Source: TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY submitted to NRP
THE TEXAS HIGH PLAINS: A CANDIDATE SITE FOR LONG-TERM AGROECOSYSTEMS RESEARCH AND EDUCATION
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
AFRI COMPETITIVE GRANT
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
0220792
Grant No.
2010-85208-20455
Cumulative Award Amt.
(N/A)
Proposal No.
2009-03113
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Dec 15, 2009
Project End Date
Dec 14, 2011
Grant Year
2010
Program Code
[94740]- Sustainable Agroecosystem Science LTAP
Recipient Organization
TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY
(N/A)
LUBBOCK,TX 79409
Performing Department
Plant and Soil Science
Non Technical Summary
U.S. agriculture is undergoing radical change as it addresses the global issues of continued population growth, food shortages leading to regional and political instability, vulnerabilities of a fossil fuel-based energy system, depletion of natural resources, dependence on irrigation, and climate change. These forces combined with unstable economics, threaten rural communities and the U.S. capacity for sustainable food production. With long-term continuous cultivation of these soils, organic matter has been depleted contributing to release of carbon dioxide (CO2) to the atmosphere. Soil erosion, primarily by wind, still results in dust storms reminiscent of the dustbowl era. Sequestration of carbon in agricultural soils in this region has historically been of little concern to producers but depletion of soil fertility and blowing soils have long been recognized issues. In short, impending water depletion, negative environmental impacts, volatile commodity and input prices, renewable fuel mandates, and changing crop and livestock industries are contributing to destabilizing agriculture in the Texas High Plains. While the potential to sequester carbon is strongly associated with water, this semi-arid region is positioned to play an important role because 1) soils have been depleted of organic carbon through long-term continuous cropping, 2) many acres are available in this vast landscape to contribute to sequestering carbon, and 3) with impending scarcity of water for irrigation, cropland is increasingly being returned to grass production. More information is needed, however, on effects of these agricultural systems on carbon cycling and the potential to develop integrated systems to optimize carbon capture while meeting production and economic goals. To understand and manipulate agricultural ecosystems to accomplish objectives of sustainable use and soil health including carbon sequestration requires long-term research and a true partnership including producers, industry, local communities, policy makers, and scientists. The existing research and technology transfer structures will serve as the foundation to expand on our current efforts and produce additional data (Objective 1). Under Objective 2, research activities will seek to determine the influence of environmental and biogeochemical processes on carbon sequestration in three cropping sequences (continuous irrigated cotton, irrigated cotton/corn rotation, and continuous pasture for grazing). Initially, EPIC will be used to model the dynamics of the C cycle, but ultimately a new agroecosystem model will be developed that will include the impact of livestock. In addition, economic data (commodity prices and management costs) will be collected to assess the gross margin and carbon footprint of each farming system. Research under Objective 3 will seek to determine the current level of cognitive understanding and related beliefs, attitudes, and opinions on carbon sequestrations within and among stakeholder groups who are likely to be involved in either production-related decisions, information dissemination, carbon offsets aggregation, or contractual obligation verification.
