Progress 05/01/15 to 04/30/20
Outputs
Target Audience:During the fifth and final (NCE-period)year of the project, we shifted toward sharing our results to other scientists and conservation professionals through peer-reviewed publications. We also shared results withwith farmers and policy makers within the state of Vermont through state-level meetings, and one extension-style publication,discussing water quality, provision of ecosystem services, andagricultural conservation. We also shared preliminary results through an on-campus seminar to the university community (students, faculty, and staff). Agricultural service providers and the general public were also targeted with a 'As if You Were There' 360 Demonstration website, hosted on the USDA Northeast Climate Hub website. This website provided general information on the project, panoramic photos of the research sites, and links to additional information and products resulting from the project. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project has enabled the second year of training and professional development of a graduate student in pursuit of a master's degree. In addition, the project supported a doctoral student during the second year of her studies. She will be focusing a chapter of her dissertation on Objective #3. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We continue to share results with academics at several regional and national conferences, as well as at state-level meetings of policy-makers that are alsoattended by agricultural service providers, farmers, and agency personnel. An extension-style fact sheet was also published and distributed via UVM website and at in-person meetings. Multiple peer-reviewed journal articles have been published with a primary audience of scientists and conservation professionals. Finally, two web pages discussing the projectintended primarily for extension personnel have been created and maintained. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Accomplishments for Objective #1: During this no-cost extension period of the project, all alternative management systems were continued at the participating farms, but monitoring activites ended the previous year.Accomplishments for Objective #2 & 3: Edge of field runoff monitoring equipment was decommissioned at the sites. At the hay landuse site, where aeration before manure application was evaluated, findings included that aeration reduced total suspended solids, total P, total N, and total dissolved N mean runoff-event concentrations by 22, 32, 25, and 34%, respectively. Event mean surface runoff volume increased by 16% due to aeration, resulting in no significant reductions in nutrient load exports during non-winter runoff events. However, total P and total dissolved P loads were significantly reduced during large winter thaw events, often occurring months after aeration took place. Potential increases in surface and subsurface hydrologic flows that accompany nutrient export reductions should be considered before implementation of soil aeration on haylands with high runoff producing soils in cold climate regions. Wicking lysimeters data are currently being analyzed, and another journal article is in preparation. Key findings were that the load of P increased in proportion to the volume of leachate, and the majority of leaching occurred during the winter (non-growing) months. Two other journal articles are also in preparation. One focuses on the tradeoffs that exist between the socio-economic factors and the potential water quality gains (or losses), and the climate change mitigation benefits of a particular conservation practice (specifically, a suite of soil-health practices). Another journal article is being prepared that presents findings of a seasonal analysis of GHG emissions on the study fields, considering timing of manure application. Accomplishments for Objective #4: Three journal articles have been accepted for publication related to this objective, and one other is currently under review. The student using the APEX model utilized data produced by the project to calibrate and validate a model, and then to predict how climate change scenarios would affect corn silage production and nutrient runoff in the region in the future. These findings include that raising temperatures by 2° C, combined with increasing total precipitation or changing the seasonality of precipitation, had relatively modest effects on any water quality outcome (<10% change in median values). However, a combination of higher temperatures and more intense precipitation led to increased runoff volumes and larger soil and nutrient losses. While median values increased comparatively little in this situation, the 95%-ile and total losses rose by a larger amount (as much as 53%, depending on the site). This suggests that management practices adapted to reducing runoff etc. in extreme precipitation events will be valuable in the coming years. Corn silage yields changed by <10% in all simulations, and in some cases increased slightly. However, modeling that includes many additional factors that can reduce yields (such as new pests, or delays to farm operations in wet conditions) is needed for a more complete understanding of how climate change may affect the viability of forage production on dairy farms in this region.
