Cropping Systems & Water Quality USDA Soil & Water Conservation Research since 1929 ARS – Columbia, Missouri

ARS Research in Natural Resources & Sustainable Agricultural Systems 494 Scientists 159 Research Projects 62 Locations Water Availability & Watershed Management Climate Change, Soils, and Emissions Bioenergy and Energy Alternatives Agricultural and Industrial Byproducts Pasture, Forage, and Rangeland Systems Agricultural System Competitiveness and Sustainability

Water Availability & Watershed Management Effectiveness of Conservation Practices Irrigation Water Management Drainage Water Management Systems Integrated Erosion and Sedimentation Technologies Watershed Management, Water Availability, and Ecosystem Restoration Water Quality Protection Systems Total Projects: 39 Total Locations: 26 Total Scientists: 133

Climate Change, Soils, and Emissions Enable Improvements of Air Quality via Management and Mitigation of Emissions from Agricultural Operations Develop Knowledge and Technologies for Reducing Atmospheric Greenhouse Gas Concentrations Through Management of Agricultural Emissions and Carbon Sequestration Enable Agriculture to Adapt to Climate Change Maintain and Enhance Soil Resources Total Projects: 38 Total Locations: 29 Total Scientists: 99

Bioenergy and Energy Alternatives Feedstock Development (Enable new varieties and hybrids of bioenergy feedstocks with optimal traits) Sustainable Feedstock Production Systems (Enable new optimal practices and systems that maximize the sustainable yield of high-quality bioenergy feedstocks) Biorefining (Enable new, commercially preferred biorefining technologies) Total Projects: 14 Total Locations: 6 Total Scientists: 45

Agricultural and Industrial Byproducts Management, Enhancement, and Utilization of Manure Nutrients and Resources Manure Pathogens and Pharmaceutically Active Compounds (PACs) Atmospheric Emissions Developing Beneficial Uses of Agricultural, Industrial and Municipal Byproducts Total Projects: 16 Total Locations: 14 Total Scientists: 50

Pasture, Forage, and Rangeland Systems Rangeland Management Systems to Improve Economic Viability and Enhance the Environment Pasture Management Systems to Improve Economic Viability and Enhance the Environment Sustainable Harvested Forage Systems for Livestock, Bioenergy and Bioproducts Sustainable Turf Systems Total Projects: 36 Total Locations: 24 Total Scientists: 116

Agricultural System Competitiveness and Sustainability Agronomic Crop Production Systems Specialty Crop Production Systems Integrated Whole Farm Production Systems Integrated Technology and Information to Increase Customer Problem Solving Capacity Total Projects: 16 Total Locations: 16 Total Scientists: 50

How We Got Here 1929 USDA Bureau of Soils & Chemistry, Bureau of Public Roads 1930 Bethany Erosion Plots started 1933 Dept of Interior - Soil Erosion Service 1935 USDA-Soil Conservation Service 1937 McCredie Erosion Plots started 1953 USDA-ARS 1961 North Central Hydrology Research Watershed Added Treynor IA Deep Loess station 1971 Goodwater Creek Experimental Watershed 1988 Merged Watershed and Crop Production 1990 MSEA project, followed by ASEQ project 2000 Irrigation research started at Delta Center 2003 CEAP project

People John Sadler, Research Leader Claire Baffaut, Hydrologist Newell Kitchen, Soil fertility Bob Lerch, Soil chemistry Bob Kremer, Microbiology Ken Sudduth, Sensor engineering Earl Vories, Irrigation engineering

Scientific and Administrative Support Staff Technical expertise: –Production operations –Hydrology –Soil fertility, physics, and microbiology –Water and soil chemistry –Molecular biology –Machining and fabrication –Electronics –GPS –Computer programming –Modeling –Databases –GIS –CAD –Image analysis –Statistical analysis

Facilities Offices and laboratories –Agricultural Engineering –Anheuser-Busch Natural Resources –Delta Research Center Support buildings –Field Research Building, South Farm –Tee Building, South Farm –Centralia Research Support Building

Goodwater Creek Experimental Watershed General description –Start of record April 1971 –Located north of Centralia –Area of 28 mile 2 (72.5 km 2 ) Measurements and flow sites –3 stream weirs, Weir 1 remains in service –3 fields with weirs, Field 1 remains in service –30 plots 0.85 acre (0.34 ha) –9 rain gages –Weather station –5 Groundwater well nests Data in STEWARDS database system

Research in Other Space MU South Farm –SPARC –N-sensing plots MU Bradford Farm –Rainfall simulator plots –Kremer plots Mark Twain Lake/Salt River basin CEAP Tucker Prairie, Prairie Fork Cons. Area MU Delta Research Center –Marsh, Lee, Rhodes Farms Producer fields

Division of Food Systems and Bioengineering –Biological Engineering –Agricultural Systems Management –WQ Extension –Delta Center Irrigation Engineering Extension School of Natural Resources –UM Center for Agroforestry –Soils, Environmental and Atmospheric Sciences –Fisheries & Wildlife Sciences Division of Plant Sciences –Agronomy –Soils Extension –Delta Center DPS researchers Leveraging with MU

Leveraging outside projects CEAP Mississippi River Basin Initiative Active light sensing for N management CAP biomass proposal White River Irrigation District Howard G. Buffet Foundation Brazil Center for Advanced Studies in Weed Research, Univ.of Maringá LTAR network planning

In Conclusion Productive staff with key skillsets Good facilities Modern instruments and laboratories Key long-term infrastructure Many stakeholders Highly collaborative research Access to very large talent pool in MU Acknowledged as productive unit