Animal Health Component
40%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
60%
Applied
40%
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
1020110107040%
1024099107020%
1026099107010%
9030110107010%
9034099107010%
9036099107010%
Knowledge Area
102 - Soil, Plant, Water, Nutrient Relationships; 903 - Communication, Education, and Information Delivery;

Subject Of Investigation
4099 - Microorganisms, general/other; 0110 - Soil; 6099 - People and communities, general/other;

Field Of Science
1070 - Ecology;
Goals / Objectives
The overall goals are 1) to connect land managers and researchers to identify viable agricultural systems, and 2) provide the education to extend this knowledge into practice. Specific objectives are 1) Conduct long-term, systems-level research in a partnership among scientists and stakeholders for greater understanding of the biophysical and socioeconomic processes including carbon cycling and sequestration in a semi-arid agricultural environment and to translate this into viable practices. A key goal is to designate our Long-term Agro-ecosystem Research and Demonstration Platform as a permanent Texas High Plains SAS-LTAP site; 2) Understand how agricultural practices including soil nitrogen and irrigation in a semi-arid environment influence soil health and soil organic carbon (SOC) and develop best management practices to optimize agricultural profitability and carbon sequestration; and 3) Determine the current level of cognitive understanding and related beliefs, attitudes, and opinions on carbon sequestrations that create a model to conduct educational and outreach activities Expected outcomes: Objective 1. That through long-term research and on-farm testing, the principles and pathways of interrelationships of soils, plants, animals, microbes, climate, and management can be understood such that desired outcomes can be achieved. That there will be a SAS-LTAP site in the Texas High Plains. Objective 2. Provide understanding of mechanisms and processes involved in short- and long-term dynamics of the carbon cycle with a diversity of crop management strategies. Data and information produced will be appropriate for carbon balance models optimized for agricultural systems found in the Texas High Plains. Results of the measurement and modeling efforts in economic assessments will be relevant to how carbon sequestration influences and is influenced by farming in this region. Examples include: 1) An initial estimate of gross margin for each field. 2) A statistical clustering of fields into the relatively more similar groups in terms of the factors affecting gross margin. 3) An initial pass of the choices most likely to affect carbon footprint at least for each statistical cluster. 4) A first pass full life-cycle account for each field. 5) A statistical clustering of fields into the relatively more similar groups in terms of the factors affecting carbon footprint. 6) An initial pass of the choices most likely to affect carbon footprint at least for each statistical cluster. Objective 3. Deliverables for Objective 3 related to communications and outreach are: 1) Profiles of the various stakeholders will be produced describing the group in terms of (a) their current cognitive understanding of carbon sequestration, (b) their current beliefs and attitudes related to carbon sequestration and its role in agriculture in West Texas and the greater global community, and (c) current levels of trust in organizations and agencies that may be involved in information dissemination, offset aggregation, or contract verification. 2) A behavioral model to guide the subsequent strategic planning efforts in the long-term plan.
Project Methods
Located in the Texas High Plains (THP) near Lubbock, the project will be conducted at the Texas Alliance for Water Conservation (TAWC) Demonstration Project (27 operational farms containing the major crop and livestock production systems) and the New Deal Farm which contains long-term, replicated experiments involving a variety of candidate management systems for the region. These existing research and technology transfer structures serve as the foundation to expand on our current efforts and produce additional data (Objective 1). Under Objective 2, research activities will seek to determine the influence of environmental and biogeochemical processes on carbon sequestration in three cropping sequences (continuous irrigated cotton, irrigated cotton/corn rotation, and continuous pasture for grazing). Field data will quantify biomass-related processes (crop yield, living and dead biomass, crop residue, and herbivore consumption), soil geochemical processes (water, C & N cycling, C partitioning among soil pools, soil temperature, soil physical properties), soil biological processes (microbial biomass & community structure, soil enzyme activity), and surface/atmosphere exchanges (soil and plant canopy gas and energy fluxes, weather factors). Using sampling procedures that recognizes the existence of a spatial context, the resulting data will be analyzed by assuming that each sampling location represents a population of inference. The combination of this data with the ongoing and previous studies at the New Deal Farm will be used to model the carbon balance of the selected cropping sequences. Initially, EPIC will be used to model the dynamics of the C cycle, but ultimately a new agroecosystem model will be developed that will include the impact of livestock. Results will be expanded from the field to the regional level through the use of land classifications derived from satellite imagery. In addition, economic data (commodity prices and management costs) will be collected to assess the gross margin and carbon footprint of each farming system. Research under Objective 3 will seek to determine the current level of cognitive understanding and related beliefs, attitudes, and opinions on carbon sequestrations within and among stakeholder groups who are likely to be involved in either production-related decisions, information dissemination, carbon offsets aggregation, or contractual obligation verification. Six to ten focus groups in the three county area of the project - Floyd, Hale, and Lubbock counties will be conducted to collect data with a minimum of one focus group with each stakeholder audience within each county. This data collection will be conducted several times with similar types of participants so the researchers can identify trends and patterns in perceptions. The data analysis process will use a set of complementary processes of coding data, categorizing data, and writing informal analytical memos about the data and the resulting categories. These results will be used to create a model that will guide educational and outreach activities that will impact decision-making and problem solving within and among stakeholder groups.