Publications
- Type:
Theses/Dissertations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Twombly, Cameron Robert. Edge-of-Field Hydrology and Nutrient Fluxes within Northeastern Agroecosystems: Evaluation of Alternative Management Practices and Water Quality Models. ScholarWorks @ UVM, 2019. Web.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
White, A. and J.W. Faulkner. 2019. Enhancing participation in payment for ecosystem services programs: understanding farmer perspectives. Research update for Vermont Policymakers. University of Vermont Extension. Burlington, VT.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Twombly, C., J.W. Faulkner, S. Hurley, and L. Barbieri. 2019. Hydrologic and nutrient fluxes from cold climate dairy agroecosystems in two paired watershed studies. Northeastern Agricultural and Biological Engineering Conference. June 16-19, 2019. Lac Beauport, Quebec, Canada.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Twombly, C.R., J.W. Faulkner, and S. Hurley. 2020. The effects of soil aeration prior to dairy manure application on edge-of-field hydrology and nutrient fluxes in cold climate hayland agroecosystems. In Press. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Twombly, C.R., J.W. Faulkner, Z.M. Easton, and A.S. Collick. (In Review). Identification of Phosphorus Index improvements through model comparisons across topographic regions in a small agricultural watershed in Vermont, U.S. Submitted to Soil Science Society of America Journal.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Mason, R., S.C. Merrill, J. Gorres, J.W. Faulkner, and M.T. Niles. 2020. Agronomic and environmental performance of dairy farms in a warmer, wetter climate. In Press. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Mason, R., M.T. Niles, S.C. Merrill, J. Gorres, and J.W. Faulkner. 2020. Using Agricultural Models to Inform Policy: Discussion Points for Researchers and Policymakers. In Press. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Mason, R., J. Gorres, S.C. Merrill, J.W. Faulkner, L. Doro, and M. T. Niles. 2020. Calibrating the APEX model for simulations of environmental and agronomic outcomes on dairy farms in the Northeast US: A step-by-step example. Applied Engineering in Agriculture. 36(3):281-301.
- Type:
Websites
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
https://www.climatehubs.usda.gov/hubs/northeast/project/uvm-dairy-farming-research?utm_source=Unknown+List&utm_campaign=42911d8e94-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_07_10_12_54_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-42911d8e94-
- Type:
Websites
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
https://www.uvm.edu/extension/sustainableagriculture/increasing-ecosystem-services-and-climate-change-resilience
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Twombly, C., J.W. Faulkner, S. Hurley. 2019. Evaluation of alternative management practices in Northeastern dairy agroecosystems: Edge-of-field hydrologic and nutrient fluxes. 2019 ASABE Annual International Meeting, July 7-10, 2019, Boston, MA.
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Progress 05/01/18 to 04/30/19
Outputs
Target Audience:During the fourth year of the project, we continued to share preliminary results with farmers and community members located around the farms where we perform our research. We also shared preliminary results through an on-campus seminar to the university community (students, faculty, and staff). Agricultural service providers and the general public were also targeted with a 'As if You Were There' 360 Demonstration website, hosted on the USDA Northeast Climate Hub website. This website provided general information on the project, panoramic photos of the research sites, and links to additional information and products resulting from the project.Progress was also shared with other AFRI grant recipients (i.e., researchers) at the AFRI PDmeeting in Washington DC. Changes/Problems:We have requested, and been granted, a no-cost extension for this project to allow for data analysis and synthesis of findings to occur. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project has enabled the fourth year of training and professional development of one graduate student in pursuit of a doctorate degree (on-going), as well as the second year of training and professional development of a graduate student in pursuit of a master's degree. In addition, the project supported a new doctoral student during the first year of her studies. She will be focusing a portion of her dissertation on Objective #3. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We continue to share preliminary results with academics at several regional and national conferences, as well as presentation as part of Vermont Water Science Meetings, which was attended by agricultural service providers, agency personnel, and policy makers. Project progress was also shared with other AFRI grant recipients through a poster presentation at an AFRI PDmeeting. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In the next reporting period, which is the no-cost extension period, we will do the following for:Objective #2: Greenhouse gases, runoff (hydrology and nutrient concentrations and loads), leaching (volume and loads), and weather data analysis will be finalized. At least three journal manuscripts will be submitted for peer-review publications during this period. Objective #3: Socio-economic data will be incorporated into a data integration manuscript, which includes the water and GHG data. This manuscript is targeted to be submitted before the end of the project period. Results will be presented at two academic conferences. Objective #4: Two of the aforementioned manuscripts will include discussion of exptrapolating findings to a regional scale. A final report for the project will also be submitted following the completion of this project period.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Accomplishments for Objective #1: Alternative management systems continued to be implemented on two working farms/field sites. At site WIL, no-till corn planting and manure injection was implemented again for a fourth year for comparison to conventional tillage and surface manure application. At site SHE, aeration before manure application was implemented againfor a fourth year for comparison to no aeration before manure application. Accomplishments for Objective #2: Edge of field runoff monitoring equipment was successfully utilized for a fourthyear with this project, but was discontinued late in 2018 at the two working farm study sites as the physical data collection portion of the project came to a close. Data was collected up until 12/31/18 following any runoff events, including total runoff volume, peak runoff rate, and nutrient concentrations and loads in runoff. Wicking lysimeters were actively monitored for leachate volume and leachate collected on a biweekly basis, and more frequent following manure application, and delivered to the State of Vermont laboratory for analysis. These activities also ended on 12/31/18.Greenhouse gas emissions were monitored at five distinct locations within each paired watershed at the study sites using a chamber approach. Emissions data has been collected following major events on each field (e.g., manure application), up until 12/31/18. Accomplishments for Objective #3: Economic data pertaining to cost of BMP implementation and economic returns (i.e., yield) was once again collected from the participating farmers on each of the paired watersheds at both of the study farms. Accomplishments for Objective #4: This objective was continued during this reporting period through agraduate student using the SWAT hydrologic model, and one using the APEX model. The student using the APEX model utilized data produced by the project to calibrate and validate a model, and then to predict how climate change scenarios would affect corn silage production and nutrient runoff in the region in the future.
Publications
- Type:
Theses/Dissertations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Mason, Rachel. Modeling Agricultural Outcomes in a Warmer, Wetter Vermont. ScholarWorks @ UVM, 2019.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Twombly, C., J.W. Faulkner, S. Hurley, L. Barbieri, and Z.M. Easton. 2018. Evaluation of alternative management practices in Northeastern dairy agroecosystems: Hydrologic and nutrient fluxes at the field and watershed scale. USDA NIFA AFRI Agroecosystems Project Directors Meeting, December 5-7, Washington, D.C., USA.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Twombly, C., J.W. Faulkner, and S. Hurley. 2018. Alternative agricultural management practices on dairy cropping systems in the Northeastern United States: Nutrient and sediment losses from the field to the watershed. CUAHSI 2018 Biennial Colloquium, July 29-Aug.1, Shepherdstown, WV, USA.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Twombly, C., J.W. Faulkner, and Z.M. Easton. 2018. Comparison of phosphorus loss estimation tools at predicting nutrient transport in humid regions with undulating topography. 2019 University of Vermont Student Research Conference. April 17, 2019. Burlington, VT.
