Source: SOUTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY submitted to NRP
BACK TO THE FUTURE: ENHANCING FOOD SECURITY AND FARM PRODUCTION WITH INTEGRATED CROP-LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION SYSTEMS
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
AFRI COMPETITIVE GRANT
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1008871
Grant No.
2016-68004-24768
Cumulative Award Amt.
$3,985,000.00
Proposal No.
2015-08755
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Mar 1, 2016
Project End Date
Feb 28, 2022
Grant Year
2018
Program Code
[A5160]- Global Food Security: Agricultural Production Systems
Recipient Organization
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY
PO BOX 2275A
BROOKINGS,SD 57007
Performing Department
Plant Science
Non Technical Summary
Project Title: Back to the Future: Enhancing food security and farm production with integrated crop-livestock production systems.Rational: Diversifying production on marginally-productive croplands could contribute to increased crop production and can feed the increased global population and enhance food security. Introducing livestock into annual and perennial farming systems can improve crop productivity, various ecosystem services and provide economic benefits. This USDA-CAP grant will address the Agricultural Production Systems of Food Security Program Area and focus on promoting the integrated crop and livestock (ICL) management systems for mitigating food security and maintaining environmental quality in the Northern Great Plain. Ruminant livestock have traditionally grazed the Great Plains grasslands but this region has been losing grassland to cropland, subsequently impacting various ecosystems services. A variety of livestock forage resources are available within annual cropping systems that can be used to replace forage lost through land conversion. Research studies that involve livestock performance, grazing cover crops and perennials have been conducted in various settings in the U.S and suggested generalized solutions. However, to implement these strategies on farms throughout the Great Plains requires further work to develop recommendations to producers considering changes in their cropping systems. Gathering information from existing long-term studies in the Northern Great Plains and transferring this knowledge to producers will help promote more diverse farming practices and improve food security. Through this CAP there is an opportunity to involve farmers in the process of addressing food security by diversifying production and increasing ecosystem services.Hypoth?esis: We hypothesize that an integrated crop-livestock system will alter nutrient cycling and improve soil resilience by altering the microbial community, the soil structure and other soil properties, and improve crop production and the environment.Project Objectives: The overall goal of this multi-institutional and multi-disciplinary project is to understand and increase the adaptability among researchers and various age group farmers by using ICL systems within the Northern Great Plains region. While our engagement of current producers will increase the awareness and encouragement towards adopting ICL systems, a major impact of this project will come in the future through our education and outreach efforts with students, landowners and producers in the region. The project objectives are to use long-term data and generate additional data on soils, crop performance and environmental parameters to evaluate the impacts of ICL systems on sustainable production and share this information with the larger audiences. Further, this project will explore management practices and their risks and stability in the implementation of resilient cropping systems. The project will train undergraduate and graduate students and the next generation of scientists in the area of soils, environment, pathology, microbiology, animal health, sociology and extension.Expected Results: The benefits of ICL systems will be disseminated to producers and stakeholders for adoption of new alternative systems to improve food security. The project will identify optimized ICL practices and educating the farming community through extension and training activities. This CAP project will allow us to: (i) continue to collect data regarding crop and livestock production, soil and water quality, and greenhouse gases on existing large- and small-scale field trials of ICL systems; (ii) identify key barriers that inhibit farmers from using integrated systems; (iii) develop opportunities for high school, undergraduate, and graduate students in this important field; (iv) conduct economic analyses of our proposed processes; (v) understanding trade-offs will allow producers to make informed decisions on management selection that include long-term environmental impacts. The graduate and undergraduate students and researchers will be trained about sustainable ICL systems and various land and field sampling techniques.?Anticipated Impacts: Project impacts include an improved understanding about ICL systems to various professionals including producers, high school students and researchers. This project will help the producers to: (i) understand the socio-economic factors associated with adopting ICL systems, (ii) improve the knowledge about the benefits and consequences of ICL systems, (iii) understand the economics of different types of ICL systems to aid in selecting the 'best-fit', (iv) improve the knowledge from results gathered from focus groups to inform survey and educational/outreach activities, and (v) improve the understanding of the life cycle analysis of an ICL system, and environmental impacts associated with this system. Publications will be submitted to disseminate information as broadly as possible and increase national and international awareness of ICL systems. Educational materials will be developed by agricultural education experts and will be disseminated directly to teachers in the region. This information will be given to future landowners, producers, and other potential stakeholders before their practices are established, thus enabling recommended production practices to be incorporated appropriately across the landscape.
Animal Health Component
60%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
30%
Applied
60%
Developmental
10%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
10201101000100%
Knowledge Area
102 - Soil, Plant, Water, Nutrient Relationships;

Subject Of Investigation
0110 - Soil;

Field Of Science
1000 - Biochemistry and biophysics;
Goals / Objectives
The overall goal of this multi-institutional and multi-disciplinary project is to understand and increase the adaptability among researchers and various age group farmers by using ICL systems within the Northern Great Plains region. While our engagement of current producers will increase the awareness of ICL systems, a major impact of this project will come in the future through our education and outreach efforts with students, landowners and producers in the region.
