Source: PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY submitted to NRP
MAKING DIVERSITY FUNCTIONAL: FARM-TUNING COVER CROP MIXTURES TO MEET GROWER NEEDS
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
OTHER GRANTS
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1007156
Grant No.
2015-51300-24156
Cumulative Award Amt.
$999,972.00
Proposal No.
2015-07433
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Sep 1, 2015
Project End Date
Aug 31, 2020
Grant Year
2015
Program Code
[113.A]- Organic Agriculture Research & Extension Initiative
Recipient Organization
PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY
408 Old Main
UNIVERSITY PARK,PA 16802-1505
Performing Department
Ecosystem Science & Management
Non Technical Summary
The use of diverse cover crop mixtures is a rapidly expanding area of grower interest, yet there islittle science-based information to guide farmers toward mixture designs that meet their needs. To fill this gap, our long-term goal is to fine-tune, quantify, translate, and extend the benefits andtrade-offs of using cover crop mixtures across a range of soil, climate, and management conditions. Our recent research revealed that cover crop mixtures can serve multiple functions in organic feed systems, but the realized benefits depend on the mixtures' response to environment and management. Thus our goals are to: 1) reliably predict benefits and costs of cover crop mixtures in the context of regional climate, soil, and management variability, 2) empower organic grain farmers to use mixtures to meet farm-specific goals, and 3) integrate research intoundergraduate organic education. Our multidisciplinary research, extension, education, and farmer team will integrate experiments on one research station and seven organic farms in New York and Pennsylvania with a suite of innovative outreach activities. We will assess cover crop mixture performance based on profitability, yield, nutrient management, soil health, and pest management. We will foster co-learning with farmers and extension educators at events focused on "farm-tuning" mixtures to meet grower goals. Outreach will be a collaborative effort with two grower networks and two regional sustainable agriculture non-governmental organizations. Three universities (Penn State, Deleware State, and University of Maryland Eastern Shore) will collaborate to design research-based educational materials that strengthen undergraduate curricula.
Animal Health Component
50%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
25%
Applied
50%
Developmental
25%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
1021599107070%
2160199310030%
Knowledge Area
102 - Soil, Plant, Water, Nutrient Relationships; 216 - Integrated Pest Management Systems;

Subject Of Investigation
1599 - Grain crops, general/other; 0199 - Soil and land, general;

Field Of Science
1070 - Ecology; 3100 - Management;
Goals / Objectives
The use of biodiversity to enhance farm performance is deeply rooted in organic farming philosophy, reflected in USDA organic standards, and consistent with current ecological theory. Recently, farmers have shown interest in using diverse cover crop mixtures, or cocktails, to increase biodiversity in their cropping systems.However, there is a lack of applied research and outreach to support farmer efforts to employ diverse cover crop mixtures. Our long-term goals for this project are to fine-tune, quantify, translate, and extend benefits and trade-offs of using diverse cover crop mixtures in organic feed grain rotations. Our outreach goals are to increase on-farm participatory research and facilitate farmer networks to empower organic grain farmers to use mixtures to meet their farm-specific targets. Our educational goal is to integrate research into undergraduate education to increase the exposure of undergraduates to organic agriculture. To meet these goals, our specific objectives are to:Research Objective 1. Determine how cover crop mixtures affect a suite of grower-identified functions, including: 1) nutrient supply to the following crop, 2) nutrient retention, 3) weed suppression, 4) insect pest regulation, 5) increasing organic matter quantity and quality, 6) erosion control, 7) soil moisture control, 8) yield, and 9) and short-term profitability. Expected outcome for Objective 1: We hypothesize that cover crop mixtures will deliver more grower-identified beneficial functions than monocultures, but that the number of species in a mix is not as important as the abundance of plants with key traits (e.g. N fixation, winter hardiness).Research and Outreach Objective 2. Use farmer participatory on-farm research, research station experiments, and outreach to understand and predict variation in cover crop mixture growth in the context of regional climate, soil, and management variability. Expected outcome for Objective 2a: We hypothesize that variability in growing season length and soil inorganic N will be dominant controls on species dominance and multifunctionality of mixtures. Expected outcome for Objective 2b: Knowledge of farm-specific conditions can be used by farmers in PA and NY to fine-tune cover crop mixture management (e.g., adjust seeding rates, species, planting or termination dates) to realize mixtures with trait abundances that confer farmer-prioritized functions.Outreach Objective 3. Foster information sharing and co-learning in two regional organic crop producers' networks to support organic grower innovations with cover crops and inform our research and extension programs. Expected outcome for Objective 3a: Members of two regional organic crop producers' networks, including our farmer-cooperators, will adapt information shared at network meetings to incorporate cover crop mixtures relevant to their farm. Expected outcome for Objective 3b: Members will place high value on the information received at network meetings, which will contribute to the growth and persistence of networks due to their provision of knowledge relevant for solving problems.Outreach Objective 4. Create research- and farmer-based informational resources on the benefits, management challenges, and costs associated with using cover crop mixtures in organic systems and deliver them to growers, Extension educators, other trainers, and organizations through field-based events, workshops, and other media. Expected outcome for Objective 4: Research- and farmer-based information about cover crop mixtures will be used both locally and nationally by growers, Extension educators, other trainers, and agriculture-related organizations to promote effective use of cover crops.Educational Objective 5. Leverage knowledge gained from this research to strengthen undergraduate curricula at teaching-focused agricultural universities. Expected outcome for Objective 5: Undergraduate students at Penn State, Delaware State, and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore will learn about practices central to the management of organic systems and gain a broader perspective of ecosystem services available from conventional and organic agricultural systems.By completing objectives we expect to: 1) reliably predict the benefits and costs of cover crop mixtures in the context of regional climate, soil, and management variability, 2) empower organic grain farmers to use mixtures to meet their farm-specific goals, and 3) integrate organic research into undergraduate education.
Project Methods
Our methods includes five interconnected activities: I) experiment station research at PSU; II) on-farm research in PA and NY; III) data analysis and synthesis; IV) outreach through producer networks, eOrganic, and other extension activities; and V) development and testing of undergraduate education materials.I. Research station experiments. Two experiments will be conducted at Penn State's research farm. The first takes advantage of an existing randomized complete block design experiment with four replications in which the following 12 cover crop diversity treatments are embedded in a rotation of corn, soybean, and wheat: no cover crop; monocultures of crimson clover, field pea, forage radish, canola, triticale, and oats; pea and triticale biculture; pea, crimson clover, and triticale mixture; pea, oats, and forage radish mixture; pea, red clover, crimson clover, triticale, and canola mixture; and pea, crimson clover, triticale, canola, forage radish and oats mixture. In each of these treatments we will quantify: 1. soil erosion, 2. weed suppression, 3. arthropod regulation, 4. nutrient supply, 5. nutrient retention, 6. soil organic matter quality and quantity, 7. soil moisture, 8. corn grain yield, and 9. short-term profitability.A second research station experiment will explicitly test they hypothesis that variation in growing degree days (GDD) and soil N will be important controls on variation in species-specific growth in mixtures. We will plant a factorial experiment with two levels of N inputs and three levels of planting date using a pea, red clover, crimson clover, canola, triticale mixture. The earliest and latest planting dates will be timed to match the GDD expected for cover crops at our southern-most and northern-most on-farm sites, respectively. The middle planting date will coincide with planting the other research station experiment. Immediately before planting, one half of each plot will receive 50 kg N/ha as Chilean nitrate. We will measure a subset of response variables as described above including: fall and spring cover crop biomass by species (including weeds), nitrate in soil between May (after cover crop termination) and August (when corn uptake slows), and yield of the subsequent corn crop.II. On-farm research: To understand on-farm variability and create outreach that reflects farm-specific constraints on mixture growth we will establish 7 on-farm research sites that span a climate gradient of 3 plant hardiness zones (from zone 5 to 7). Each farmer will plant a pea, red clover, crimson clover, canola, triticale mixture and a "farm-tuned" version of this mixture in a replicated randomized complete block design. These two treatments will allow us to learn from farmer designs, while maintaining one constant treatment that can be compared among farms and the research station. A subset of measurements related to nutrient supply and retention, soil quality, weed suppression, and yield will be made in the on-farm experiments. Standard soil fertility analysis, including % soil organic matter, will be performed on a composite soil sample (20 cm depth) of each field prior to cover crop establishment. The nitrate concentration in this sample will be used to test the hypothesis that variation in soil N leads to predictable changes in the biomass of species in the mixture. Biomass of cover crops and weeds will be estimated in 0.25 m2 quadrats in late fall and spring. Nitrogen concentration and uptake in the above-ground cover crop and weed biomass will be measured. Corn yield will be measured with a hand harvest.III. Data synthesis and analysis: Univariate approaches using general linear or mixed models will test for statistical differences among treatments on any of the response variables that are indicators of our 9 ecosystem functions. Model selection based on Akaike Information Criterion will determine whether trait abundance is a better predictor of multifunctionality than species number. We will compare the predictive capacity of ten functional diversity metrics based on cover crop traits of seasonal growth potential, C:N ratio, and architecture. We will analyze the relationship between each functional diversity metric and each of the 9 measured functions and with an indicator of multifunctionality. Two approaches will quantify multifunctionality, the average of 9 measured functions and a weighted average of the 9 functions. Weights will be based on values assigned by our advisory board.To determine factors that influence the expression our on-farm treatments across all farms and site years we will use multivariate regression trees. Regression trees identify the specific conditions that lead to a given outcome, which will guide us toward context-specific controls on mixture expression. Spider plots provide an opportunity to synthesize our diverse array of datasets in a way that is both scientifically rigorous and amenable to translation for outreach and education. Each of the 9 quantified ecosystem functions will be represented by one axis on the spider plot.IV. Outreach Plan: We will collaborate with two organic grower networks to facilitate winter grower network meetings on the theme of cover crop mixtures. Spring network meetings will be hosted by farmer collaborators on their farms to view performance of the cover crop mixtures. At these meetings, network participants and the project team will share cover crop management experiences and research results. Farmer experiences shared at network meetings will be distilled into newsletter articles and incorporated into fact sheets that are published and publicly available online. Two regional field days based at our on-farm sites will be co-sponsored by the Pennsylvania Association of Sustainable Agriculture and Pennsylvania Certified Organic. Attendees will engage in participatory activities such as identifying weed species, scouting for insects, and assessing cover crop biomass and N content. Diverse stakeholders will also attend project team organized workshop, and one twilight walk or field day will be held at each of the farms conducting on-farm research in NY and PA. We will develop 1 webinar for delivery to eOrganic to disseminate information resulting from our research and co-learning activities to a national audience. We will evaluate the impact of our educational activities on: 1) increase of participants' knowledge, attitudes, skills, and intentions related to using cover crop mixtures; 2) increase of farmer adoption of cover crop mixtures; 3) the perceived value and quality of information from each program format and 4) extension educators' capacity, commitment, and involvement in providing information to help organic crop producers manage cover crops.?V. Undergraduate education module: We will develop an undergraduate educational module on organic agriculture and cover cropping. Key personnel from PSU, the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, and Delaware State University will meet to provide input on types of information most needed, desired delivery methods (e.g., experiential and/or online), and other key aspects of the moduleThe module will be developed in conjunction with an undergraduate organic agriculture course at PSU and use our experiments as a "living lab" where students can observe cover crop mixtures and quantify their multifunctionality.

