality Research Station for long-term nutrient
transport monitoring, modeling, and management for sustainable dairy production in Wisconsin
Nutrient contamination in groundwater has been a concern for Wisconsin residents since the 1960s and the risk has shown an increasing trend over the past decade. A recent article from the New York Times has put pressure on Wisconsin agriculture to reduce nitrate leaching into groundwater. This project installed lysimeters at the Arlington Agricultural Research Station to provide nitrate leaching measurements.
Ojectives for this project:
- Establish a long-term nitrate monitoring system in Wisconsin cropping systems
- Assess the impact of manure application timing on nitrate leaching and crop biomass production
- Determine the effects of cover crops on nitrate leaching and crop biomass production
The outcomes are expected to be: (i) a platform for UW researchers and the state of Wisconsin to build their capacity for collaboration and attracting external funding; (ii) development of best management practices to use fertilizers more efficiently in dairy cropping systems; (iii) reduction in nutrient losses from intensive agricultural production systems to groundwater in Wisconsin.
Project Title: Liquid and Soil Sample Collection and Analyses of Dairy Digestate and Lagoon Effluent during Storage and Land Application Phases
This study will investigate potential environmental factors that could affect emissions during the storage and field (land) application of effluent from two dairy manure management sources, open lagoons (project baseline) and covered lagoon digesters. Effluent from a covered lagoon digester is also referred to as “digestate.” The monitoring and sampling work required for this project will be performed at three or more different dairies in California. This project is in collaboration with Dr. Horwath (UC Davis) and Dr. Zondlo (Princeton University, responsible for GHG and ammonia monitoring).