Progress 12/15/09 to 12/14/11

Outputs
OUTPUTS: Sites were developed, data collected, and results disseminated to achieve project goals to study dynamics of C cycling and C sequestration in water limited environments. Two field research sites, established in Floyd County, TX, collected environmental and geochemical data to compare C sequestration and C and water balance characteristics for two dissimilar cropping systems (continuous cotton and continuous pasture for grazing) selected to represent extremes in C sequestration. Sites were fully instrumented to measure all components of C, water and energy fluxes, and to quantify various components of soil C and spatial variability within fields. Biological measurements,(2 years, quantified vegetation biomass production, dead biomass accumulation on soil surfaces and, in pastures, removal of vegetative biomass by grazing cattle. Aircraft and satellite remote sensing imagery quantified distribution and variability of vegetative ground cover. Data analysis allowed comparisons of potential C sequestration within these systems. Studies at the TTU research farm evaluated cropping systems and land uses for potential to increase soil quality and enhance soil functioning compared to continuous cotton (Ct-Ct), including a mixture of grasses in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), a pasture monoculture and a cotton-winter wheat-corn rotation (Ct-W-Cr). Soil microbial communities were evaluated according to microbial biomass C (MBC) and N (MBN), fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) profiling, and molecular cloning techniques. Selected microbial, chemical and biochemical properties were studied (between year 7 and 10) under continuous cotton compared to an integrated cropping-livestock system that included cotton, forage, and Angus-cross-stocker beef steers. Measurements included production of greenhouse gases under the various cropping systems. Preliminary budgets for C and N cycling in three grazed systems ranging from non-irrigated (DRY), minimal (LOW), to moderate irrigation (MED) were examined. Forage (assumed 42% C) consumption by steers was estimated using animal live weights and NRC (1996) equations. Carbon and N retention by steers was estimated based on protein and fat content of gain using live weights and NRC (1996) equations. In the economics component, developed methods sorted operations into coherent subsets that otherwise seem homogeneous. Secondly, since sites that test multi-product systems require inter-annual plans that carry over from year to year, methods to predict single year adverse weather events were adapted to predict incidence of sequential adverse weather events in two or more years. For outreach objectives, a series of four focus groups were held across the Texas High Plains. Participants completed a general questionnaire before each session. The questionnaire included age, production status, area, and water conservation techniques of each participant. Additionally, attendees at the Southwest Council of Agribusiness annual meeting participated in a survey to collect demographic information of gender, age, ethnicity, education level, occupation, and if farming, the size of operation including acreage and number of head. PARTICIPANTS: Vivien G. Allen, Paul Whitfield Horn Profess and Thornton Distinguished Chair (retired), has served as the project director. Dr. Allen, retired in September, 2011, has had responsibilities in forage management and forage/livestock systems with an emphasis on maximizing use of forages for animal production to enhance sustainability of the forage/livestock system, and integrating grazing animals into sustainable forage/livestock/cropping systems. Stephen Maas, Professor of Agricultural Microclimatology with joint appointment with Texas AgriLife Research, served as the coordinator of the soil, water, and climate aspects of this project. As a member of the faculty in the Department of Plant and Soil Science at Texas Tech, Dr. Maas is responsible for teaching graduate-level courses involving microclimatology, crop modeling, and remote sensing. He also conducts research under a joint appointment with the Texas AgriLife Research and as a visiting scientist at the USDA-ARS Plant Stress Laboratory on the Texas Tech campus at Lubbock, TX, where he specializes in the interactions of crop plants with their environment. David Doerfert, Department of Agricultural Education and Communications, has served as coordinator for the outreach and education component of the grant. Dr. David Doerfert's research includes evaluating alternative water policy and law and their acceptance by Texas; information delivery core and digital skills and mass media resources to support technology transfer; and an integrated approach to water conservation for agriculture in the Texas Southern High Plains. Rick Kellison, Director of the Texas Alliance for Water Conservation, has overall responsibilities for the two-county, 30-site producer demonstration of an array of systems monitored in real-time for water conservation and economic viability. Jennifer Moore-Kucera, Soil and Environmental Microbiology, led the research on soil microbiology and greenhouse gas emissions. Michael Farmer, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, led the economic component. Dr. Michael Farmer is an environmental economist working primarily on the issue of water allocation and its consequences on land use. TARGET AUDIENCES: The target audience first and foremost is the agricultural industry in west Texas and in similar, water-limited environments where irrigation has been key to production and historic cultivation techniques and practices have