Progress 09/01/15 to 08/31/20

Outputs
Target Audience:The goals of this project were to: 1) reliably predict the benefits and costs of cover crop mixtures in the context of regional climate, soil, and management variability typical of Pennsylvania and New York, 2) empower organic grain farmers to use cover crop mixtures to meet their farm-specific goals, and 3) integrate organic research into undergraduate education. For the first two goals, our primary target audiences were farmers in Pennsylvania and New York, along with consultants, extension educators and any agricultural professionals who assist with making decisions about cover crop planting. First, we worked closely with a subset of our primary target audience: the eight farmers who hosted our on-farm research and the farmers and other agricultural professionals who served on our project advisory board. The knowledge about cover crop mixtures gained from our on-farm and on-station research was the foundation for our outreach activities, through whichwe reached a much wider group of farmers and other agricultural professionals. In addition, farmer relationships with other farmers were an important component of the outreach of this project. The farmers involved in this project shared their knowledge and experience with planting cover crop mixtures both through events such as network meetings and field days and through their own interactions with other farmers. The target audience for the third project goal included scientists and educators at undergraduate institutions. We developed three education modules to introduce cover crops and demonstrate how farmers choose among cover crop species to achieve farm-specific goals. These modules were designed for use by undergraduate instructors to incorporate a lesson or unit on cover crops into an existing course. Ultimately, the audience for these modules is undergraduate students in agriculture and environmental science. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project provided a collaborative learning environment for undergraduate students, graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, and faculty across multiple disciplines, including weed ecology, soil science, agronomy, entomology, and agricultural economics. Over the past year, five undergraduate students (majoring in Environmental Resource Management, Plant Science and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology) have developed research skills through participating in field data collection, laboratory analyses and data management. In the final year of the project, two more graduate students completed their master's theses, one in soil science and one in entomology, based on field work done at the research station. A former graduate student and a former postdoctoral scholar from Penn State recently published research findings from this project in peer-reviewed journals. Several members of the team presented work related to cover crop mixtures at both scientific meetings and outreach events. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Our research on cover crop mixtures has contributed to the scientific community. In the final year of the project, we have published 6 papers in peer-reviewed journals, 2 book chapters, and 2 master's theses. Our team members presented 5 talks and posters related to the project to national and international scientific meetings such as the Society for Invertebrate Pathology/IOBC Annual Meeting and the Plant Biology Conference. Also, we gave presentations at two department seminars: one at Penn State and one at Cornell. We have continued to share our research results with farmers and other agricultural professionals. Within the past year, five extension articles have been produced, which are available on the Penn State Extension site. We have presented at several outreach events, including the Pennsylvania Association of Sustainable Agriculture's Farming for the Future annual conference, the Delmarva Soil Summit and Penn State's Ag Progress Days. Two webinars have been developed: one for the Agronomy Team Inservice and one for the Chesapeake Bay Funders Network. Finally, we have shared information about designing cover crop mixtures with undergraduate educators. The cover crop modules have been completed and are now available onlinehttps://sites.psu.edu/covercropmodules/) along with a short video describing the content of the modules. These modules have been shared with our collaborators at various universities that helped develop the modules, as well as posted on the OER Commons, Open Educational Resource list:(https://www.oercommons.org/courses/cover-crop-educational-modulesandshared with the Pennsylvania High School Agricultural Educators Network. We plan to share them with other educator networks, Penn State Faculty and Extension Educators, and the Northeast Cover Crop Council. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? To meet our first and second goals, we continued our experiment at Penn State's Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research and Education Center. We planted cover crop monocultures and mixtures in August2019and monitored all grower-identified priorities throughout the growing season (Research objective 1). We planted cover crops on30 August(after wheat) and no-till planted cereal rye onNovember 6after corn grain harvest. We planted wheat after soybeans after applying 20 T/A of manure. Post-wheat cover crops were sampled repeatedly during this reporting period to determine seedling emergence, soil fall biomass production, weed pressure in the fall and spring, winter survival, spring biomass production, nutrient uptake and potential for N loss through leaching using buried anion resins, and bucket lysimeter captures. We periodically measured several soil characteristics, including soil pH, electrical conductivity, labile organic matter, gravimetric soil water content, and matric potential. Cover crops were terminated on13 May 2020. After cover crop termination, plots were tilled, and we applied manure. We planted corn on1 June, tine weeded two times,rotary hoed one time, and cultivated two times. We then, appliedChilean nitrateto subplots to assess N-limitation of treatments on corn yields contribution of nitrogen from cover crops. We planted cereal rye after soybean harvest. We sampled plots previously planted to Austrian winter pea, triticale, and4 species mixfor weed and cover crop biomass in the fall and in spring prior to termination. These treatment plots represented the highest and lowest plots regarding nitrogen provisioning to the following corn,as well as a mixture. We also sampled fallow plots as a no-cover crop control. We terminated cereal rye on20 May, and tilled and planted soybeans on16 June. Although the on-farm research concluded in Fall 2018, analysis of the on-farm and research station data continued in 2019-2020. We found that soil inorganic nitrogen and growing season length are important controls on which species dominate cover crop mixtures (Bariabar et al., 2020). Specifically, high soil inorganic nitrogen levels at the time of cover crop planting, tend to lead to highly competitive species dominating mixtures, potentially decreasing services provided by other species. Longer growing seasons led to canola dominating our five-species mixture (canola, pea, trticale, red clover and crimson clover), while shorter growing seasons favored the growth of triticale. In the final year of the project, outreach has continued both through events and educational products. For example, we presented a workshop in organic research at the PASA Farming for the Future Conference in February 2020. In recent months, many outreach events have shifted to a virtual format, but we have continued to highlight our research at events such as Penn State's Virtual Ag Progress Days. In addition, we have developed several extension fact sheets and two webinars. Finally, the cover crop education modules were completed and are now available online: (https://sites.psu.edu/covercropmodules/).