Project Methods
Approach. This research will take place on 4 sites of the northern Great Plains which have considerable spatial and temporal variability in rainfall and temperature. Since integrated crop-livestock systems have the potential to increase crop production and offer environmental benefits, we are proposing to increase the adoption of this system in the Northern Plains. The detailed information of 4 sites located in SD, ND and NE. This CAP project will be completed using 5 objectives.Objective 1.Environmental sustainability. Soil health and water quality assessment under ICL systems will be monitored. Soil samples will be sampled and analyzed for soil health indicators. The lysimeters will be installed in every plot at a soil depth about 70 cm. Soil water samples (leachates) will be collected bi-weekly from June through November, and after every rainfall event that can produce leachate from these lysimeters using a portable vacuum pump with a digital pressure switch. In addition, static chambers will be used to measure fluxes of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O) from soil surface to atmosphere from ICL systems at all site locations (n= 2 chambers per plot for selected long-term pre-established grazing treatments).Datasets collected in Task 1 through 3 will be used in DAYCENT model for simulating GHG fluxes and their mitigation strategies.Objective 2.Crop and Livestock Performance in Integrated Crop-Livestock Systems. Crop management information such as planting (planting date, depth of planting, method and spacing), irrigation (irrigation date, amount, mode and depth) and fertilization (fertilizer date, depth and amount) management will be recorded for each site. To monitor the value of the inclusion of livestock into integrated systems, animal weight change data will be collected at each site. Objective 3.Social and economic factors for implementing an integrated crop-livestock (ICL) system. In order to understand and ultimately encourage farmer adoption of ICL systems identified in this project, farmers must be engaged in the decision making process, and their concerns about the benefits and consequences of various practices must be addressed. Between 5-10 in-person focus groups will be conducted by project personnel to discuss with operators, landowners, and stakeholder groups the entirety of the ICL system establishment and adoption decision-making process and the development of extension outreach programming.Objective 4.Economics and Life Cycle Analysis (LCA). The enterprise economics and risk component will focus on the potential income generated from market-exchanged goods. This study will use stochastic budgeting analysis will be conducted using stochastic simulation for variables including crop and livestock production, prices received, and costs for key inputs. Stochastic efficiency analysis will be used to rank risky alternatives, and present those results graphically.Within the proposed research, we will apply several methodologies for the determination of impacts of grazing and cover crops on the environmental quality that include GHG fluxes, soil C and N dynamics, fuel and transportation. The sustainability of the methodologies employed will be evaluated from economical, societal, and environmental perspectives to provide a 'triple bottom-line' (TBL) assessment of the proposed systems using a cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment (LCA) analysis.Objective 5.Education and Outreach. Field Days will be organized during each year of the project. During the field days, stakeholders will be invited to the study fields to observe and learn about integrated crop-livestock systems. We will involve students' participation in field visits, making them aware of the sampling techniques, different land uses, runoff issues, and land management practices. We will focus the distribution of our educational materials and resources to middle school and high school agricultural education and science instructors in the North Central Region. These educators are in contact with students in grades 7-12thon a daily basis and teach concepts related to integrated crop-livestock systems and their impacts on food security.

Progress 03/01/16 to 02/15/22

Outputs
Target Audience:Producers. Agricultural producers are a major target audience served by this project. The overall goal of this project is to understand and increase the adaptability among various age group farmers by using integrated crop-livestock (ICL) systems in the northern Great Plains. Students. Students are also a target audience in this project. Students who are interested in agriculture could be future farmers, and if they learn new practices from this project, they could become practitioners of ICL systems in the future. Further, they will be trained in various expertise areas (soil sampling, field work, modeling, and others) that will help them in future positions. Researchers. This project will develop and disseminate knowledge of ICL systems to researchers and train them about the various methodologies used in the project. Conservationists. Conservationists advocate or act for the protection and preservation of the environment and wildlife. The ICL systems investigated in this project can help protect and preserve soils and the environment. Our outcomes will be disseminated as broadly as possible to increase national and international awareness of ICL systems using publications, presentations at meeting or conferences, and the project web page (http://ipicl.org/). Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The opportunities for training and professional development provided by the project included: 1) South Dakota State University (SDSU) courses: Environmental Soil Management (PS462/562) Spring 2019 and 2020; Environmental Soil Physics (PS743/43L) in Fall, 2016, Spring, 2017, Spring 2019, Spring 2018 and 2019. The ICL system was introduced in these courses. Important aspects and benefits of the ICL system were discussed: soil quality, improved soil nutrient cycling, biological activity and soil structure, reduction in fertilizer inputs, hike in profit etc. Some of the negative impacts resulting from overgrazing or improper management of ICL systems were also discussed (e.g. issues related to soil compaction, water quality problems). 2) One-on-one work with a mentor. At Mandan site (ND): two graduate students were hired under the project and trained for soil sampling analysis during 2016. At SDSU, five graduate students were trained for sampling and analyzing soil properties and greenhouse gas flux. At the Mandan site (ND), 2 undergraduate students Heidi Scheetzm, Agriculture major, and Robyn Duttenhefner, Biochemisty and Molecular Biology major, were trained for soil sampling analysis during 2017. At SDSU, 8 graduate students were trained for sampling and analyzing soil properties and greenhouse gas flux. The students included: Navdeep Singh, Vishal Seth, Hanxiao Feng, Atilla Polat, Brant Douville, Jasdeep Singh, Asmita Gautam, and Teerath Singh Rai (Plant Science major). One graduate student Prashansa Shrestha (Civil and Environmental Engineering major) was trained in LCA modeling at SDSM&T. Four undergraduates were trained in sample collection, pasture sampling, and management at Mead site, NE: David Walla (Agribusiness major), Josh Davis (Fisheries and Wildlife), Saleh Husseini (Natural Resources and Environmental Economics), and Andrew Johnson (Biosystems Engineering). In 2018 at SDSU, six graduate students were trained for sampling and analyzing soil properties and greenhouse gass flux. Navdeep Singh, Jashanjeet Kaur Dhaliwal, Arun Bawa, Teerath Singh Rai (PhD Students), Atilla Polat, Vishal Seth (MS Students). At the Mead site (NE) seven undergraduate students (Caleb Sheets, Carter Stara, Eric Bohaty, Elizabeth Bergdolt, Abby Lyons, Katie Bresnahan, Donavan Callahan) and graduate (MS) student (Goutham Thotakuri; Vaishnavi Varikuti) were trained in soil sampling analysis focusing on measuring soil physical and biological parameters. At SDSU four PhD graduate students (Jashanjeet Kaur Dhaliwal, Arun Bawa, Teerath Singh Rai, Anuoluwa Sangotayo) were trained in soil sampling and analyzing soil properties and greenhouse gas flux. Postdoctoral Researcher (Udayakumar Sekaran; Sangeeta Bansal, Poulamee Chakraborty) were trained to analyze soil physical and biological properties impacting overall soil health. 3) Conference: Prashansa Shrestha and Heidi Sieverding attended the South Dakota AgHorizons annual conference in Pierre, SD during December 2016. At this producer meeting, they had the opportunity to visit with producers and attend seminars on ICL, agricultural, and environmental topics. Five graduate students Navdeep Singh, Vishal Seth, Hanxiao Feng, Atilla Polat, Jasdeep Singh (Plant Science major), and two postdocs Liming Lai and Juan Perez Gutierrez attended the ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meeting, October 22-25, 2017, in Tampa, FL, USA. All of them provided oral and/or poster presentations. We held the USDA-CAP Grant (2016-2020) Annual Meeting during June 27-28, 2017, at Mandan, ND. Seven graduate students attended the meeting and provided oral presentations. 4) Professional and scientific writing was used by all graduates to develop their theses or dissertations. 