Alternative Cropping Systems for Low-input Agriculture in the Northeast

Alternative Cropping Systems for Low-input Agriculture in the Northeast

Summary

Continuation of an ongoing LISA extension and applied research program is proposed to provide farmers with crop production practices that reduce chemical inputs, and conserve energy and natural resources while sustaining agricultural profitability. Cooperating institutions are Cornell University, Rodale Research Center, Pennsylvania State University and USDA/ARS. Field experiments in New York and Pennsylvania provide the foundation for an extension program and an interdisciplinary research effort in low-input agriculture.

The research program consists of ongoing long-term experiments in New York and Pennsylvania that provide data for the extension program. The experiments concern cropping systems based on alternative practices. These experiments allow evaluation of the effects of alternative systems on nutrient utilization, crop growth, the soil-root environment, pest levels, soil cover and farm profits.

The extension program consists of: 1) field-scale trials in which conventional practices are compared with alternative practices; and 2) an educational program directed at farmers and extension agents which presents information from past and ongoing research that can be used in sustainable cropping systems.

Funding is requested for an additional three years in order to develop a significant data base from the on-farm trials and to allow the long-term experiments to complete one crop rotation cycle.

Objectives

The overall objective is to develop an extension and applied research program that provides farmers with viable crop production practices that reduce off-farm inputs while maintaining productivity and conserving the natural resource base. Considerable research data on individual components of reduced-input systems (i.e. tillage, manure management, interseeding and cover crops) is available, but research integrating these practices into a cropping management strategy is lacking. Extension programs have not been developed to present low-input systems to farmers.

Specific objectives of the extension program are to:

(1) Establish field-scale trials comparing conventional with low-input practices;

(2) Review, consolidate and extend to farmers and county extension agents information from past and ongoing research on alternative cropping systems which maintain net farm income;

(3) Continue field-scale trials comparing conventional with low-input practices; and

(4) Review, consolidate and extend to farmers and county extension agents information from past and ongoing research on alternative cropping systems which maintain new farm income.

Specific objectives of the research program are to:

(5) Determine effects of alternative cropping systems under several tillage, weed control, manure and cover crop practices on nutrient utilization, crop growth, and changes in soil cover, pest levels, and the soil-root environment;

(6) Utilize information on N dynamics within different cropping systems to maximize the supply of N to crops while reducing losses from the soil-plant system; and

(7) Evaluate effects of alternative cropping systems on transitional and steady state farm income for representative farms. This research is intended to increase our understanding of cropping practices and the mechanisms of their interactions so that we can improve the efficiency and sustainability of cropping systems. Results from this research with implications for additional research outside the scope of this project are and will be thoroughly explored by these cooperators in concomitant research funded by other sources.