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Ahmad, I., Jim�nez-Gasco, M. D. M., Luthe, D. S., Barbercheck, M. (2020). Systemic colonization by Metarhizium robertsii enhances cover crop growth. Journal of Fungi, 6, 64.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Ahmad, I., Jim�nez-Gasco, M. D. M., Luthe, D. S., Shakeel, S. N., Barbercheck, M. (2020). Endophytic Metarhizium robertsii enhances maize growth, suppresses insect growth and alters plant defense gene expression. Biological Control, 104167.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Amsili, J.P. and J.P. Kaye. 2020. Root traits of cover crops and carbon inputs in an organic grain rotation. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems: 1-10. doi:10.1017/S1742170520000216.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Baraibar B, Murrell EG, Bradley BA, Barbercheck ME, Mortensen DA, Kaye JP, White CM (2020) Cover crop mixture expression is influences by nitrogen availability and growing degree days. PLoSONE 15 (7): e0235868 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0235868
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Cloutier, M.L., Murrell, E., Barbercheck, M., Kaye, J., Finney, D., Garc�a-Gonz�lez, I. and Bruns, M.A., 2020. Fungal community shifts in soils with varied cover crop treatments and edaphic properties. Scientific reports, 10(1), pp.1-14. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-63173-7
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Hinds, J., Barbercheck, M.E. 2020. Diversified floral provisioning enhances performance of the generalist predator, Orius insidiosus (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae), Biological Control 149: Article 104313 In press, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocontrol.2020.104313
  • Type: Book Chapters Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: � Ahmad, I., Zaib, S. (2020). Mighty microbes: Plant growth promoting microbes in soil health and sustainable agriculture. In: Giri, B. & Varma A. (Eds). Soil Health, Vol. 59, Springer Nature.
  • Type: Book Chapters Status: Under Review Year Published: 2020 Citation: Ahmad, I., Barbercheck, M., Gasco-Jimenez, M. (2020). The Role of Endophytic Insect-Pathogenic Fungi in Biotic Stress Management. In: Giri, B. & Varma A. (Eds). Plant Stress Biology. Springer Nature. (Under review).
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Flonc, B. 2019. DO FUNGI MAKE CATERPILLARS PICKY EATERS? EFFECTS OF ENDOPHYTIC METARHIZIUM ROBERTSII ON CORN, ZEA MAYS, GROWTH AND FALL ARMYWORM, SPODOPTERA FRUGIPERDA. Master's Thesis. PSU.
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Mejia, C. 2019. Erosion Protection Potential of Three Cover Crops Under High-Intensity Rain. Masters Thesis. Penn State.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Ahmad, I., Jim�nez-Gasco, M.D.M., Luthe, D.S., & Barbercheck, M. (2020). Mighty Microbes: The tri-trophic interactions of endophytic Metarhizium in maize. Penn State Microbiome Center, PA, USA, Feb. 14, 2020, invited talk.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Ahmad, I., Jim�nez-Gasco, M.D.M., Luthe, D.S., & Barbercheck, M. (2020). Mighty Microbes: The tri-trophic interactions of endophytic Metarhizium in maize. XXVIII Plant and Animal Genome, 2020, San Diego, CA, USA, Jan. 11-15, 2020, invited talk.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Ahmad, I., Jim�nez-Gasco, M.D.M., Luthe, D.S., Shakeel S.N., & Barbercheck, M. (2019). Endophytic Metarhizium robertsii enhances maize growth and suppresses insect growth by eliciting plant defense. Plant Biology 2019, San Jose, CA, USA, Aug. 3-7, 2019, poster presentation.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Ahmad, I., Jim�nez-Gasco, M.D.M., Luthe, D.S., Shakeel S.N., & Barbercheck, M. (2019). Endophytic Metarhizium robertsii affects maize growth and gene expression and growth of black cutworm by eliciting plant defense. Society for Invertebrate Pathology 2019, Valencia Spain, Jul. 28-Aug.1, 2019, Invited talk.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Amsili J. 2018. Root traits of cover crops. AFT-NY Advanced Soil Health Training. Ithaca, NY. 23 October 2018. (Oral presentation).
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Amsili J. 2018. Root traits of cover crops and soil organic carbon stabilization. Northeast Cover Crop Conference. State College, PA. 11 November 2018. (Oral presentation).
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Amsili J. 2018. Digging deeper to uncover the hidden relationships between roots and soil health. 2019 Empire State Producers Expo. Syracuse, NY. 15 January 2019. (Oral presentation).
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Barbercheck, M. (panelist with J. Wallace, K. Borrelli, J. Cook). 2020. Organic Crop Production Q & A. Virtual Ag Progress Days Session. 34 attendees. 11 August 2020.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Barbercheck, M. (organizer and presenter) 2020. Organic Research Flash Talks & Discussion Session. PASA Farming for the Future Conference, 8 Feb. 2020. 80-min workshop. Lancaster, PA.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Barbercheck, M.E., Regan, K., Rivers, A., Voortman, C. 2020. Ground rules: Conserving epigeal predators and other beneficial organisms in organic cropping systems. Invited talk for Symposium "Insect pests and beneficial arthropods in climate-change-resilient diversified cropping systems. Entomological Society of America Annual meeting, Orlando, FL. Nov. 2020.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Barbercheck, M. 2019. Ecology of a multifunctional fungus, Metarhizium robertsii, in organic cropping systems. Invited seminar. Dept. of Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology, Penn State University. Sept. 30, 2019.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Barbercheck, M., Borrelli, K. 2020. Terminating Winter Cover Crops in Organic Feed and Forage Crops. Field Crop News, July 8, 2020. https://extension.psu.edu/terminating-winter-cover-crops-in-organic-feed-and-forage-crops
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Barbercheck, M. 2020. Many Factors Influence Interpretation of Soil Health Tests. Field Crop News, 15 May 2020. https://extension.psu.edu/many-factors-influence-interpretation-of-soil-healthtests?j=536510&sfmc_sub=35519620&l=159_HTML&u=10724487&mid=7234940&jb=9&utm_medium=email&utm_source=MarketingCloud&utm_campaign=FAFC-2020-MAY-13-GN-EM-Field+Crop+News&utm_content=FAFC-2020-MAY-13-GN-EM-Field+Crop+News&subscriberkey=0030W00003P0ySiQAJ
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Barbercheck, M. 2020. Predators control pests and crop damage during transition to organic. Research highlight. Field Crop News 15 April 2020. https://extension.psu.edu/predators-control-pests-and-crop-damage-during-transition-toorganic?j=531624&sfmc_sub=35519620&l=159_HTML&u=10500004&mid=7234940&jb=9&utm_medium=email&utm_source=MarketingCloud&utm_campaign=FAFC-2020-APR-16-GN-EM-Field+Crop+News&utm_content=FAFC-2020-APR-16-GN-EM-Field+Crop+News&subscriberkey=0030W00003P0ySiQAJ
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Borelli, K. Busch, A., Barbercheck, M. 2020. Is organic certification right for your operation? Field Crop News 27 May 2020 https://extension.psu.edu/is-organic-certification-right-for-your-operation?j=538536&sfmc_sub=35519620&l=159_HTML&u=10818935&mid=7234940&jb=9&utm_medium=email&utm_source=MarketingCloud&utm_campaign=FAFC-2020-MAY-28-GN-EM-Field+Crop+News&utm_content=FAFC-2020-MAY-28-GN-EM-Field+Crop+News&subscriberkey=0030W00003P0ySiQAJ
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Borrelli, K., Busch, A., Barbercheck, M. 2020. Transitioning to Organic Crop Production. Field Crop News, 1 October 2020. https://extension.psu.edu/transitioning-to-organic-crop-production?j=561154&sfmc_sub=35519620&l=159_HTML&u=11842937&mid=7234940&jb=9&utm_medium=email&utm_source=MarketingCloud&utm_campaign=FAFC-2020-SEPT-30-GN-EM-Field+Crop+News&utm_content=FAFC-2020-SEPT-30-GN-EM-Field+Crop+News&subscriberkey=0030W00003P0ySiQAJ
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Barbercheck, M. 2019. Introduction to Organic: Making a Successful Transition to Organic Crop Production. Agronomy Team In-Service Webinar. 25 November 2019.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: White, C. 2020. Quantitative Decision Making for Cover Crops. Delamarva Soil Summit. February 26, 2020.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: White, C. 2020. Harnessing the benefits of cover crops through precision management. Cornell University, Crop and Soil Sciences Department Seminar, January 30, 2020.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: White, C. 2020. On-Farm Trials to Inform Cover Crop and Nitrogen Management. Chesapeake Bay Funders Network Webinar Series. June 25, 2020.


Progress 09/01/18 to 08/31/19

Outputs
Target Audience:Famers interested in cover crops and cover crop mixtures, scientists and instructors from universities across the North East. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project provided a collaborative learning environment for undergraduate students, graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, and faculty across multiple disciplines, including weed ecology, soil science, agronomy, entomology, and agricultural economics. Several members of the team organized and participate in the 2nd North East cover crop council (NECCC) meeting, that was held in State College in November 2018 and where cover crop cocktails research was featured. Other members also presented work related to cover crop mixtures at other national and international scientific meetings. Members of the team also attended farmer learning circle meetings where they had opportunities for networking and learning from farmer experience and invited speakers. Similar to previous reporting periods, several undergraduate courses and labs, as well as groups of farmers and extension educators, visited the research station site for hands-on learning, which provided opportunities for team members to practice communication skills and facilitate information sharing. Members of the team have also been invited to present at different conferences and workshops where they had the opportunity to network and gain insight into other research related to cover crops. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We have published 8 papers in peer reviewed publications and produced 4 Extension articles that are now available on the Penn State Extension site. Our team members also presented 17 talks and posters related to the project to national and international scientific meetings such as the Society for Invertebrate Pathology/IOBC Annual Meeting, the Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting or the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Agronomy. We have also presented results at 9 Extension seminars and field days nationally and we collaborated in the ASA-CSSA-SSSA webinar and in the Cornell Soil Health Lab and American Farmland Trust Soil Health Specialist Training Series Webinar presenting results from the project. Several undergraduate courses and labs have visited the research station site for hands-on learning modules related to agronomy, weed ecology, soil ecology, and biodiversity, and the project has been highlighted in lectures for several courses in agroecology, entomology, and ecosystem science and management. We led a half-day workshop on managing organic feed grain crops for soil health, that included crop mixture research at the Pennsylvania Association of Sustainable Agriculture's Farming for the Future annual conference in February 2019. Around 30 participants attended the workshop and evaluated it very satisfactorily. Finally, we hosted our annual Advisory Board meeting on February 2019 where we shared and got input from our farmer collaborators and extension agents on our research. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?To accomplish the goals of the project, we will continue to measure ecosystem services provided by cover crops on the research station for one more season (Objective 1). We will continue to create research- and farmer-based educational resources on the benefits, management challenges, and costs associated with using cover crop mixtures in organic systems and deliver them to growers through fact sheets, articles and other Extension publications. Similarly, we will continue to foster co-learning study circles with growers and participate in field days and other extension events to share the results of this project (Objectives 3 and 4). We will post our cover crop mixture educational modules on-line and publicize them so they are known and used by instructors of the North East and nationally (Objective 5).

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? To meet our first and second goals, we continued our experiment at Penn State's Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research and Education Center. We planted cover crop monocultures and mixtures in August 2018 and monitored all grower-identified priorities throughout the growing season (Research objective 1). We planted cover crops on 28 August (after wheat) and no-till planted cereal rye on December 12 after corn grain harvest. We planted wheat after soybeans after applying 20 T/A of manure. Post-wheat cover crops were sampled repeatedly during this reporting period to determine seedling emergence, pre- and post- cover crop termination insect and natural enemy communities, late-season armyworm damage in corn, soil fall biomass production, weed pressure in the fall and spring, winter survival, spring biomass production, nutrient uptake and potential for N loss through leaching using buried anion resins, and bucket lysimeter captures. We periodically measured several soil characteristics, including soil pH, electrical conductivity, labile organic matter, gravimetric soil water content, and matric potential. Cover crops were terminated on 16 May 2019. After cover crop termination, plots were tilled, and we applied manure. We planted corn on 12 June, tine weeded two time and cultivated two times. We then, applied feather meal to subplots to assess N-limitation of treatments on corn yields contribution of nitrogen from cover crops. We planted cereal rye after soybean harvest. We sampled plots previously planted to Austrian winter pea and triticale for weed and cover crop biomass in the fall and in spring prior to termination. These treatment plots represented the highest and lowest plots regarding nitrogen provisioning to the following corn. We also sampled fallow plots as a no-cover crop control. We terminated cereal rye on 21 May, and tilled and planted soybeans on 6 June. On-farm research. We measured corn yield at our eight farmer collaborators from across Pennsylvania and New York, after they all had planted the same 5 species mixture ("standard mix") during the summer and fall of 2017. We continued to meet with our farmer collaborators and extension agents during our annual advisory board meeting to share the results of the on-farm research that concluded in fall 2018 (goal 2). We also supported two study circles that convened in February and March 2019 to discuss organic production topics, including cover crop mixtures. Finally, to meet our third goal, we have improved our 3 educational modules for undergraduate courses at Penn State with the comments and feedback from our two collaborating universities (Delaware State and University of Maryland Eastern Shore) and several other instructors across universities and colleges in the North East (Educational Objective 5).