5) Combination of some opportunities: Prashansa Shrestha, a Ph.D. student, learned how to create a life cycle inventory, analyze, and interpret results using SimaPro LCA model software. As part of her training, Ms. Shrestha visited SDSU's Cottonwood Research Station and area producers to familiarize her with regional agricultural management practices. She has been developing her professional and scientific writing and communication skills through publication development, presentations, and monthly project calls. Teerath Rai, PhD student was trained in the use of the DSSAT model to assess the impacts of grazing on crop production. Jashanjeet Kaur Dhaliwal, PhD student tested DAYCENT model to assess the impacts of ICLS on greenhouse gas flux. Arun Bawa, PhD student learned to assess the impact of long-term implementation of ICL system with the projected climate scenarios on water yield using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model over two time periods [i.e., Near Future (2021-2050) and Far Future (2070-2099)]. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results of this project were published in refereed scientific journals and presented at scientific conferences. Results were also used to develop materials for extension and education programs and decision tools to transfer research findings to farmers, policy makers, and community leaders and to improve current models so they can better predict the long-term impacts of ICL systems on GHGE, C sequestration, soil physical and biological properties. The following actions were taken to expand the impacts of this proposed project: 1) Development of integrated management strategies and guidelines for decision-making and decision support tools for ICL systems, and 2) Data was used to improve current models so they can better predict the impacts of ICL systems on hydrological alterations. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Objective 1: Assess Ecosystem Services from ICL Systems (100% Accomplished). Using 0-5 cm depth soil from three long-term, on-farm trials (>30 yr) and one short-term experimental trial (3 yr), a study was conducted to evaluate the impacts of integrated crop-livestock system (ICLS) on labile C and N fractions and B-glucosidase enzyme activity. ICLS had higher hot water extractable organic carbon, cold water extractable organic carbon, microbial biomass carbon, microbial biomass nitrogen, potential carbon mineralization, and potassium permanganate oxidizable carbon as compared to the control (i.e., traditional corn (Zea mays L.)-soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) rotation without cover crop and grazing). The >30 yr of ICLS resulted in 72, 214, and 60% higher glucosidase activity than the control, respectively, for the on-farm trials. Short-term ICL site did not influence the soil properties. Therefore, the long-term inclusion of cover crops and livestock grazing in corn-soybean system was effective in enhancing labile soil C and N fractions. X-ray computed microtomography (μCT) at a resolution of 31.6 µm was used to assess soil pore structural parameters for an integrated crop livestock system (ICLS) compared to a traditional corn (Zea mays L.)-soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) rotation without cover crop and grazing (control) and a native pasture. The CT- derived porosity was higher in native pasture (12.8%) and ICLS (8.2%) compared to the control (4.3%). Soils under control had larger values of degree of anisotropy and tortuosity as compared to the native pasture and ICLS. Results indicate that long-term adoption of ICLS improves soil pore properties. A short term (3 yr) ICLS was studied to observe its impact on greenhouse gas flux, comparing cumulative soil carbon dioxide (CO2) flux and nitrous oxide (N2O) flux for a grazed pasture with a control (traditional corn (Zea mays L.)-soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) rotation without cover crop and grazing). It was observed that grazed pasture increased cumulative CO2 fluxes by 34-57% and decreased N2O fluxes by 26-50% as compared to the control. A study was conducted to observe the impacts of ICLS on soil hydro-physical properties to a depth of 40 cm. The soil hydro-physical properties of saturated hydraulic conductivity, soil water retention, and plant available water content were measured for the ICLS system and compared with a control (traditional corn (Zea mays L.)-soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) rotation without cover crop and grazing) and a native pasture. The plant available water content in the 0-40 cm depth because of the long-term ICLS was 2.6 cm higher and 2.5 cm lower than the control and native pasture, respectively.Thus, the long-term implementation of ICLS helped in mitigating the impacts of grassland to cropland conversion by storing more water down to 40 cm depth. A study was conducted to assess the impact of long-term implementation of the ICLS under projected climate scenarios on water yield using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model over two time periods [i.e., Near Future (2021-2050) and Far Future (2070-2099)]. In phase I, the impact of long-term ICLS implementation (1976-2005; 30 years) on soil hydrology was evaluated. Results showed a significant decrease in water yield (7%) and surface runoff (15%) of ICLS compared to the control. Phase II and phase III evaluated the impacts of projected climate changes under existing land cover and ICLS, respectively. Phase II indicated that the water yield may increase by 7-37% during the NF period (2021-2050) and 15-66% by the end of the century. Phase III showed the reduction in water yield (4-34%) and surface runoff (16-63%) due to the ICLS under projected climate changes. A study was conducted in SD at four locations consisting of three long-term (> 30 years) on-farm sites: 1 (Salem), 2 (Bristol), 3 (Bristol) with three treatments that included ICL (corn, Zea Mays L.-soybean, Glycine max L.-oats, Avena sativa L.-CC with cattle grazing), natural ecosystem (NE), and control (CNT) (corn-soybean with no grazing). Experimental site 4 (Beresford) with study duration of 3-yr consisted of oats, oats with CC, oats with CC/grazing, and grazed pasture mix. At site 1, ICL showed significantly higher soil organic carbon (36%-49%) and higher nitrogen (33-44%) in > 4 mm aggregates than NE and CNT. At site 1, NE showed significantly higher total phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA), total bacterial biomass, gram (+), gram (-) bacteria for NE than CNT, however, it did not vary significantly from ICL. Integrated crop-livestock system and NE enhanced C and N concentrations in macroaggregates as well as in microaggregates. Integrating crop and livestock improved physicochemical and microbial properties compared to the traditional corn-soybean system. Objective 2: Evaluate Crop and Livestock Performance in ICL Systems (100% accomplished). A field experiment was initiated at SD State University in 2016 to determine: (a) the medium-term (4-6 yr) impacts of cover crops and livestock grazing on crop performance, and (b) the economic impacts of integrating cover crops and livestock grazing. Treatments included (a) cover crop blend planted after oat harvest (CC), (b) CC blend that was the same as in (a) but with grazing of the CC and crop residue in late fall (ICL), and (c) control treatment without any CC or livestock grazing. Maize yield decreased by 17.7% in a dry year in 2017 in the CC treatment compared with the control, however, the difference was nonsignificant (P=.06). Economic analysis showed the net revenue generated by the ICLS could compensate for the additional costs incurred by integrating cover crops into the crop production system. Objective 3: Increase Adoption of ICL Systems (100% accomplished). Excessive algal blooms and aquatic plants were among producers' top water quality concerns in ND, SD, and NE. Fertilizers/pesticides were perceived as either not a problem (28.7%) or a slight problem (43.7%) when it comes to water pollution. While only 17.2% of the respondents indicated agreement upon paying taxes to help protect local water quality, 43.5% agreed to implement conservation practices (CPs) at some cost, and 70.1% agreed to implement CPs at no direct cost to farmers to improve water quality. We found that producer adoption decisions of cover crops largely hinged on farm characteristics and management variables, such as land ownership, farm size, livestock ownership, and adoption status of other farm management practices. Water quality information and producer perceptions affected the adoption decisions for both cover crops and buffer strips. Objective 4: Conduct Economic Analysis of ICL Systems (100% accomplished). A partial budgeting analysis was conducted to assess the economic impacts of implementing the ICLS in ND. A 17.7% reduction in maize yield under CC as compared to the CNT was observed for 2017, however, the differences were non-significant (P = 0.06). Despite no significant differences in crop performance, the economic analysis showed ICLS to be significantly more profitable (P = 0.003) than the CNT (64% higher returns) and CC (91% higher returns). The revenue, in case of CNT and CC, was generated only by the crop grains, whereas in the ICLS, the biomass produced by cover crops and cash crops was also considered. Objective 5: Develop and Utilize Education and Extension Materials (100% accomplished). Nine published papers, three PhD dissertations, and three presentations at various society conferences reached the national and international scientific community. More than 10 extension presentations broadly shared ICL knowledge and provided outreach of our results to approximately 800 stakeholders (producers, students, and government representatives).