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Progress 05/01/17 to 04/30/18
Outputs
Target Audience:During the third year of the project, we shared preliminary results with farmers andcommunity members located around the farms where we perform our research. We also sharedpreliminary results through an on-campus seminar to the university community (students, faculty, and staff) and then gave a tour of our research sites to the USDA National and Northeast Regional Directors. Progress was also shared with other AFRI grant recipients (i.e., researchers) at the AFRI PI meeting. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project has enabled the third year of training and professional development of one graduate student in pursuit of a doctorate degree (on-going), as well as the first year of training and professional development of a graduate student in pursuit of a master's degree. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We have shared preliminary results with farmers and community members at an evening presentation, as well as an on-campus seminar in the engineering department to the university community. Project progress was also shared with other AFRI grant recipients through a poster presentation at an AFRI PI meeting. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In the next reporting period, we will do the following for: Objective #1: Continue to work with cooperating farmers to manage the alternative practices in ways that work for the farms and for our research goals. As last year, manure application this fall will be through injection on WIL alternative treatment watershed, cover crops will also be planted on the alternative treatment watershed through drilling post-harvest. Likewise, aeration will occur at SHE prior to second-cut manure application and fall manure application on the alternative treatment watershed. Objective #2: Greenhouse gases, runoff (hydrology and nutrient concentrations and loads), leaching (volume and loads), and weather data will continue to be collected on each watershed on both study farms. Soil tests will occur during the next study year to quantify soil health changes since the beginning of the project period on the study fields. We will perform forage sampling at each farm, as well as manure analysis pre-application, to strengthen the nutrient mass balance for each watershed. Objective #3: Following harvest, economic data will once again be collected to determine the cost of the alternative management practices to the farmers and yield and economic return differences between the alternative and conventional management practices. Objective #4: Data from the previous three objectives will be compiled and analyzed to assess watershed scale impacts on ecosystem services if BMPs were extrapolated to other fields within the watershed. It is expected that a no-cost extension will be requested in order to more fully analyze the data, as data collection will continue until the end of the original grant period.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Accomplishments for Objective #1: Alternative management systems continued to be implemented on two working farms/field sites. At site WIL, no-till corn planting and manure injection was implemented again for a third year for comparison to conventional tillage and surface manure application. At site SHE, aeration before manure application was implemented again for a thirdyear for comparison to no aeration before manure application. Accomplishments for Objective #2: Edge of field runoff monitoring equipment was successfully utilized for a second year with this project and remains active at paired watersheds at the two working farm study sites. Data is currently being collected following any runoff events, including total runoff volume, peak runoff rate, and nutrient concentrations and loads in runoff. Wicking lysimeters are actively being monitored for leachate volume and leachate is being collected on a biweekly basis, and more frequent following manure application, and delivered to the State of Vermont laboratory for analysis. Greenhouse gas emissions continue to be monitored at five distinct locations within each paired watershed at the study sites using a chamber approach. Emissions data has been collected following major events on each field (e.g., manure application). Accomplishments for Objective #3: Economic data pertaining to cost of BMP implementation and economic returns (i.e., yield) was once again collected from the participating farmers on each of the paired watersheds at both of the study farms. Accomplishments for Objective #4: This objective was begun during this reporting period through the training and initiation of a graduate student using the SWAT hydrologic model. This graduate student will be using data generated by the project to estimate ecosystem services provided by the studied BMPs to the surrounding watershed if scaling up occurred.
Publications
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Progress 05/01/16 to 04/30/17
Outputs
Target Audience:The second year of the project was focused on collection of field data, and, as a result, no audience, other than those within the project team, was targeted during this reporting period. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project has enabled the second year of training and professional development of one graduate student in pursuit of a doctorate degree (on-going). How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We have just completed the second year of the project, so data, or results, have not yet been disseminated. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In the next reporting period, we will do the following for: Objective #1: Continue to work with cooperating farmers to manage the alternative practices in ways that work for the farms and for our research goals. As last year, manure application this fallwill be through injection on WIL alternative treatment watershed, cover crops will also be planted on the alternative treatment watershed through drilling post-harvest. Likewise, aeration will occur at SHE prior to second-cut manure applicationand fall manure application on the alternative treatment watershed. Objective #2: Greenhouse gases, runoff (hydrology and nutrient concentrations and loads), leaching (volume and loads), and weather data will continue to be collected on each watershed on both study farms. As in Year #2, no soil tests will occur during the next study year. We will perform forage sampling at each farm, as well as manure analysis pre-application, to strengthen thenutrient mass balance for each watershed. Objective #3: Following harvest, economic data will once again be collected to determine the cost of the alternative management practices to the farmers and yield and economic return differences between the alternative and conventional management practices. Objective #4: This goal will not explicitly be addressed during the next reporting period; however, all data collected will contribute to this objective in the coming project years.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Acomplishments for Objective #1: Alternative management systems continued to be implemented on two working farms/field sites. At site WIL, no-till corn planting and manure injection was implemented again for a second year for comparision to conventional tillage and surface manure application. At site SHE, aeration before manure application was implemented again for a second year for comparison to no aeration before manure application. Acomplishments for Objective #2: Edge of field runoff monitoring equipment was successfully utilized for a second yearwith this project and remainsactive at paired watersheds at the two working farm study sites. Data is currently being collected following any runoff events, including total runoff volume, peak runoff rate, and nutrient concentrations and loads in runoff. Wicking lysimetersare actively being monitored for leachate volume and leachate is being collected on a biweekly basis, and more freqent following manure application,and delivered to the State of Vermont laboratory for analysis. Greenhouse gas emissions continue to be monitored at five distinct locations within each paired watershed at the study sites using a chamber approach. Emissions data has been collected following major events on each field (e.g., manure application). Acomplishments for Objective #3: Economic data pertaining to cost of BMP implementation and economic returns (i.e., yield) was once again collected from the participating farmers on each of the paired watersheds at both of the study farms. Acomplishments for Objective #4: This objective will be addressed in coming project years, after processing of collected data.