Publications

  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: White, C. (2019) Harnessing the Benefits of Cover Crops through Quantitative Analysis and Adaptive Management, University of Delaware Department Seminar Series, University of Delaware Department of Plant and Soil Sciences.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: White, C., Kaye, J. P., & Colin, A. (2018) New Tools for Nitrogen Management in Organic Cropping Systems. Annual Meeting, American Society of Agronomy, Baltimore, MD.
  • Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2019 Citation: Barbercheck, M., Regan, K., Baraibar, B., Bradley, B., White, C. (2019) Argentinean Farmer tour of organic research sites at Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research Center. 15 attendees. June 2019
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Baraibar, B.; D. A. Mortensen, M. Hunter, M. E. Barbercheck, J. P. Kaye, D. Finney, W. Curran, J. Bunchek, C. White. 2018. Growing degree days and cover crop identity explain weed biomass in cover crops. Agronomy for Sustainable Development 38: 65. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-018-0543-1
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Randhawa, P. K., Mullen, C., Barbercheck, M. 2018. Plant identity, but not diversity, and agroecosystem characteristics affect the occurrence of M. robertsii in an organic cropping system. Biological Control 124:18-29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocontrol.2018.06.001
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Murrell, E.G., Ray, S., Lemmon, M.E., and Luthe, D.S. 2019 Cover crop species affect mycorrhizae-mediated nutrient uptake and pest resistance in maize. Renewable Agriculture & Food Systems. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1742170519000061.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Bell, T., K.L. Hockett, R.I. Alcal�-Brise�o, M. Barbercheck, G. A. Beattie, M.A. Bruns, J. Carlson, T. Chung, A. Collins, B. Emmett, P. Esker, K. A. Garrett, L. Glenna, B. Gugino, M. del mar Jimenez-Gasco, L. Kinkel, J. Kovac, K. Kowalski, G. Kuldau, J. Leveau, J. Myrick, K. Peter, A. Shade, N. Stopnisek, X. Tan, A. T. Welty, K. Wickings, E. Yergeau. 2019. Manipulating Wild and Tamed Phytobiomes: Challenges and Opportunities. Published Online: 9 May 2019. https://doi.org/10.1094/PBIOMES-01-19-0006-W
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Hunter, M.C., M. E. Schipanski, M. H. Burgess, J. C. LaChance, B. A. Bradley, M. E. Barbercheck, J. P. Kaye, D. A. Mortensen. 2019. Cover Crop Mixture Effects on Maize, Soybean, and Wheat Yield in Rotation. Agric. Environ. Lett. 4:180051 doi:10.2134/ael2018.10.0051
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Hunter, M.C., White, C.M., Kaye, J.P. and Kemanian, A.R., 2019. Ground-Truthing a Recent Report of Cover CropInduced Winter Warming. Agricultural & Environmental Letters, 4(1).
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Hunter, M.C., Schipanski, M.E., Burgess, M.H., LaChance, J.C., Bradley, B.A., Barbercheck, M.E., Kaye, J.P. and Mortensen, D.A., 2019. Cover crop mixture effects on maize, soybean, and wheat yield in rotation. Agricultural & Environmental Letters, 4(1).
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Kaye, J., Finney, D., White, C., Bradley, B., Schipanski, M., Alonso-Ayuso, M., Hunter, M., Burgess, M. and Mejia, C., 2019. Managing nitrogen through cover crop species selection in the US mid-Atlantic. PloS one, 14(4), p.e0215448.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Barbercheck, M, Wallace, J., Hoover, R., Smyer, A., Esbenshade, W. Managing Organic Feed Grain Crops for Soil Health: Reduced-Tillage and Cover Crops. PASA Farming for the Future Conference, 9 Feb. 2019. 3-hr workshop. 30 attendees.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Ahmad I., Jim�nez-Gasco, M.D.M., Luthe, D.S. Shakeel S.N. & Barbercheck, M. (2019). Endophytic Metarhizium robertsii enhances maize growth and suppresses insect growth by eliciting plant defense. Plant Biology 2019, San Jose, CA, USA, Aug. 3-7, 2019. (Poster presentation)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Ahmad I., Jim�nez-Gasco, M.D.M., Luthe, D.S. Shakeel S.N. & Barbercheck, M. (2019). Endophytic Metarhiziumrobertsii affects maize growth and gene expression and growth of black cutworm by eliciting plant defense. Society for Invertebrate Pathology 2019, Valencia Spain, Jul. 28-Aug.1, 2019. (Oral presentation)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Ahmad I., Flonc, B., Voortman, C., Jim�nez-Gasco, M. D. M., Luthe, D. S. & Barbercheck, M. (2018). Going underground: The ecology of a beneficial fungus in an organic agroecosystem. North-East Cover Crop Council Meeting, State College, PA, USA. Nov. 15, 2018. (Poster presentation)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Ahmad I., Voortman, C., Jim�nez-Gasco, M. D. M., Luthe, D. S. & Barbercheck, M. (2018). Harnessing nature: Role of beneficial soil-borne fungi in an agroecosystem. Pestworld2018, Orlando, FL, USA, Oct. 23-27, 2018. (Oral presentation)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Ahmad I., Voortman, C., Jim�nez-Gasco, M. D. M., Luthe, D. S. & Barbercheck, M. (2018). Going underground: The ecology of a beneficial fungus in an organic agroecosystem. Plant Sciences Symposium, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA. Sep. 6, 2018. (Poster presentation).
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: White, C. New Tools for Nitrogen Management with Cover Crops. 2019. Central Susquehanna Valley Organic Crop Producer Study Circle, New Columbia, PA.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Barbercheck, M., Voortman, C. 2019. Conservation of Metarhizium, a multifuctional beneficial fungus, in agronomic crops. Eastern Branch Entomological Society of America Annual Meeting, Blacksburg, VA, March 9-12, 2019 (Invited).
  • Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2018 Citation: Barbercheck, M. 2018. Women farmers sustaining agriculture. Pasto Museum Women in Agriculture Day. Pasto Museum, Rock Springs, PA. 22 September 2018. 15 attendees, 13 women, 2 men.
  • Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2018 Citation: Barbercheck, M., Regan, K., Baraibar, B. 2018. Kazakhstan Farmer tour of organic research sites at Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research Center. 25 attendees. 17 September 2018
  • Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2019 Citation: Barbercheck. 2019. Managing soil health on urban farms. Homewood Historical Farm. Pittsburgh, PA. 13 July 2019. 35 attendees, 3 African American, 3 youth, 20 women.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Barbercheck, M. 2018. Boyd Station Serves Growing Market for Processed Organic Soybeans. Field Crop News 20 September 2018. https://extension.psu.edu/boyd-station-serves-growing-market-for-processed-organic-soybeans
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Jabbour, R., Francis, C., Barbercheck, M., Ullman, K, Organic Agriculture Teaching and Learning in 2025: An Exercise in Visioning. (poster) June 18-21, 2019. University of Southern Idaho, Twin Falls, ID
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Bradley, B., Murrell, E., Kaye, JP. 2018. Variation in mixture expression impacts on nitrogen dynamics: Impact of seed rate adjustments overwhelmed by farm and year conditions. Northeast Cover Crop Council Conference. November 15, State College (PA) (Poster)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Baraibar, B., Bradley, B., White, C. 2018. Planting date and nitrogen availability drive cover crop mixture expression. North East Cover Crop Council Meeting. State College (PA)(Oral presentation)
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Barbercheck, M., Ahmad, I., Voortman, C. 2018. Managing a beneficial soil fungus for insect control. Penn State Extension. https://extension.psu.edu/managing-a-beneficial-soil-fungus-for-insect-control
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Hunter, M. 2019. Cover Crop Mixtures for Organic Grain Farms. MN Organic Conference, St. Cloud, MN, Jan 10.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Barbercheck, M. 2018. Successful Transition to Organic at Banner Farm. Field Crop News. 6 Sept. 2018.
  • Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2019 Citation: Ahmad I., Jim�nez-Gasco, M.D.M., Luthe, D.S. Shakeel S.N. & Barbercheck, M. 2019. Conservation of a multifunctional insect-pathogenic fungus in agroecosystems. Field Day, Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research Station, Rock Springs, PA, Jun. 11, 2019. (Oral presentation)
  • Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2018 Citation: Malsatzky, C. 2018. Choosing the right cover crop. Cornell Ulster New Landowner Workshop September. 28 participants.
  • Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2019 Citation: Malsatzky, C. 2018. Cover Crops 101. Cornell Ulster New Farmer Program January. 19 participants
  • Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2019 Citation: Hartman, D., Busch, A. Wallace, J. 2019. Weed Control in Organic Systems. Central Susquehanna Valley Organic Crop Producer Study Circle, New Columbia, PA. 29 registrants.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Murrell, E. 2018. When Loess is More: Managing Agricultural Soils to Improve Pest Resistance in Plants. Entomological Society of America, Vancouver, BC.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Murrell, E. 2019. Persistence of (Soil) Memory. Invited speaker in the special session: Improving the Definition of Ecological Intensification in Agriculture in Hopes That It May Actually Deliver on High Expectations. Ecological Society of America, Louisville, KY.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2018 Citation: Murrell, E. 2018. The Long and the Short of It: Pest Management Strategies in Annual and Perennial Cropping Systems. Invited seminar at the Entomology department, Kansas State University.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Cornelisse, S., Borrelli, K., Baraibar, B., Barbercheck, M. 2019. Organic Grain Crop Enterprise Budgets. https://extension.psu.edu/organic-grain-crop-enterprise-budgets