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Bawa, A., MacDowell, R., McMaine, J., Sexton, P., Osborne, S.L., and Kumar, S. 2021. Changes in nutrient concentrations leaving plots through tile drainage systems after planting rye cover crop. Journal of Environmental Quality. https://doi.org/10.1002/jeq2.20294
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Bawa, A., P�rez?Guti�rrez, J. D., and Kumar, S. 2021. Simulating hydrological responses of integrated crop?livestock systems under future climate changes in an agricultural watershed. Journal of the American Water Resources Association. https://doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.12908
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Bawa, A., Senay G.B., Kumar S. 2021. Regional crop water use assessment using Landsat-derived evapotranspiration. Hydrological Processes. 35:e14015. https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.14015
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2022 Citation: Bawa, A., Senay G.B., and Kumar, S. 2022. Landsat-based long-term (1986-2018) crop water use assessment across the Missouri River Basin. Agricultural Water Management. (under review).
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Other Year Published: 2022 Citation: Bawa, A., P�rez?Guti�rrez, J. D., and Kumar, S. 2022. Spatio-temporal characterization of water quality using multivariate statistical techniques: A case study of Big Sioux River, South Dakota. (in preparation).
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2022 Citation: Singh, N., Kumar, S., Jin, V. L., and Schneider, S. 2022. Short-term soil physical responses to grazing and cover crops in an integrated crop-livestock system. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation. (under review).
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Sekaran, U., Lai, L., Ussiri, D., Kumar, S., and S. Clay. 2021. Role of integrated crop-livestock systems (ICLSs) in addressing global food security. Journal of Agriculture and Food Research. 5:100190. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jafr.2021.100190.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Sekaran, U., Kumar, S., and Hernandez, J. 2021. Integration of crop and livestock enhanced soil biochemical properties and microbial community. Geoderma. 381(1). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2020.114686
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Wang T., Fan, Y., Zheng, X., and Kumar, S. 2021. Adopting cover crops and buffer strips to reduce nonpoint source pollution: Understanding farmers perspectives in the U.S. Northern Great Plains. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation, July 2021, 00185; DOI: https://doi.org/10.2489/jswc.2021.00185
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Dhaliwal, J., Sagar, K.L., Chellappa, J., Sekaran, U., and Kumar, S. 2021. Labile soil carbon and nitrogen fractions under short and long-term integrated crop-livestock agroecosystems. Soil Research. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1071/SR21038
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Rai, T. S., Nleya, T., Kumar, S., Sexton, P., Wang, T., and Fan, Y. 2021. The medium?term impacts of integrated croplivestock systems on crop yield and economic performance. Agronomy Journal. https://doi.org/10.1002/agj2.20840
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2022 Citation: Rai, T.S., Kumar, S., Nleya, T., Hoogenboom, G., and Sexton, P. 2022. Modelling crop yield and soil organic carbon under long-term conventional and no-till maize - soybean production systems. Soil Research. (under review).
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Dhaliwal, J. K., and Kumar, S. 2022.3D-visualization and quantification of soil porous structure under three land uses using X-ray micro-tomography scanning. Soil Tillage and Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.still.2021.105305
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Other Year Published: 2022 Citation: Chakraborty, P., and Kumar, S. 2022. Integrated crop livestock system to mitigate the impacts of grassland to cropland conversions on soil hydro-physical properties. (in preparation).
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2021 Citation: Chakraborty, P., Singh, N., Dhaliwal, J. K., Bansal, S., Vital, S., Sexton, P., and Kumar, S. 2021. Mitigating the impacts of grassland to cropland conversion on soil organic carbon stock and hydro-physical properties using integrated crop-livestock system. SSSA-ASA-CSSA International Annual Meeting. Salt Lake City, UT. November 8-11.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2022 Citation: Bansal, S., Chakraborty, P., and Kumar, S. 2022. Crop-livestock integration enhanced soil aggregate-associated carbon and nitrogen, and phospholipid fatty acid. Scientific Reports. (Accepted).