led to reduced soil organic matter and the release of carbon to the atmosphere. This group was targeted through the cooperative on-farm research approach where producers are full partners in research and through the focus groups. Additionally, on-farm field days, and dissemination of information though media outlets, industry involvement, and other methods were employed. Secondly, the target audience is the scientific and industry communities to share knowledge and collectively achieve goals for reducing emission of carbon and other greenhouse gasses while improving carbon sequestration in soils leading to improved soil health. Information was disseminated at scientific meetings and publications in major professional journals. A third target audience includes policy makers and government agencies to raise awareness and to provide scientifically based information on opportunities and strategies to achieve national and global objectives for environmental quality. Through the close involvement of policy makers on our advisory board, the involvement of State Agencies, and inclusion of elected officials in field days and in the producer demonstration project per se, we have raised the level of awareness of the information coming from this program. A fourth targeted audience is the public to increase the level of understanding of the role of agriculture in addressing public concerns for climate change and environmental quality. We target this audience through field days, press releases, information provided though radio, television, and local news outlets. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: The 2011 year in the Texas High Plains was the driest year in the past 100 years. Total annual precipitation was only 5.0 in (12.6 cm) and all agricultural systems were severely impacted. In some cases, no crop was planted and in other cases the crop was abandoned before harvest was even attempted. Lack of forages for grazing prevented livestock from even being introduced into research pastures while produces reduced herds or completely liquidated livestock. The effects of the drought changed opportunities for research as anticipated under years of greater precipitation. Drought is a common factor in this environment but the 2011 drought exceeded anything experienced previously in this region. The research was continued through 2011 but the kinds of measurements made and certain opportunities including planned grazing studies to measure carbon cycling in grazed pastures had to be redesigned or deferred. This research will continue as this region is committed to long-term systems studies to continue these types of investigations.

Impacts
The two years of the project (2010 and 2011) represented extremes in precipitation (mean 48 cm) in this region (2010; 62.2 cm; 2011, the driest year in the past century; 12.6 cm). Grazing removed about 300 g of live biomass m2. Prior to grazing, peak net C exchange (measured using eddy covariance) was around 23 micromoles C m2 per second. Following grazing, about 6 micromoles C m2 per second was measured. During 2010, pasture was a net sink for atmospheric carbon but in 2011, the pasture was a net source for carbon entering the atmosphere. For continuous cotton, peak net C exchange was around 18 micromoles C m2 per second in 2010. Around 970 g m2 of living biomass was produced by cotton by mid-August but little remained following harvest. At the New deal site, soil MBC was higher under alternative systems at depths of 0 to 5 cm (CRP > pasture = Ct-W-Cr > Ct-Ct), 5 to 10 cm (CRP =Ct-W-Cr > pasture > Ct-Ct), and 10 to 20 cm (CRP = pasture = Ct-W-Cr > Ct-Ct). Soil DNA concentration was correlated with key soil quality parameters such as microbial biomass (r > 0.52, P < 0.05), total C (r = 0.372, P< 0.1), and total N (r = 0.449, P < 0.05). Results showed increases in sensitive soil quality parameters under alternative management compared with cotton monoculture. Although pasture had been established for only 3 yr, similar activity levels of beta-glucosaminidase, arylsulfatase, and alkaline phosphatase were found in the CRP land (under a diverse mixture of grasses) and pasture (under a monoculture of Old World bluestem) at the 0- to 20-cm depth. The positive soil microbial responses detected under CRP land, pasture, and a Ct-W-Cr rotation compared with Ct-Ct are suggested to provide early indications of soil quality improvements attributed to reduced tillage, higher residue crops, and elimination of fallow periods for this semiarid region. As management intensity of three forage/livestock systems receiving different levels of irrigation water increased, quantity of C and N consumed and retained by steers also increased. The proportion of consumed C retained and C:N ratio varied as a result of variation in forage quality. Quantity of C and N exported from grazing systems via steers was relatively small compared with that in forage. We improved economic mixture models for better use in applied management for producers and developed a method to estimate incidence of protracted precipitation deficits that local managers and scientists can easily complete with already commonly available MCMC packages. Focus group studies revealed that selected agricultural producers face many complex and intertwined problems - water, legislation, policy, technology, production costs, markets, and outward expansion. Water was by far the most significant concern. Producers are conscious of the depleting water supply, related profitability and issues impacting their ability to succeed but are also concerned with how agriculture is viewed by others. Producers also consider agriculture is a great means of carbon sequestration.