Publications
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Progress 05/01/15 to 04/30/16
Outputs
Target Audience:The first year of this project was primarily research activities, with very limited outreach; therefore, there not necessairly a target audience associated with our project during this time period. Changes/Problems:Only one problem/change has occurred in the project. The planned alternative treatment at one of the field sites was intended to be the incorporation of grazing into the hayfield management. The cooperating farmer refused to implement this practice, due to safety and labor concerns. While this required a pivot in our approach, we were able to use soil aeration prior to manure application as the alternative treatment at this study site. Soil aeration is a practice that generates much interest amongst farmers in the region, and many farmers and scientists question its impact on water quality and productivity. We will evaluate this pratice as our alternative treatment at the SHE site during the project period. Similar to the previously-selected alternative management practice, results will still inform programs, policies, and education efforts by extension in the region, as well as contribute to the scientific body of knowledge. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project has enabled the first year of training and professional development of one graduate student in pursuit of a doctorate degree (on-going). How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We are still in the first year of the project, so data, or results, have not yet been disseminated. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In the next reporting period, we will do the following for: Objective #1: Continue to work with cooperating farmers to manage the alternative practices in ways that work for the farms and for our research goals. This fall, manure application will be through injection on WIL alternative treatment watershed, cover crops will also be planted on the alternative treatment watershed. Likewise, aeration will occur at SHE prior to fall manure application on the alternative treatment watershed. Objective #2: Greenhouse gases, runoff (hydrology and nutrient concentrations and loads), leaching (volume and loads), and weather data will continue to collected on each watershed on both study farms. No soil tests will occur during the next study year. We will also add forage sampling at each farm, as well as manure analysis pre-application, to aid in building a nutrient mass balance for each watershed. Objective #3: Following harvest, economic data will once again be collected to determine the cost of the alternative management practices to the farmers and yield and economic return differences between the alternative and conventional management practices. Objective #4: This goal will not explicitly be addressed during the next reporting period; however, all data collected will contribute to this objective in the coming project years.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Acomplishments for Objective #1: Alternative management systems were implemented on two working farms/field sites. At site WIL, no-till corn planting and manure injection was implemented for comparision to conventional tillage and surface manure application. At site SHE, aeration before manure application was implemented for comparison to no aeration before manure application. Acomplishments for Objective #2: Edge of field runoff monitoring equipment was successfully adopted for use with this project and is active at paired watersheds at the two working farm study sites. Data is currently being collected following any runoff events, including total runoff volume, peak runoff rate, and nutrient concentrations and loads in runoff. Wicking lysimeters were also installed successfully within each of the two watersheds at each site. These lysimeters are actively being monitored for leachate volume and leachate is being collected periodically and stored for later laboratory analysis. Soil sampling for baseline soil health analysis has been performed in each watershed at each study site. Greenhouse gas emissions have been monitored at five distinct locations within each paired watershed at the study sites using a chamber approach. Emissions data has been collected following major events on each field (e.g., manure application). Acomplishments for Objective #3: Economic data pertaining to cost of BMP implementation and economic returns (i.e., yield) was collected from the participating farmers on each of the paired watersheds at both of the study farms. Acomplishments for Objective #4: This objective will be addressed in coming project years, after processing of collected data.
Publications
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