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2021 Citation: Bansal, S., Chakraborty, P., and Kumar, S. 2021. Crop-livestock integration enhanced soil aggregate-associated carbon and nitrogen, and phospholipid fatty acid. ASA, CSSA, SSSA International Annual Meeting. Salt Lake City, UT. November, 9. https://scisoc.confex.com/scisoc/2021am/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/133384
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Bawa, A. 2021. Quantifying the impacts of land use, management and climate change on water resources in Missouri River Basin. Dissertation. South Dakota State University. Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 5250. https://openprairie.sdstate.edu/etd/5250
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Rai, T. S. 2021. Quantifying the impacts of an integrated crop-livestock system on plant nutrient accumulation, crop yield, and economic performance. Dissertation. South Dakota State University. Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 5211. https://openprairie.sdstate.edu/etd/5211
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Dhaliwal, J. K. 2021. Soil organic carbon, hydro-physical properties, pore structure and greenhouse gas fluxes under integrated crop-livestock system. Dissertation. South Dakota State University. Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 5257 https://openprairie.sdstate.edu/etd/5257
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2021 Citation: Bawa, A., MacDowell, R., Bansal, S., McMaine, J., Sexton, P., Osborne, S.L., and Kumar, S. 2021. Responses of leached nutrient concentrations and soil health to winter rye cover crop under no-till corn-soybean rotation. SSSA-ASA-CSSA International Annual Meeting. Salt Lake City, UT. November 8-11.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2021 Citation: Wick, A. 2021. Transitioning to soil health systems. CAF� talk NDSU. Virtual. Jan 5. Audience =126.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2021 Citation: Bly, A. 2021. Corn production and cover crops. Crop Hour. Virtual. Jan 14. Audience=96.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2021 Citation: Bly, A. 2021. Transitioning to soil health systems. Crop Hour. Virtual. Feb 18. Audience=138.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2021 Citation: Bly, A. 2021. Cover Crops panel discussion. Crop Hour. Virtual. Feb 19. Audience=118.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2021 Citation: Bly, A. 2021. Climate and soil health interaction. SD Farmers Union Drought Conference. Mitchell, SD. July 21. Audience=56.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2021 Citation: Bly, A. 2021. Soil bulk density. Soil Health School. Mitchell, SD. August 25. Audience=23.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2021 Citation: Bly, A. 2021. Cover crops. Soil Health School. Mitchell, SD. August 26. Audience=43.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2021 Citation: Bly, A. 2021. Planned and lead tour highlighting 7 farms. South Dakota Soybean Association Bus Tour. Minnehaha, SD. Sept 8. Audience=37.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2021 Citation: Bly, A. 2021. Soil pit, sustainability and soil health (7x). FFA field day at the Southeast Research Farm. Beresford, SD. Sept 22. Audience=126.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2021 Citation: Bly, A. 2021. Soil health agronomics. Soil Health School. Mitchell, SD. August 25. Audience=43.


Progress 03/01/20 to 02/28/21

Outputs
Target Audience:Producers. Agricultural producers are a major target audience served by this project. The overall goal of this project is to understand and increase the adaptability among various age group farmers by using integrated crop-livestock (ICL) systems in the northern Great Plains. Students. Students are also a target audience in this project. Students who are interested in agriculture could be future farmers, and if they learn new practices from this project, they could become practitioners of ICL systems in the future. Further, they will be trained in various expertise areas (soil sampling, field work, modeling, and others) that will help them in future positions. Researchers. This project will develop and disseminate knowledge of ICL systems to researchers and train them about the various methodologies used in the project. Conservationists. Conservationists advocate or act for the protection and preservation of the environment and wildlife. The ICL systems investigated in this project can help protect and preserve soils and the environment. Our outcomes will be disseminated as broadly as possible to increase national and international awareness of ICL systems using publications, presentations at meeting or conferences, and the project web page (http://ipicl.org/). Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The opportunities for training and professional development provided by the project included: 1) South Dakota State University (SDSU) courses: Environmental Soil Management (PS462/562) Spring 2019 and 2020; Environmental Soil Physics (PS743/43L) in Spring 2019. A total of 23 students attended both these classes in 2019; 2) One-on-one work with a mentor. At the Mead site (NE) seven undergraduate students (Caleb Sheets, Carter Stara, Eric Bohaty, Elizabeth Bergdolt, Abby Lyons, Katie Bresnahan, Donavan Callahan) and graduate (MS) student (Goutham Thotakuri) were trained in soil sampling analysis. At SDSU four PhD graduate students (Jashanjeet Kaur Dhaliwal, Arun Bawa, Teerath Singh Rai, Anuoluwa Sangotayo) were trained in soil sampling and analyzing soil properties and greenhouse gas fluxes. Postdoctoral Researcher (Udayakumar Sekaran) was trained to analyze soil physical and biological properties impacting overall soil health. 3) Professional and scientific writing was used by all graduates to develop their theses or dissertations; 4) Combination of some opportunities. For example, Teerath Rai, PhD student was trained in the use of the DSSAT model to assess the impacts of grazing on crop production. Jashanjeet Kaur Dhaliwal, PhD student tested DAYCENT model to assess the impacts of ICLS on greenhouse gas fluxes. Arun Bawa, PhD student learned to assess the impact of long-term implementation of integrated crop-livestock (ICL) system with the projected climate scenarios on water yield using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model over two time periods [i.e., Near Future (2021-2050) and Far Future (2070-2099)]. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results of this project were published in refereed scientific journals and presented at scientific conferences. Results were also used to develop materials for extension and education programs and decision tools to transfer research findings to farmers, policy makers, and community leaders and to improve current models so they can better predict the long-term impacts of ICL systems on GHGE, C sequestration and soil physical properties. The following actions were taken to expand the impacts of this proposed project: 1) Development of integrated management strategies and guidelines for decision-making and decision support tools for ICL systems, and 2) Data was used to improve current models so they can better predict the impacts of ICL systems on hydrological alterations. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Objective 1: Assess Ecosystem Services from ICL Systems. Task 1: Soil health assessment under ICL systems. Finish the soil parameter data analysis for 2019-2020 at Dickinson Site (ND), Mandan Site (ND), Brookings Sites 1 and 2 (SD), and Mead Site (NE). Continue to collect soil samples and analyze the soil data at the study sites: Brookings Site 1 (SD), Brookings Site 2 (SD), Beresford Site (SD), and Mead Site (NE). We are also planning to assess the impact of ICL system on crop water use and root water uptake using the HYDRUS model. Water content will be simulated under different treatments based on the measured data using HYDRUS-2D after calibration and validation of the model to monitor crop water use and dynamics. Prepare five manuscripts using the data collected until 2020. Objective 2: Crop and Livestock Performance in ICL Systems. Continue to collect grain and biomass yield data among different treatments at the Mandan Site (ND), Brookings Sites (SD), and Beresford Site. Start to collect samples from triticale plots for forage yield and quality determination at Mead Site (NE). Objective 3: Adoption of ICL Systems. The data collected regarding social surveys will be compiled and findings will be combined in publications and submitted to various journals. Objective 4: Economics involved in ICL Systems. The plan was to continue to analyze the ICL production data received from different study sites and compiled in a research article. The LCA models will be parameterized and calibrated to obtain economic model results. Data for the ICL sites in SD and NE will be gathered and assembled during the coming summer and fall. Expansion of the life cycle inventory, analysis, and interpretation will be continued. Objective 5: Education and Outreach. Task 1: Educate stakeholders and producers. Five to seven focus group discussions in Field Days will be conducted in 2021 in SD, ND, and NE. We expect 100-200 attendees per year at each site. Extension specialists, researchers, and landowners will be on-site to give tours and provide information. Fact sheets will be available to better communicate results of the research project. These fact sheets will be uploaded on the iGrow Extension website (http://igrow.org/) at SDSU and will be publicly available. Project reports, results, video clips from workshops/field days, fact sheets, and any additional information pertaining to this study will be posted on this website. Task 2. Educational plan/course development. We will focus the distribution of our educational materials and resources to middle school and high school agricultural education and science instructors in the North Central Region. The project outcomes will be covered in courses at SDSU: Plant Science 462/562 (Environmental Soil Management), and Environmental Soil Physics (PS 743). These courses are taught by Dr. Sandeep Kumar in the Plant Science Department. Agricultural educators and science teachers across SD, ND, and NE gather for an annual conference. At the annual conference, resources and curriculum materials will be shared with educators. All materials will be posted for teachers to access along with electronic copies of the curriculum materials. During this professional development seminar and other outreach workshops, teachers will be walked through the curriculum materials and activities developed for this curriculum. Additional information will be provided through local newsletters. Stakeholders and farmers will be able to post comments and concerns about the results of their own efforts and the overall project as it progresses.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Objective 1: Assess Ecosystem Services from ICL Systems (98% Accomplished). An experiment was initiated in 2016 to study the impacts of cover crops and grazing under an integrated crop livestock (ICL) system on soil properties and greenhouse gas fluxes at Southeast Research Farm of South Dakota State University. Study treatments included: i) no cover crops and no grazing (CNT); ii) grazing of crop residues after grain harvest and cover crops (ICLS); iii) cover crops with no grazing (CC) under single crop rotation system which annually rotates corn (Zea mays L.; C), soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.; S], and oat (Avena sativa L.; O) and iv) grazed pasture (GP). Higher SOC was recorded in GP (31.5 g kg-1) than CC (30.3 g kg-1), ICLS (29.4 g kg-1) and CNT (28.6 g kg-1). The ICLS was not different from CNT in soil water content at water potentals of −0.01, −0.4, −1, −2.5, −5, −10, −20, and −30 kPa. Grazed pasture significantly enhanced macroporosity (0.016 m3 m-3) than that of the CNT (0.006 m3 m-3). Another study evaluated the impacts of cover crops (CC) and grazed CC under oats (Avena sativa L.)/cover crops-maize (Zea mays L.) rotation on greenhouse gas fluxes, soil physical and hydrological properties at two sites (north and northwest Brookings) in 2016 and 2017, respectively, under loamy soils in South Dakota. Study treatments included: (i) legume dominated CC (LdC), (ii) cattle grazed LdC (LdC+G), (iii) grass dominated CC (GdC), (iv) cattle grazed GdC (GdC+G), and (v) control (without CC or grazing). Data showed that cumulative CO2 and N2O fluxes in N-Brookings were lower for GdC+G (4042 kg C ha-1 for CO2 and 1499 g N ha-1 for N2O) than for LdC+G (4819 kg C ha-1 for CO2 and 2017 g N ha-1 for N2O). Cover crops increased soil water retention (SWR), total porosity, and quasi-steady infiltration rate (at one of the sites) compared to the NC. An on-farm study was conducted near Salem, SD with the objective to quantify X-ray computed tomography (CT)-measured soil pore properties as influenced by crop-livestock integration and correlate these with soil hydro-physical properties. Treatments included: (i) native grazed pasture (NG), (ii) integrated crop-livestock system (ICLS), and (iii) maize-soybean cropping system (CS). CT-measured macroporosity was significantly higher in ICLS (0.084 mm3 mm-3) and NG (0.093 mm3 mm-3) compared to CS (0.012 mm3 mm-3). Soils under CS when converted to improved management practice (i.e., ICLS in our case), the SOC stock was increased by 13% compared to the CS at 0-10 cm depth. A study was conducted to evaluate the impact of long-term application of cattle manure and fertilizer impacts on soil porosity at a microscale under corn (Zea maysL.)-soybean (Glycinemax (L.) Merr.) rotation. The µCT technique was employed to evaluate the changes in soil pore structure caused by the application of manure and inorganic fertilizer on the surface soils cultivated under corn-soybean rotation. Soil cores were scanned at a voxel resolution of 31.6µm and image visualization, processing and analysis were performed usingImageJsoftware. Application of DM significantly enhanced soil organic carbon by 9.8 g kg-1 (P<0.001) and CT-measured porosity (0.079mm3mm−3) compared to the CNT (0.031mm3mm−3). A study was conducted to calibrate and validate the HYDRUS model, with measured soil water content and temperature from cover cropped (CC), grazed CC, and bare soils (control) under integrated crop-livestock systems. HYDRUS was calibrated using the daily average volumetric soil water content and temperature for growing season of 2017 and validated for the growing season of 2018. Among different treatments, the simulated soil water content matched closely with the measured soil water at different depths for validation (R 2 = 0.26-0.78, d = 0.52-0.89, NSE = -0.02-0.71, and RMSE = 0.08-0.15). Simulations of soil temperature across different treatments were consistent with that of measured data (R 2 = 0.48-0.99, d = 0.80-0.99, NSE = 0.28- 0.99 and RMSE = 0.49-4.12). A study was conducted to assess the impact of long-term implementation of integrated crop-livestock (ICL) system with the projected climate scenarios on water yield using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model over two