Progress 09/01/17 to 08/31/18

Outputs
Target Audience:Target audience for this reporting period are farmers, extension educators, students and researchers. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project provided a collaborative learning environment for undergraduate students, graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, and faculty across multiple disciplines, including weed ecology, soil science, agronomy, entomology, and agricultural economics. Several members of the team attended many scientific conferences nationwide, including the 1st North East cover crop council (NECCC) conference. This year, some members of the team are on the organizing committee of the 2nd NECCC conference which will be held in State College, PA in November 2018 and where the cover crop cocktails research will be featured. Members of the team also attended farmer learning circle meetings where they had opportunities for networking and learning from farmer experience and invited speakers. For the fifth year, our team co-organized an undergraduate summer research orientation program and an annual university-wide sustainable cropping systems symposium, which allowed graduate students and post-docs an opportunity to share research and network. Similar to previous reporting periods, several undergraduate courses and labs, as well as groups of farmers and extension educators, visited the research station site for hands-on learning, which provided opportunities for team members to practice communication skills and facilitate information sharing. Members of the team have also been invited to present at different conferences and workshops where they had the opportunity to network and gain insight into other research related to cover crops. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We hosted one field day and a twilight walk on December 2017 and August 2018 respectively, at one of our on-farm locations. We led a half-day workshop on cover crop mixtures and on-farm research at the Pennsylvania Association of Sustainable Agriculture's Farming for the Future annual conference in February 2018. Around 100 participants attended the workshop and evaluated it very satisfactorily. Several undergraduate courses and labs have visited the research station site for hands-on learning modules related to agronomy, weed ecology, soil ecology, and biodiversity, and the project has been highlighted in lectures for several courses in agroecology, entomology, and ecosystem science and management. We also hosted our annual Advisory Board meeting on February 2018 where we shared and got input from our farmer collaborators and extension agents on our research. We have published project results in several peer reviewed journals and produced Extension materials such as videos and extension articles. The two extension videos about calculating seeding rates of cover crop mixtures and choosing the right species for a cover crop mixture are now available on the Penn State Extension website. We have presented results at Extension and scientific meetings and seminars nationally. Finally, our research has been showcased in the Field, Lab, Earth podcast, sponsored by ASA/CSSA/SSSA. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?To accomplish the goals of the project, we will continue to measure ecosystem services provided by cover crops on the research station for one more season (Objective 1). We will continue to create research- and farmer-based educational resources on the benefits, management challenges, and costs associated with using cover crop mixtures in organic systems and deliver them to growers through fact sheets, articles and other Extension publications. Similarly, we will continue to foster co-learning study circles with growers and participate in field days and other extension events to share the results of this project (Objectives 3 and 4). During winter 2018, we will continue to work with faculty at Penn State, Delaware State, and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore to improve the undergraduate curriculum on the management of organic systems and cover crop mixtures and we will make those materials available to any instructor that may want to use them for their teaching (Objective 5).

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? To meet our first and second goals, we conducted an experiment at Penn State's Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research and Education Center and at our eight farmer collaborators' farms. At the research station, we planted cover crop monocultures and mixtures in August 2017 and monitored all grower-identified priorities throughout the growing season (Research objective 1). In 2017, we planted cover crops on 16 August (after wheat) and no-till planted cereal rye on November 17 after corn grain harvest. We planted wheat after soybeans after applying 20 T/A of manure. Post-wheat cover crops were sampled repeatedly during this reporting period to determine seedling emergence, pre- and post- cover crop termination insect and natural enemy communities, late-season armyworm damage in corn, soil fall biomass production, weed pressure in the fall and spring, winter survival, spring biomass production, nutrient uptake and potential for N loss through leaching using buried anion resins, and bucket lysimeter captures. We periodically measured several soil characteristics, including soil pH, electrical conductivity, labile organic matter, gravimetric soil water content, and matric potential. Cover crops were terminated on 23 May 2018. After cover crop termination, plots were tilled, and we applied manure. We planted corn on 8 June, tine weeded one time and cultivated 2 times. On 21 June, we applied Chilean nitrate to subplots to assess N-limitation of treatments on corn yields contribution of nitrogen from cover crops. We planted cereal rye after soybean harvest. We sampled plots previously planted to Austrian winter pea and triticale for weed and cover crop biomass in the fall and in spring prior to termination. These treatment plots represented the highest and lowest plots regarding nitrogen provisioning to the following corn. We also sampled fallow plots as a no-cover crop control. We terminated cereal rye on 1 June, and tilled and planted soybeans on 18 June. On-farm research. Our same 2016 eight farmer collaborators from across Pennsylvania and New York planted the same 5 species mixture ("standard mix") during the summer and fall of 2017. A "farm-tuned" mixture of the same five species was also planted in each farm in which each farmer optimized seeding rates with the objective to ensure an even expression of all the species in the mixture and provide farmer-identified goals (Research and Outreach objective 2). Prior to planting, we sampled soils at each farm for micro- and macronutrients, pH, organic matter and electric conductivity, and prevalence of Metarhizium spp. We buried anion resin bags in four of the eight farms to measure potential nitrate leaching. At all farms, we sampled cover crop and weed biomass in November before the first frost and in spring, prior to cover crop termination. In spring, we sampled insect communities in the cover crops with a sweep net. We terminated all cover crop mixtures (standard and farm-tuned) in April and May, depending on farm location and local practices, and planted corn. We measured corn leaf area at peak biomass to estimate N uptake by the crop. We will estimate corn yield at harvest. Complementary on-farm research: For the second year in a row and in order to emulate the climatic and soil nutrient scenarios on the participant farms and estimate the influence of GDD and soil N status on cover crop mixture expression, we planted the 5-species standard mixture on three planting dates (4 and 22 August and 12 September) in a randomized complete block design experiment with 4 replicates at the research station. Immediately before each planting date, we applied Chilean nitrate to half of each treatment plot. We sampled cover crop and weed biomass for each planting date treatment in the fall and spring in the same manner as the main experiment. Our preliminary results show that planting date and soil N availability modify the composition of cover crop mixtures. We conducted a field day in December 2017 at Hougar Farms. Forty participants attended the field day. At the field day, we featured cover crop research and fostered information sharing and co-learning among famers about cover crop mixture design and expression (goal 2, Objective 3). Additionally, two study circles convened in February and March 2018 to discuss organic production topics, including cover crop mixtures. To further expand our outreach impact, some team members recorded a podcast entitled "Cover Crop Cocktails with Ebony Murrell and Mac Burgess", sponsored by ASA/CSSA/SSSA, and we produced two extension videos on "calculating seeding rates for cover crop mixtures" and "choosing the right species for a mix". We also featured the cover crop mixtures research at the Penn State Soil Health Diagnostic Clinic and produced and distributed a project newsletter in spring 2018. Finally, to meet our third goal, we have designed 3 educational modules for undergraduate courses at Penn State, our two collaborating universities (Delaware State and University of Maryland Eastern Shore) and several other instructors across universities and colleges in the North East. We are currently gathering feedback from our collaborators before we can start distributing the materials for instructors to use (Educational Objective 5).

