USDA partnering with Nebraska Water Center to enhance modeling system

In 2018, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Adaptive Cropping Systems Laboratory entered into a Cooperative Agreement worth $750,000 with the Nebraska Water Center (NWC) to collect real-time agro-ecosystem data to enhance, develop and validate next-generation cropping system models. Based on the information and support NWC has provided to this project, the USDA is in the process of developing another Cooperative Agreement with NWC for an additional $790,000 for the next five years.

According to Arindam Malakar, research assistant professor and co-investigator of the USDA Cooperative Agreement, Nebraska provides a rich resource for data collection.

"Because of Nebraska's varied weather, soil conditions, geography, water supply, crop types and weather patterns, the state is essentially a living laboratory for the many factors that go into crop modeling."

Crop simulation models are important because agricultural production managers, natural resource managers, and strategic decision makers require accurate, timely, and cost-effective information to improve food production, while maintaining water resources, for the nation and the world. The USDA's Adaptive Cropping Systems Laboratory conducts research to develop crop simulators for predicting growth, development, and yield of agricultural crops exploring genotype, environment and management (G x E x M) interactions.

Several University of Nebraska graduate and undergraduate students, as well as postdocs, are gaining valuable research experience by collecting field data from a central Nebraska farm to compare with the USDA's crop modeling system.

"We are collecting weather data and specific crop development data to verify and validate the USDA cropping system model," said Malakar. "Eventually, this research will contribute to a new software system - potentially available online and through a phone application - that farmers can easily and quickly use to better understand and improve their crop management."