Publications

  • Lisa M. Fultz*, Vivien Allen, Jennifer Moore-Kucera. Increases in protected soil organic carbon found in perennial grassland vegetation as part of integrated crop-livestock systems. Abstracts, Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting. 5-10 August 2012, Portland, OR.
  • Lisa M. Fultz*, Vivien Allen, Jennifer Moore-Kucera. The story of soil organic carbon in the Southern High Plains. Abstracts, American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, 5-9 December 2011, San Francisco, CA.
  • Marko Davinic, Lisa M. Fultz, Veronica Acosta-Martinez, Vivien Allen, Scot E. Dowd and Jennifer Moore-Kucera. 2011. Soil Microbial Dynamics in Alternative Cropping Systems to Monoculture Cotton in the Southern High Plains. Abstracts, Annual Meeting of the American Society of Agronomy, 16-19 October 2011, San Antonio, TX.
  • Marko Davinic, Lisa M. Fultz, Veronica Acosta-Martinez, John Zak, Vivien Allen and Jennifer Moore-Kucera. 2011. Soil Fungal Community and Functional Diversity Assessments of Agroecosystems in the Southern High Plains. Abstracts, Annual Meeting of the American Society of Agronomy, 16-19 October 2011, San Antonio, TX.
  • Marko Davinic, Lisa M. Fultz, Veronica Acosta-Martinez, Francisco Calderon, Vivien Allen, Scot E. Dowd and Jennifer Moore-Kucera. 2011. Aggregate Stratification Assessment of Soil Bacterial Communities and Organic Matter Composition: Coupling Pyrosequencing and Mid-Infrared Spectroscopy Techniques. Abstracts, Annual Meeting of the American Society of Agronomy, 16-19 October 2011, San Antonio, TX.
  • Lisa M. Fultz, Marko Davinic, Franchely Cornejo, Vivien Allen and Jennifer Moore-Kucera. CO2 and N2O Fluxes In Integrated Crop Livestock Systems. Abstracts, Annual Meeting of the American Society of Agronomy, 16-19 October 2011, San Antonio, TX.
  • Lisa M. Fultz, Marko Davinic, Vivien Allen and Jennifer Moore-Kucera. 2011. Dynamics of Soil Aggregation and Carbon in Long-Term Integrated Crop-Livestock Agroecoystems in the Southern High Plains. Abstracts, Annual Meeting of the American Society of Agronomy, 16-19 October 2011, San Antonio, TX.
  • Lisa M. Fultz, Marko Davinic, Vivien Allen and Jennifer Moore-Kucera. 2011. Long-Term Integrated Crop-Livestock Agroecosystems and the Effect on Soil Carbon. Abstracts, Annual Meeting of the American Society of Agronomy, 16-19 October 2011, San Antonio, TX.
  • Frederick, C. (2010). The Attitudes and Opinions Toward Sustainable Agriculture of Agricultural Producers on the High Plains of Texas. Unpublished masters thesis. Lubbock, TX: Texas Tech University. Available at http://thinktech.lib.ttu.edu/ttu-ir/handle/2346/ETD-TTU-2010-12-1127
  • Doerfert, D., Meyers, C., Frederick, C., & Ulmer, J. (2011). The attitudes and opinions of agricultural producers toward sustainable agriculture on the High Plains of Texas. Proceedings, 2011 American Water Resources Association (AWRA) Annual Conference, November 7-10, 2011, Albuquerque, NM.