Publications

  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Hunter MC, Mortensen DA. 2017. Cover crops and drought: implications for climate resilience (poster). Sustainable Agriculture Systems Research Symposium, Penn State University, University Park, PA, Mar 31.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Hunter MC, Mortensen DA. 2017. Cover crops and drought: implications for climate resilience (poster). Gamma Sigma Delta Research Expo, Penn State University, University Park, PA, Mar 28.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Ahmad I, Mullen C, Jimenez-Gasco M, Luthe D, Barbercheck M. 2018. Going underground: The ecology of a beneficial fungus in an organic agroecosystem. Plant Sciences Symposium, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA. (poster presentation)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Ahmad I, Mullen C, Jimenez-Gasco M, Luthe D, Barbercheck M. 2018. Going underground: The ecology of a beneficial fungus in an organic agroecosystem. Penn State Plant Biology Symposium. (poster presentation)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Ahmad I, Flonc B, Mullen C, Jimenez-Gasco M, Luthe D, Barbercheck M. 2018. Going underground: The ecology of a beneficial fungus in an organic agroecosystem. 8th Annual PSU Sustainable Cropping Systems Symposium, Penn State, PA, USA. (poster presentation)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Ahmad I, Flonc B, Mullen C, Jimenez-Gasco M, Luthe D, Barbercheck M. 2018. Going underground: The ecology of a beneficial fungus in an organic agroecosystem. Farming for the future, organized by PASA, Penn State, PA, USA. (Poster presentation)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Ahmad I, Mullen C, Barbercheck M, Luthe D, Jimenez-Gasco M. 2017. Metarhizium: A Multifunctional Fungal Bodyguard of Plants. Bioinformatics & Genomics Retreat 2017, Huck Institutes of Life Sciences, Penn State, PA, USA, 22-23rd Sep. 2017. (Poster Presentation)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Mejia C, Kaye J. 2018. Testing the erosion protection potential of three different cover crops. 8th Annual PSU Sustainable Cropping Systems Symposium, State College, PA. April 2018. (Poster Presentation)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Amsili J, Kaye J. 2017. Root traits of winter annual cover crops as monocultures and mixtures. Soil Science Society of America Annual Meeting. Tampa, FL. 24 October 2017.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Amsili J, Kaye J. 2017. Root traits of winter annual cover crops as monocultures and mixtures. Northeast Cover Crops Council Annual Meeting. Ithaca, NY . 9 November 2017
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Amsili J, Kaye J. 2018. Cover crop root traits and carbon inputs in an organic grain rotation. 8th Annual PSU Sustainable Cropping Systems Symposium. State College, PA . 6 April 2018.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Amsili J, Kaye J. 2018. Cover crop root traits and carbon inputs in an organic grain rotation. 21st Annual Environmental Chemistry and Microbiology Student Symposium. State College, PA. 14 April 2018.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Elizondo E, Murrel E, Kaye J. Nitrogen input from cover crops affects protein content in corn grain. 2018. 8th Annual PSU Sustainable Cropping Systems Symposium, State College, PA. April 2018. (Poster Presentation)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Barbercheck, M. 2018. Effects of cover crops on invertebrate pests and their natural enemies in conservation tillage systems. 2018 North Central Branch ESA Meeting, March 18-21, 2018, Madison, WI. Invited Symposium (Influence of Cover Crops on Crop Insect Management)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Flonc, B., Ahmad, I., Mullen, C., Barbercheck M.E. 2018. Can fungi make caterpillars picky eaters? Effects of endophytic Metarhizium on corn (Zea mays) and fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda). 2018 Eastern Branch ESA Meeting, March 17-19, 2018, Annapolis, MD.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Barbercheck, M. 2018. Restructuring plant-associated arthropod composition. Workshop on "Manipulating phytobiomes: challenges and opportunities," Wild and Tamed Phytobiomes:21st Penn State Plant Biology Symposium, June 19-22, 2018. University Park, PA. (Invited oral presentation)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Barbercheck, M. 2018. Farming and fungi: Agroecosystem impacts on a multifunctional fungus in an organic cropping system. Wild and Tamed Phytobiomes:21st Penn State Plant Biology Symposium, June 19-22, 2018. University Park, PA. (Invited plenary presentation)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Ahmad I, Flonc B, Barbercheck M, Mullen C, Jimenez-Gasco M, Luthe D. 2018. Going underground: The role of a beneficial fungus in organic cropping systems. Wild and Tamed Phytobiomes:21st Penn State Plant Biology Symposium, June 19-22, 2018. University Park, PA. (Poster presentation)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Flonc B, Ahmad I, Mullen C, Barbercheck ME. 2018. Can fungi make caterpillars picky eaters? Effects of endophytic Metarhizium on corn (Zea mays) and fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda). Wild and Tamed Phytobiomes:21st Penn State Plant Biology Symposium, June 19-22, 2018. University Park, PA. (Poster presentation)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Baraibar B, Mortensen D. 2018. Cover crops mediate weed  corn competition. 2018 Annual meeting of the Weed Science Society of America. Arlington, Virginia, January 2018. (oral presentation)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Finney DM. 2018. Ecosystem services from cover crop mixtures and monocultures in an organic feed and forage rotation. Organic Farming Research Foundation Organic Farming Research Conference. New Brunswick, NJ.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2018 Citation: Murrell EG, Ray S, Lemmon ME, Luthe DS, Kaye JP. In review. Cover crops produce legacy effects on mycorrhizal colonization, induced plant defenses, and pest insect performance in maize. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Finney DM, Murrell EG, White CM, Baraibar B, Barbercheck ME, Bradley BA, Cornelisse, S, Hunter MC, Kaye JP, Mullen CA, Mortensen DA. 2017. Ecosystem services and disservices are bundled in simple and diverse cover cropping systems. Agricultural and Environmental Letters 2:170033.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Baraibar B, Hunter MC, Schipanski ME, Hamilton A, Mortensen DA. 2017. Weed suppression in cover crop monocultures and mixtures. Weed Sci. doi:10.1017/wsc.2017.59
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Randhawa PK, Mullen C, Barbercheck M. 2018. Plant identity, but not diversity, and agroecosystem characteristics affect the occurrence of M. robertsii in an organic cropping system. Biological Control 124:18-29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocontrol.2018.06.001
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2018 Citation: Cloutier M, Murrell EG, Barbercheck ME, Kaye JP, Finney DM, Gonz�lez IG, Bruns MA. In review. Cover crop type and soil texture shape fungal assemblages and functions in a multi-species cover crop experiment. Applied Soil Ecology.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Murrell E, Regan K, Barbercheck M. 2017. Soil Health Diagnostic Clinic. PSU Agronomy Research Farm. July 20, 2017.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Malsatzki C. 2017. Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County New & Beginning Farmer/Landowner Series 11/17.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Malsatzki C. 2017. Small grains grower meeting: Cover crop uses, ideas, and application.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Barbercheck M. 2018. Organic Agriculture: A growing opportunity for Pennsylvania farmers. Farm Bureau Commodity Committee Meeting. Camp Hill, PA. 10 July 2018.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Barbercheck M. 2018. Soil health and pest management. Mid-Atlantic Fruit and Vegetable Convention. Hershey, PA. 31 January 2018.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Barbercheck M, Baraibar B, Mortensen D. 2018. Putting cover crop mixtures to work: Lessons from 8 farms in PA and NY. PASA Farming for the Future Conference, 8 Feb. 2018. 4-hr workshop.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Barbercheck M, Gareau T, Smith T, Mortensen D. 2018. Using spider plots to understand multifunctionality of agroecosystems. Workshop on teaching organic agriculture. June 10  12, 2018. Ames, Iowa. Invited oral presentation.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Regan K, Baraibar B. 2018. Penn State University Cover Crop/Reduced Tillage Field Day for Argentinian Farmers. 17 May 2018.
  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Barbercheck M, Ahmad I, Mullen C. 2018. Managing a Beneficial Soil Fungus for Insect Control. https://extension.psu.edu/managing-a-beneficial-soil-fungus-for-insect-control
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Amsili J. 2018.
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2018 Citation: Amsili J. 2018. Root traits of cover crops and their influence on soil organic carbon stabilization. Master thesis. Penn State
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2018 Citation: Hunter M. 2018. Agroecological Diversification and Climate Resilience. PhD Thesis. Penn State University
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Schmidt E, Regan K, Barbercheck M. 2017. Seedcorn Maggot as a Pest of Corn and Other Large-Seeded Crops. Updated Fact Sheet. http://ento.psu.edu/extension/factsheets/seedcorn-maggot-as-a-pest-of-corn-and-other-large-seeded-crops


Progress 09/01/16 to 08/31/17

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience reached during this reporting period has been: farmers, extension educators, NGOs, undergraduate students and scientists. Changes/Problems:At the complementary research station experiment, we did not observe any differences in mixture expression between the plots amended with Chilean nitrate and those with no additional fertilization.. We attribute this lack of response to the application of manure to the entire location prior to the start of the experiment. To address this issue, this year we have not applied any manure to the plot and have only amended half of the plots with the Chilean nitrate. Two of our original off-campus Extension collaborators (PD- Dupont and PD - Hautau) left Penn State last year. Two new Extension educators, David Wilson and Rachael Milliron have replaced them. Similarly, PD-Justin O'Dea from Cornell University left the project to take a new position) and he has been replaced by Christian Malsatzki. We also noticed that Barbara Baraibar, post-doc of Plant Sciences (Dept. of Plant Sciences, bub14@psu.edu) who is a co-PD on the project is not listed in the participants list. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project provided a collaborative learning environment for undergraduate students, graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, and faculty across multiple disciplines, including weed ecology, soil science, agronomy, entomology, and agricultural economics. Several members of the team attended scientific conferences and farmer learning circle meetings where they had opportunities for networking and learning from farmer experience and invited speakers. The group received a training session entitled "Effective Learning and Time Management." This training fostered an interesting discussion about methodologies to increase efficiency when planning and writing research papers. For the fourth year, our team co-organized an undergraduate summer research orientation program and an annual university-wide sustainable cropping systems symposium, which allowed graduate students and post-docs an opportunity to share research and network. Similar to previous reporting periods, several undergraduate courses and labs, as well as groups of farmers and extension educators, visited the research station site for hands-on learning, which provided opportunities for team members to practice communication skills and facilitate information sharing. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We hosted two field days in October 2016 and May 2017 at two on-farm locations. Another is scheduled for November 2017. We led a workshop at the Pennsylvania Association of Sustainable Agriculture's Farming for the Future conference in February 2017. Fifty participants attended the workshop and evaluated it very satisfactorily. We will also offer a half-day cover crop workshop at the 2018 conference, where researchers and farmers will team up to discuss the results of the first year of the on-station and on-farm "farm-tuning" cover crop experiments. Several undergraduate courses and labs have visited the research station site for hands-on learning modules related to agronomy, weed ecology, soil ecology, and biodiversity, and the project has been highlighted in lectures for several courses in agroecology, entomology, and ecosystem science and management. We have published project results in several peer reviewed journals and produced Extension materials. Similarly, we have presented results at Extension and scientific meetings and seminars nationally. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?To accomplish the goals of the project, we will continue to measure ecosystem services provided by cover crops on the research station (Objective 1) and on the collaborating farm locations (Objective 2). We will continue to create research- and farmer-based educational resources on the benefits, management challenges, and costs associated with using cover crop mixtures in organic systems and deliver them to growers through field days, fact sheets, webinars and other Extension publications. Similarly, we will continue to foster co-learning study circles with growers and organize and participate in field days and other extension events to share the results of this project (Objectives 3 and 4). During winter 2017, we will work with faculty at Penn State, Delaware State, and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore to shape the undergraduate curriculum on the management of organic systems and cover crop mixtures (Objective 5).