time periods [i.e., Near Future (2021-2050) and Far Future (2070-2099)]. This study was conducted in three phases. In phase I, the impact of long-term ICL system implementation (1976-2005; 30 years) on soil hydrology was evaluated. Phase II and phase III evaluated the impacts of projected climate changes under existing land cover and ICL system, respectively. Outcomes of phase I showed a significant decrease in water yield (7%) and surface runoff (15%). Phase-II indicated that the water yield may increase by 7-37% during the NF period (2021-2050) and 15-66% by the end of the century. Phase III showed the reduction in water yield and surface runoff due to the ICL system and minimizing the induced detrimental impacts only due to climate change. Objective 2: Evaluate Crop and Livestock Performance in ICL Systems (95% accomplished). The goal is to study the impact of integrated crop livestock systems on the crop yields at the Southeast Research Farm of the South Dakota State University located near Beresford, South Dakota. The crop rotation consists of oat-corn-soybean (CNT treatment). Crop yield data collected from 2016 to 2019 exhibited no significant difference between the crop yields of the three treatments. Seasonal precipitation, however, had a greater role in the year-to-year variation in the crop yields (P = 0.002). Objective 3: Increase Adoption of ICL Systems (95% accomplished). Utilizing survey data from the Northern Great Plains, we found that excessive algal bloom and aquatic plants were among producers' top water quality concerns in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska. Fertilizers/pesticides were perceived as either not a problem (28.7%) or a slight problem (43.7%) when it comes to the water pollution sources. Regarding measures for water quality improvement, while only 17.2% of producers agreed with tax payment, 43.5% of producers agreed to implement best management practices (BMPs) at some cost, and 70.1% agreed to implement BMPs at no cost. Our paper examined the factors that affect the adoption of cover crops and buffer zones; the former generates both on- and off-site benefits, yet the latter primarily targets the off-site benefits. We found that producer adoption decisions regarding cover crops largely hinges on farm characteristics and management variables, such as land ownership, farm size, livestock ownership, and adoption status of other conservation practices, while water quality information and producer perceptions affect the adoption decisions of both BMPs. Objective 4: Conduct Economic Analysis of ICL Systems (95% accomplished). A partial budgeting analysis was conducted to assess the economic impacts of implementing the ICL system in ND. The economic benefit from the ICL systems was found to be significantly higher than the control and cover crop treatments (P = 0.003). The ICL system generated around 64% higher profit than the CNT treatment, and around 91% higher returns than the CC treatment. The revenue, in case of CNT and CC, was generated only by the crop grains, whereas in the ICL treatment, the biomass produced by cover crops and cash crops was also considered. Objective 5: Develop and Utilize Education and Extension Materials (95% accomplished). Six published papers, one PhD dissertation, and 10 presentations at various society conferences reached the national and international scientific community and more than 10 extension presentations and 5 radio interviews broadly shared ICL knowledge and provided outreach of our preliminary results to producers, students, and government representatives. These meetings reached approximately 500 stakeholders.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2021 Citation: Karim, R.A., H.L. Sieverding, D.W. Archer, S. Kumar, J.J. Stone. 2021. Can we do more with less? Can ICL system increase the productivity and sustainability of the agricultural systems in NGP? Agriculture Ecosystems and the Environment. (in preparation).
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Smart, A.J., Redfearn, D., Mitchell, R., Zilverberg, C., Bauman, P., Derner, J., Walker, J., Wright, C., and Wang, T. 2020. Integration of crop-livestock systems: an opportunity to protect grasslands from conversion to cropland in the U.S. Great Plains. Rangeland Ecology & Management. ISSN 1550-7424, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rama.2019.12.007
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Dhaliwal, J.K. and Kumar, S. 2020. Hydro-physical soil properties as influenced by short-and long-term integrated crop-livestock agroecosystems. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. https://doi.org/10.1002/saj2.20214
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Singh, N., Kumar, S., Udawatta, R.P., Anderson, S.H., de Jonge L.W. and Katuwal, S. 2021. X-ray micro-computed tomography characterized soil pore network as influenced by long-term application of manure and fertilizer. Geoderma. 385: 114872.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Singh, N., Kumar, S., Udawatta, R.P., Anderson, S.H., de Jonge L.W. and Katuwal, S , S. 2020. Grassland conversion to croplands impacted soil pore parameters measured using X-ray computed tomography. Soil Sci. Soc. of Am. J. https://doi.org/10.1002/saj2.20163
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Singh, N., Abgandura, G. and Kumar, S. 2020. Short-term grazing of cover crops and maize residue impacts on soil greenhouse gas fluxes in two Mollisols. Journal of Environmental Quality, 49: 628-639.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2021 Citation: Singh, N., Kumar, S., Jin, V. L., and Schneider, S. 2021. Positive effects of cover crop mixtures on soil hydro-physical properties are offset by grazing. (in preparation).
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2021 Citation: Singh, N., and Kumar, S. 2021. Modeling soil water and thermal regime under integrated crop-livestock system with HYDRUS. (in preparation).
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2021 Citation: Bawa, A, P�rez-Guti�rrez, JD, and Kumar, S. 2021. Simulating the benefits of integrated crop-livestock systems using SWAT under future climate changes scenarios in an agricultural dominated watershed. Journal of American Water Resources Association. (under review).
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2021 Citation: Rai, T.S., Kumar, S., Nleya, T., Hoogenboom, G. and Sexton, P. 2021. Modelling crop yield and soil organic carbon under long-term conventional and no-till maize - soybean production systems. Frontiers in Sustainable Food System. (under review).
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2021 Citation: Rai, T.S., Nleya, T., Kumar, S., Sexton, P., Wang, T. and Fan, Y. 2021. The medium-term impacts of integrated crop-livestock systems on crop performance. Agronomy Journal. (under review).
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2021 Citation: Rai, T.S., Kumar, S., Nleya, T. and Hoogenboom, G. 2021. Simulating impact of crop-livestock interaction on crop performance using DSSAT. Agricultural Systems. (under review).
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2021 Citation: Rai, T.S., Nleya, T., Kumar, S. and Sexton, P. 2021. Impacts of integrated crop-livestock systems on nutrient uptake in maize. (in preparation).
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2021 Citation: Wang T., Y. Fan, Z. Xu and S. Kumar. 2021. Adopting cover crops and buffer zones to reduce nonpoint source pollution: Understanding farmers perspective in the Northern Great Plains. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation. (under review).
