USDA grant boosts climate-smart agriculture practices
The $1 million grant to the Eastern Shore Agricultural Research and Extension Center aims to increase resiliency to short-term droughts, showcase cover crops, and increase farm efficiencies.
Mark Reiter the director of the Eastern Shore Agricultural Research and Extension Center, studies wheat at the AREC. Photo by Sam Dean Photography.
Virginia Tech researchers launched a project to integrate climate-smart technologies that focuses on cover crops and precision tillage. This initiative aims to bolster resilience against short-term droughts, enhance soil health, and significantly reduce atmospheric carbon levels.
The project, led by Mark Reiter, the director of the Eastern Shore Agricultural Research and Extension Center and a professor of soils and nutrient management in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, seeks to demonstrate the effectiveness of integrating cover crops and precision tillage as key climate-smart technologies.
A team of Virginia Cooperative Extension specialists will monitor all aspects of the farming system. The researcher team includes Doug Higgins, an assistant professor of plant pathology, Vijay Singh, an assistant professor of weed science, and Emmanuel Torres Quezada, an assistant professor of Horticulture, all stationed at the Eastern Shore AREC. Helene Doughty, an Agriculture and Natural Resources Extension agent with Northampton County Cooperative Extension will provide entomology support.
A $1 million grant from the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service supports the innovative research.
The research could increase agricultural resilience to environmental challenges, particularly short-term droughts that have become more frequent.
A core aspect of the project involves the in-depth analysis of in-field data layers, including soil mapping, moisture levels, and compaction. This data will be linked with soil health parameters and extensive surveys on diseases, insects, and weeds. The ultimate goal is to quantify the impact of different management systems on cash crop yield.
Additionally, the project places significant emphasis on cover crop biomass. By combining the data with real-time carbon dioxide measurements and tillage data, the team hopes to quantify the carbon savings and sequestration benefits attributed to these smart farming practices.
Precision tillage, which involves the strategic and minimal disturbance of soil, could help reduce emissions and promote carbon sequestration.
By integrating climate-smart methodologies and technologies outlined in the research project, crop yields and soil health could also be improved, which could increase economic returns for producers and contributes to the effort to improve agricultural output across the globe.