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? To meet our first and second goals, we conducted an experiment at Penn State's Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research and Education Center and at our eight farmer collaborators' farms. At the research station, we planted cover crop monocultures and mixtures in August 2016 and monitored all grower-identified priorities throughout the growing season (Research objective 1). In 2016, we planted cover crops on 24 August (after wheat) and no-till planted cereal rye on November 2 after corn grain harvest. We planted wheat after soybeans after applying 20 T/A of manure. Post-wheat cover crops were sampled repeatedly during this reporting period to determine seedling emergence, pre- and post- cover crop termination insect and natural enemy communities, late-season armyworm damage in corn, soil fall biomass production, weed pressure in the fall and spring, winter survival, spring biomass production, nutrient uptake and potential for N loss through leaching using buried anion resins, and bucket lysimeter captures. In addition, we periodically measured several soil characteristics, including soil pH, electrical conductivity, labile organic matter, gravimetric soil water content, and matric potential. We also completed deep soil cores to 80 cm in spring before cover crop termination, as well as biological soil sampling for microbial analysis. Cover crops were terminated on 4 May 2017. After cover crop termination, plots were tilled and manure was applied. We planted corn on 2 June and tine weeded three times. On 21 June, we applied Chilean nitrate to subplots to assess N-limitation of treatments on corn yields and the contribution of nitrogen from cover crops. We planted cereal rye after soybean harvest. We sampled plots previously planted to Austrian winter pea and cereal rye for weed and cover crop biomass in the fall and in spring prior to termination. These treatment plots represented the highest and lowest plots regarding nitrogen provisioning to the following corn. We sampled fallow plots as a no-cover crop control. We terminated cereal rye on 18 May 18, and tilled and planted soybeans on 6 June. On-farm research. Eight farmer collaborators across Pennsylvania and New York planted the same 5 species mixture ("standard mix") during the summer and fall of 2016. We selected farms to span a wide range of growing season lengths (growing degree days) and nitrogen availability (number of years the field had been farmed organically). A "farm-tuned" mixture of the same five species was also planted in each farm in which each farmer optimized seeding rates with the objective to ensure an even expression of all the species in the mixture and provide farmer-identified goals (Research and Outreach objective 2). Prior to planting, we sampled soils at each farm for micro- and macronutrients, pH, organic matter and electric conductivity, and prevalence of Metarhizium spp. We buried anion resin bags in four of the eight farms to measure potential nitrate leaching. At all farms, we sampled cover crop and weed biomass in November before the first frost and in spring, prior to cover crop termination. In spring, we sampled insect communities in the cover crops with a sweep net. We terminated all cover crop mixtures (standard and farm-tuned) in April and May, depending on farm location and local practices, and planted corn. We measured corn leaf area at peak biomass to estimate N uptake by the crop and we will estimate corn yield at harvest. Complementary on-farm research: To emulate the climatic and soil nutrient scenarios on the participant farms, and estimate the influence of GDD and soil N status on cover crop mixture expression, we planted the 5-species standard mixture on three planting dates (3 and 24 August and 7 September) in a randomized complete block design experiment with 4 replicates at the research station. Prior to starting the experiment, we applied manure to the whole site to reduce fertility heterogeneity. Immediately before each planting date, we applied Chilean nitrate to half of each treatment plot. We sampled cover crop and weed biomass for each planting date treatment in the fall and spring in the same manner as the main experiment. We terminated cover crops on the same date as in the main research-station experiment. We conducted two field days: in October at Charvin Farms, and in May at Stone House farms. Forty seven participants attended the field day in October and 25 participated in May. At both field days, we featured cover crop research and fostered information sharing and co-learning among famers about cover crop mixture design and expression (goal 2, Objective 3). Additionally, four study circles convened to discuss organic production topics, including cover crop mixtures. To further expand our outreach impact, we created three educational video clips that will be available on the internet and during farmer meetings to showcase results of our cover crop research (goal 2, Outreach objective 4). We also produced and distributed a project newsletter in spring 2017 and are currently producing a fall edition. Finally, to meet our third goal, we are designing educational materials for undergraduate courses at Penn State and our two collaborating universities (Delaware State and University of Maryland Eastern Shore). A project network meeting will take place in early November to progress this goal (Educational Objective 5).

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Finney, D.M., Buyer J.S., and Kaye J.P. (2017) Living cover crops have immediate impacts on soil microbial community structure and function. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation. July/August 2017 vol. 72 no. 4 361-373. doi: 10.2489/jswc.72.4.361
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Finney, D.M. and Kaye J.P. (2017) Functional diversity in cover crop polycultures increases multifunctionality of an agricultural system. Journal of Applied Ecology. doi: 10.1111/1365-2664.12765
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Kaye, J.P., and Quemada M. (2017) Using cover crops to mitigate and adapt to climate change: A review. Agronomy for Sustainable Development 37. DOI 10.1007/s13593-016-0410-x
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Schipanski, M., Barbercheck M.E., Murrell E.G., Harper J., Finney D.M., Kaye J.P., Smith R.E., and Mortensen D.A. (2017) Balancing multiple objectives in organic feed and forage cropping systems. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment. 239:219-227.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: White, C.M., DuPont, S.T., Hautau, M., Hartman, D., Finney, D.M., Bradley, B., LaChance, J.C., Kaye, J.P. (2017) Managing the trade off between nitrogen supply and retention with cover crop mixtures. Agric. Ecosyst. Environ. 237, 121133. doi:10.1016/j.agee.2016.12.016
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Murrell, E.G., M.E. Schipanski, D.M. Finney, M.C. Hunter, M. Burgess, J.C. LaChance, B. Baraibar, C.M. White, D.A. Mortensen, and J.P. Kaye. (2017) Achieving diverse cover crop mixtures: Effects of planting date and seeding rate. Agronomy Journal, 109:259271. doi:10.2134/agronj2016.03.0174
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Hunter, M.C., D.A. Mortensen. 2016. Cover Crops and Drought: Implications for Climate Resilience. ASA, CSSA and SSSA International Annual Meetings, Phoenix, AZ, Nov 7.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: White, C., D. Finney, M. Hunter, B. Baraibar Padro, E. Murrell, J. Hinds, M. Barbercheck, D. Mortensen, and J. Kaye. 2016. Multifunctionality of cover crop mixtures in an organic grain and forage cropping system. In Can Cover Crop Mixtures Maximize Agro-Ecosystem Services? Annual Meeting, American Society of Agronomy. Phoenix, AZ. 9 November, 2016.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: White, C.M. A. Kemanian, and J.P. Kaye. 2016. Predicting Corn Yield with a Soil Organic Matter Test and Cover Crop Nitrogen Credits. ASA/CSSA/SSSA International Annual Meetings. Phoenix, AZ.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Kaye, J.P. 2017. Using cover crops to adapt to climate change. Chesapeake Bay Program Science and Technical Advisory Team workshop on Monitoring and Assessing Impacts of Changes in Weather Patterns and Extreme Events on BMP siteing and design. Annapolis, MD. September 7, 2017.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Flonc, B. M. Barbercheck, and C. Mullen. 2017. Does endophytic Metarhizium make fall armyworm picky eaters? 7th Annual PSU Sustainable Cropping Systems Symposium, PSU, 31 March 2017. Poster
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Ahmad I, Barbercheck ME, Mullen C, Luthe DS, Jimnez-Gasco M. 2017. Metarhizium: A Multifunctional Fungal Bodyguard of Plants. Post-Doctoral Research Exhibition and Bioinformatics & Genomics Retreat 2017. Penn State, PA, US. Poster
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Amsili, Joseph and Jason Kaye. 2017. Root Traits of Winter Annual Cover Crops: Monocultures and Mixtures Poster. 7th Annual PSU Sustainable Cropping Systems Symposium. 31 March 2017. Poster
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Baraibar B., Bradley B, White C. 2017. What you plant is not always what you get: How planting date and nutrients affect cover crop mixture expression and weediness. Post-doc research exhibition Penn State. September 2017. First prize award. Poster
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Randhawa, P. 2017. EFFECT OF COVER CROPS AND SOIL CHARACTERISTICS ON THE OCCURRENCE OF METARHIZIUM ROBERTSII IN AN ORGANIC CROPPING SYSTEM. MSc Thesis, Dept. of Entomology, Pennsylvania State University
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Schmidt, E., K. Regan, and M. Barbercheck. 2017. Seedcorn Maggot as a Pest of Corn and Other Large-Seeded Crops. Updated Fact Sheet. http://ento.psu.edu/extension/factsheets/seedcorn-maggot-as-a-pest-of-corn-and-other-large-seeded-crops
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Hunter, M.C., C.M. White. 2017. Optimizing Cover Crop Seed Mixtures for Soil Health and Nutrient Retention. Partnership for Agricultural Resource Management Webinar, Jun 27. http://bit.ly/2uSkOOG.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Barbercheck, M. Fungal Endophytes: Fungi that Facilitate Farming Penn State Extension Sustainable Agriculture Webinar Series focused on Cropping Strategies for Managing Soil Health. February 6th. 2017. 56 attendees
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: White, C. 2017. Crediting Nitrogen from Cover Crops and Soil Organic Matter. Cropping Strategies for Managing Soil Health Webinar Series. Penn State Extension: University Park, PA. 20 February 2017.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: White, C. 2017. Getting more from your cover crop with species mixtures. Mid-Atlantic Fruit and Vegetable Convention. Pennsylvania Vegetable Growers Association: Hershey, PA. 1 February 2017.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: White, C. 2017. Crediting Nitrogen from Cover Crops and Soil Organic Matter. Pennsylvania Agronomic Education Society Conference. State College, PA. 19 January 2017.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Hinds, J., Barbercheck, M.E., Hagler, J. 2017 Impacts of cover crop diversification on attraction, dispersal, and pest suppression by generalist predators. Newport, RI. Invited Speaker for Mark Recapture Symposium.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Hinds, J and Barbercheck, M. 2017. Impacts of cover crop diversification on attraction, dispersal, and pest suppression by generalist predators. USDA Arid Land Agricultural Research Center. Maricopa, AZ. Invited Speaker Presentation
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Regan, K., M. Barbercheck. Argentinian Organic Farmer Delegation Visit. Insects in organic cropping systems. 13 June, 2017. 15 attendees.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Barbercheck, M. Crop Management and Soil Health: Is Your Soil Alive? Agronomy Team Diagnostic Clinic workshop, July 18 and 19, 2017.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Barbercheck, M. Pest and beneficial insects and Soil Health at the Penn State student farm. Workshop. Saturday Aug. 5, 2017. The Student Farm at Penn State.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Murrell, E., M. Hunter, M. Barbercheck, J. Kaye, Bosak L. 2016. Designing Cover Crop Mixtures to Provide Multiple Benefits. Cover Crop Field Day, Mifflin, PA, Oct 6. 47 participants
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Barbercheck, M. Cover crop mixtures and insect-parasitic fungi in organic cropping systems. Organic Cropping Systems Field Day. 6 October 2016. Charvin Farm, Mifflin, PA. 9:00 am  2:00 pm.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Barbercheck, M. Co-organizer (w/Katie Miller). USAID East Africa Delegation visit to discuss research and extension on cover crops, reduced tillage, and soil health in organic cropping systems. 10 October 2016. 11:00 am  3:00 pm, Russell E. Larsen Research Center, Rock Springs, PA.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Central Susquehanna Organic Crop Growers Network learning circle meeting. February 23, 2017. Tillage and weed control equipment. New Columbia, Union County (21 attendants)
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Central Susquehanna Organic Crop Growers Network learning circle meeting. March 23, 2017. Cover crops and market opportunities. New Columbia, Union County (16 attendants)
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Organic Field Crop Study Circle. February 7, 2017. Tools of the Trade: Equipment for Weed Management. Lancaster county (23 participants)
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Organic Field Crop Study Circle, March 28, 2017. Growing and Selling Organic Small Grains. Dauphin county (11 participants)