  • Frederick, C., Meyers, C.,Doerfert, D., & Ulmer, J. (2011, April).The attitudes and opinions of agricultural producers toward sustainable agriculture on the High Plains of Texas. Proceedings, 2011 AAAE Western Agricultural Education Research Conference, Fresno, CA.
  • Sullivan, N., Doerfert, D., Meyers, C.,Irlbeck, E., & Akers, C. (2011, November). The issues that matter most to agricultural stakeholders: A framework for future research. Refereed poster session at the 2011 American Water Resources Association's (AWRA) Annual Conference, Albuquerque, NM.
  • Acosta-Martinez, V., Dowd, S.E., Sun, Y., Wester, D., and Allen, V.G. 2010. Pyrosequencing analysis for characterization of soil bacterial populations as affected by an integrated livestock-cotton production system. Applied Soil Ecology. 45:13-25.
  • Acosta-Martinez, V., Burow, G., Zobeck, T.M., and Allen, V.G. Soil Microbial Communities and function in continuous cotton compared to alternative systems for the Texas High Plains. 2010. Soil Science Society of America Journal. 74:1181-1192.
  • Acosta-Martinez, V., Bell C., Morris, B.E., Zak, J., and Allen, V.G. 2010. Long-Term soil microbial community and enzyme activity responses to an integrated cropping-livestock system in a semiarid region. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment. 137:231-240.
  • Marko Davinic*, Lisa J Fultz, Veronica Acosta-Martinez, Francisco J Calderon, Stephen R Cox, Scot E Dowd, Vivien Allen, John Zak, Jennifer Moore-Kucera. 2011. Pyrosequencing and mid-infrared spectroscopy reveal distinct aggregate stratification of soil bacterial communities and organic matter composition. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 46:63-72.
  • Zilverberg, C. J., P. Johnson, J. Weinheimer, and V. G. Allen. 2011. Energy and Carbon Costs of Selected Cow-Calf Systems. Rangeland Ecology and Management. Rangeland Ecology & Management 64(6):573-584.
  • Belasco, E., Farmer, M.C., Lipscomb, C. Forthcoming 2012. Using a Finite Mixture Model of Heterogeneous Households to Delineate Housing Submarkets. Journal of Real Estate Research.
  • Farmer, MC, Cox, RD, Wang, M and Middleton, M. 2011. Drought and low precipitation on rangelands: a new modeling approach to support contingency planning. Submitted to Range Ecology and Management, Dec. 2011.
  • Weinheimer, J., N. Rajan, P. Johnson, and S. J. Maas. 2010. Carbon footprint: A new farm management consideration in the Southern High Plains. Proceedings, Agricultural & Applied Economics Association Annual Meeting, July 25-27, Denver, CO.
  • Maas, S. J., N. Rajan, and J. Kathilankal. 2010. Closure of surface energy balance for agricultural fields determined from eddy covariance measurements. Abstracts, Annual Meeting of American Society of Agronomy, Nov. 1-3, Long Beach, CA.
  • Rajan, N., S. J. Maas, and J. Kathilankal. 2010. Carbon fluxes from continuous cotton and pasture for grazing in the Texas High Plains. Abstracts, Annual Meeting of American Society of Agronomy, Nov. 1-3, Long Beach, CA.
  • Rajan, Nithya, and Stephan Maas. 2011. Comparison of carbon, water and energy fluxes between grassland and agricultural ecosystems. Abstracts, Annual Meetings of the American Society of Agronomy, 16-19 October 2011, San Antonio, TX.
  • Maas, Stephan, and Nithya Rajan. 2011. Seasonal ground cover for crops in the Texas High Plains. Abstracts, Annual Meetings of the Southern Branch of the American Society of Agronomy, 6-8 February 2011, Corpus Christi, TX.
  • Maas, Stephan, and Nithya Rajan. 2011. Determining crop water use in the Texas Alliance for Water Conservation Project. Proceedings, 2011 UCOWR/NIWR Annual Conference, 11-14 July 2011, Boulder, CO.