Progress 09/01/15 to 08/31/16

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience consists of farmers, and particularly,but not exclusively, organic farmers in the mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. as well as extension personnel, industry leaders,government agency and non-profit staff, University students, and interested members of the public. Changes/Problems:The triticale that we used for our cover crop mixtures after wheat came from a faulty batch with a very low germination rate, so the density and biomass of this grass in its monoculture plots and in mixtures was very low during this first year of the experiment. Because we had a lot of volunteer wheat emergence, we will try to use the wheat as a surrogatefor the grass component of the mixtures. This year (2016), germination rates were assessed for all cover crop species before planting to ensure that the situation did not happen again. Two of our original off-campus extension educators (PD- Dupont and PD - Hautau) have left the project during this year (one got a new job and the other retired). Until their positions are filled, we have been working with other extension educators and members from Pennsylvania Certified Organic (PCO) to get the on-farm study on the ground and to continue to foster the organic study circles that have been so successful in the past. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project includes two postdocs who were co-PIs on the grant. During the reporting period these postdocs were given opportunities to present their research and develop new extension materials. Baraibar is leading the weed management portion of the grant and gained experience in field methods, proposal writing, data analysis, and in leading large teams. Murrell is leading the on-farm research portion of the project, gaining skills in collaborating with farmers and extension educators and coordinating large research networks. Murrell also gained mentoring experience over the past year overseeing research of an undergraduate in Penn State's Women in Science and Engineering (WISER) program. Three technicians contributed to the project gaining experience in experimental design, extension, and data analysis. We recruited two new graduate students to the project who arrived at the end of this reporting period. This project supported two annual professional development events at Penn State. The first is the annual undergraduate research orientation for all students conducting research in sustainable agriculture over the summer. This popular program helps undergraduates learn about all of the sustainable agriculture research projects at the research farm. The second is the annual Penn State Sustainable Cropping System Symposium in which all graduate students, postdocs, and faculty conducting sustainable agriculture research at Penn State meet for a one day workshop. At this workshop we share research results and future research ideas and discuss how the various sustainable agriculture projects can work together to amplify the impact of our work. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Wehosted a field day at the research station and collaboratedin delivering the Pennsylvania Association of Sustainable Agriculture (PASA) summer conference where we discussed the results of the previous project and some insights gained from the first year of the project. Similarly, several undergraduate courses and labs have visited the research station site for hands-on learning modules related to agronomy, weed ecology, soil ecology, and biodiversity, and the project has been highlighted in lectures for several courses in agroecology, entomology, and ecosystem science and management. We delivered additional extension and scientific presentations as outlined in the "products" portion of this report. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?To accomplish the goals of the project we will continue to measure ecosystem services provided by cover crops on the research station (Objective 1) and on the collaborating farm locations. We will increase the creation of research- and farmer-based informational resources on the benefits, management challenges, and costs associated with using cover crop mixtures in organic systems and deliver them to growers through field days, fact sheets, webinars and other extension publications. We will continue to work with our on-farm collaborators and follow the cover crops we are planting this summer through the winter and spring, until cover crop termination (Obj. 2). We willmeasure cover crop and weed biomass as well as nitrogen dynamics. Next year, we will plant the cover crops again and we will farm tune the cover crop mixtures based on feedback from each farmer. Based on the results of Objectives 1 and 2 we plan to participatein co-learning study circles with growers and organize and participate in field days and other extension events to share the results of this project (Obj. 3 and 4). One field day is scheduled at the farm of a participating grower on October 6, and we submitted a proposal to lead a workshop at the winter PASA meeting. We will initiatework with faculty at Penn State, Delaware State, and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore to start to develop an undergraduate curriculum on the management of organic systems (Obj. 5).

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Toward Objective 1, we planted a cover crop diversity experiment at Penn State's experimental farm.The experiment is a full-entry, randomized block design with 12 cover crop treatments planted within a corn-soybean-wheat rotation. The treatments are fallow control, 6 monocultures (crimson clover, Austrian winter pea, oats, triticale, canola, and forage radish), a two species mix (pea and triticale),two three species mixes (pea,clover, triticale or radish, oat, pea), afive species mix (red clover, crimson clover, pea, canola, triticale), anda 6 species mix thatincluded all species grown in monoculture. These new cover crop monocultures and mixtures were planted as planned on the research station on August 2015 and we have been monitoring all grower identified priorities throughout the cover crop growing season (Objective 1). Our2015 cover crop cocktails were planted on August 17th (after wheat) and cereal rye was no-till planted on October 27th after corn for grain was harvested. Wheat was planted after soybeans after applying 20 T/A of manure (5 tones/A more than in previous years to try to improve yields). On average, extra manure addition has improved yields by 1000lb/A. Post-wheat cover crops were sampled repeatedly during this reporting period to determine seedling emergence, fall biomass production, weed pressure in the fall and spring, winter survival, spring biomass production and nutrient uptake. Cover crop and weed sampling included biomass clipping in fall and spring and sorting to cover crop and weed species. Nutrient retention was measured using several strategies, including measuring cover crop N uptake through elemental analysis of dried cover crop biomass, and by using field lysimeters and anion resin bags for nitrate leaching potential. We also completed deep soil cores to 80 cm in spring before cover crop termination, as well as biological soil sampling for microbial analysis. Cover crops were terminated on May 5th. After cover crop termination, plots were tilled and manure was added to all plots. Corn was planted on May 26th and tine weeded three times. On June 30th, Chilean nitrate was added to a small area within those plots to try to achieve maximum corn yields and be able to fully elucidate the contribution of nitrogen from cover crops to corn yields. A subset of the cereal rye planted plots was sampled for weed and cover crop biomass in spring prior to termination. The sampled plots were those which during the previous project had been planted to Austrian winter pea and cereal rye since they represented the highest and lowest plots regarding nitrogen provisioning to the following corn. Fallow plots were also sampled as a no-cover crop control. Cereal rye cover crops were terminated on May 16th, plots were tilled and planted to soybeans on June 1st. Soil water content and year round bucket lysimeter data in the corn and soybean cash cropswerecollected. We also monitored early season arthropod dynamics both before cover crop termination and late-season armyworm damage in corn. In the pre-corn plots, we also analyzed soil pH, electrical conductivity, labile organic matter, metric potential and prevalence of Metarhizium spp. The on-farm research component of the project (Objective 2) where farmers would be planting a 5 species standard mix and a "farm-tuned" mix has started during the summer of 2016. We used the winter and spring periods to get in contact with farmer collaborators and the extension educators involved in the project. In February 2016 we had a very productive and engaging advisory board meeting, attended by 9 farmers and 7 extension educators, as well as representatives from PASA (Pennsylvania Association of Sustainable Agriculture), PCO (Pennsylvania Certified Organic) and the cover crop seed industry. During the meeting researchers, farmers, extension educators, industry and NGO participants learnt from each other's experiences using cover crop cocktails and we discussed how to "farm tune" cover crop mixtures to meet the farmer collaborators specific goals. These exercises were useful to prepare the cover crop cocktails design that would take place in the spring. After the meeting, and during spring 2016 all farms were visited by team member Murrell to choose experimental fields and discuss about cover crop planting logistics for the summer. Cover crop mixtures were planted during the writing of this report. At the research station, we are also currently conducting asecond experiment to complement the on-farm work. Our experiment tries to resemble the different climatic and soil nutrient scenarios present on the participant farms, in order to assess how they may influence cover crop mixture expression. To do so, the standard 5 species mix is being planted on three different dates (early, middle and late August) with two fertility levels (no nitrogen added and Chilean nitrate) in a split plot design with 4 blocks. We are measuring the impact of this climate and N variation on the growth of each species in the mixtures to improve predictions of how these factors lead to dominance or evenness of cover crop species in mature cover crop stands. A field day to be held in October is currently being organized to foster information sharing and co-learning among famers about cover crop cocktail design and expression (Objective 3). Since this is the first year of the project, we haven't created any informational resources about the current experiment yet (Outreach objective 4). However, based on the information gathered during the previous funded OREI project, we are producing extension materials to be used by farmers and educators to learn about cover crop mixtures benefits and challenges. For example, we are working on the editing of three short video clips to be disseminated on the internet and during farmer's meetings to show cast the results of our previous research about cover crop cocktails. We notinitiated work on Educational Objective 5 yet.

Publications

  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Barbercheck, M., W.S. Curran. 2016. Ch. 11. Organic Crop Production. Pp 137  146 in: The Agronomy Guide 2015-2016. AGRS026.
  • Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2016 Citation: Rodale Institute/Argentinian Organic Farmer Delegation Visit. June 14, 2016. 10:00 am  3:30 pm, Russell E. Larsen Research Center, Rock Springs, PA.
  • Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2016 Citation: Hunter, M. and C. White. 2016. Making the Most of Cover Crop Mixtures. Cover Crops for Soil Health: A Northeast SARE Professional Development Workshop, Baltimore, MD, Mar 29.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2016 Citation: Hunter, M., J. Lachance, C. White. 2015. Cover Crops: Where are we now? What about mixes? Atlantic Seed Association 63rd Annual Convention, Gettysburg, PA, Oct 3.
  • Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2016 Citation: Baraibar, B., Mortensen, D., Murrel, E., White, C., Regan, K., Randawa, P. June 2016. Cover crop mixtures for organic farming. Argentinian Delegation visit. 15 attendees.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2016 Citation: Finney, D.M. and S.B. Mirsky. July 2016. Customizing cover crop species mixtures to meet farmer needs and the behavior of cover crop mixtures. Southern Cover Crop Conference. Goldsboro, NC. (200 participants)
  • Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2016 Citation: Finney, D.M. December 2015. Farm-tuning soil fertility with cover crop mixtures. Organic Vegetable Production Intensive. Penn State Extension. Easton, PA. (50 participants)
  • Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2016 Citation: White, C. 2016. Farm-tuning cover crop mixtures: Finding the right cover crop for your soil. Columbia County Ag Day: Bloomsburg, PA. 24 February 2016. 150 people attended.
  • Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2016 Citation: Hartman, D. 2016. Organic Grower Study Circle. Union County. 25 people attended.