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Sekaran U, Kumar S, Gonzalez-Hernandez JL. 2021. Integration of crop and livestock enhanced soil biochemical properties and microbial community structure. Geoderma. 381:114686.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Widder, E., Mitchell, R.B., Redfearn, D.D., Jin, V.L., Schmer, M.R., Parsons, J., and Drewnoski, M. 2020. Economic sustainability of a perennial grass system grazed by stocker cattle. Society for Range Management Annual Meeting. Denver CO. February 16-20.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Bawa, A, P�rez-Guti�rrez, JD, and Kumar, S. 2020. Simulating the hydrological benefits of integrated crop-livestock systems using SWAT under future climate changes scenarios in an agricultural dominated watershed. SSSA-ASA-CSSA International Annual Meeting. Virtual. November 8-11.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Bawa, A, P�rez-Guti�rrez, JD, and Kumar, S. 2020. Seasonal and spatial distribution of water quality: a case study for the Upper Big Sioux River watershed. ASABE Annual International Meeting. Virtual, Omaha, NE. July 12-15.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Dhaliwal, J.K. and Kumar, S. 2020. Impacts of integrated crop-livestock System on soil physical and hydrological properties in Eastern South Dakota. SWCS Annual Meeting. Virtual. July 29.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Singh, N. and Kumar, S. 2020. Modeling soil water and thermal regime under integrated crop-livestock system with HYDRUS. ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meeting. Virtual. November 9-13.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Singh, N., Dhaliwal, J.K., Abagandura, G.O. and Kumar, S. 2020. Soil greenhouse gas fluxes as influenced by short-term integrated crop-livestock system. ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meeting. Virtual. November 9-13.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Singh, N., Dhaliwal, J.K., Singh, J., Sekaran, U. and Kumar, S. 2020. Applying computed tomography scanning to study soil porosity for water conservation. SWCS 75th International Annual Conference. Virtual, Des Moines, IA. July 26-29.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Rai, T., Nleya, T.M., Kumar, S. and Sexton, P.J., 2020. Impact of integrated crop-livestock production systems on crop performance in South Dakota. ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meeting. Virtual. Nov. 9-13.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Rai, T., Kumar, S., Nleya, T.M. and Hoogenboom, G. 2020. Developing a simulation methodology for integrated crop  livestock production systems using DSSAT. ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meeting. Virtual. Nov. 9-13.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Sekaran, U. and S. Kumar.2020. Integration of crop and livestock enhanced soil health. ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meeting. Phoenix, AZ. Nov. 9-13,
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Bly, A., and Bauder, S. 2020. Managing soil  maximizing profit, Producer presentation, Colton, SD. Dec. 03. Attendance = 68
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Bly, A., and Bauder, S. 2020. SDSHC Soil Health School. Mitchell, SD. Sept. 1. Attendance = 37
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Bly, A., and Bauder, S. 2020. SDSHC Soil Health School. Mitchell, SD. Aug. 31. Attendance = 37
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Bly, A., and Bauder, S. 2020. Southeast Farm Field Day. Virtual. June 23.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Bly, A., and Bauder, S. 2020. CAFO Training. Huron, SD. Aug 26. Attendance =28
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Bly, A., and Bauder, S. 2020. Travelite International Agronomy Workshop. Virtual. June 1. Attendance =43
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Bly, A., and Bauder, S. 2020. Independent Crop Consultants Workshop. Virtual. March 27. Attendance =26
  • Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Bawa, A., P�rez-Guti�rrez, J.D., and Kumar, S. 2020. Simulating the hydrological benefits of integrated crop-livestock systems using SWAT under future climate changes scenarios in an agricultural dominated watershed. SSSA-ASA-CSSA International Annual Meeting. Virtual. November 8-11.
  • Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Bawa, A., P�rez-Guti�rrez, J.D., and Kumar, S. 2020. Seasonal and spatial distribution of water quality: a case study for the Upper Big Sioux River watershed. ASABE Annual International Meeting. Virtual. Omaha, NE. July 12-15.
  • Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Bawa, A., P�rez-Guti�rrez, J.D., and Kumar, S. 2020. Simulating the benefits of integrated crop-livestock systems using SWAT under future climate changes scenarios in an agricultural dominated watershed. ASABE Annual International Meeting. Virtual, Omaha, NE. July 12-15.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Bly, A., and Bauder, S. 2020. CAFO Training. Huron, SD. March 04. Attendance =38
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Bly, A., and Bauder, S. 2020. Crops Clinic. Brookings, SD. Feb. 18. Attendance =15
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Bly, A., and Bauder, S. 2020. Crops Expo. Watertown, SD. Jan.9. Attendance =154
  • Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Bly, A., and Bauder, S. 2020. AgPhD radio. Aug. 05. Radio interview on crop conditions.
  • Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Bly, A., and Bauder, S.. 2020. iGrow radio. July 08. Radio interview on Follow the Field Tour- Soils.
  • Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Dhaliwal, J.K., and Kumar, S. 2020. Impacts of integrated crop-livestock system on soil physical and hydrological properties in Eastern South Dakota. SWCS Annual Meeting. Virtual. July 29.
  • Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Singh, N., and Kumar, S. 2020. Modeling soil water and thermal regime under integrated crop-livestock system with HYDRUS. ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meeting. Virtual. November 9-13.
  • Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Singh, N., Dhaliwal, J.K., Abagandura, G.O., and Kumar, S. 2020. Soil greenhouse gas fluxes as influenced by short-term integrated crop-livestock system. ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meeting. Virtual. November 9-13.
  • Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Singh, N., Dhaliwal, J.K., Singh, J., Sekaran, U., and Kumar, S. 2020. Applying computed tomography scanning to study soil porosity for water conservation. SWCS 75th International Annual Conference. Virtual, Des Moines, IA. July 26-29.
  • Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Rai, T., Nleya, T.M., Kumar, S., and Sexton, P.J. 2020. Impact of integrated crop-livestock production systems on crop performance in South Dakota. ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meeting. Virtual. Nov. 9-13.
  • Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Rai, T., Kumar, S., Nleya, T.M., and Hoogenboom, G. 2020. Developing a simulation methodology for integrated crop  livestock production systems using DSSAT. ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meeting. Phoenix, AZ. Nov. 9-13.
  • Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Sekaran, U., and Kumar, S. 2020. Integration of crop and livestock enhanced soil health. ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meeting. Phoenix, AZ. Nov. 9-13.
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Singh, N. 2020. Soil physical and hydrological properties, and greenhouse gas emissions under integrated crop-livestock agroecosystems. PhD dissertation. South Dakota State University, SD. Brookings, SD.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2020 Citation: Shrestha, P., Senturklu, S., Sieverding, H.L., Landblom, D., and Stone, J.J. 2020. Integrated crop-livestock winter beef production life cycle assessment. Agricultural Systems. (under review).
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2021 Citation: Singh, N., and Kumar, S. 2021. Assessing the impacts of cover crops and grazing under integrated crop-livestock system on soil physical quality. (in preparation).
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Shrestha, P., Karim, R. A., Sieverding, H. L., Archer, D. W., Kumar, S., Nleya, T., Graham, C. J., and Stone, J.J. 2020. Life cycle assessment of dryland wheat production and crop rotations in Northern Great Plains. Journal of Environmental Quality. Vol. 49, No. 6, pp. 1515-1529
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2021 Citation: Shrestha, P., R. A. Karim, H.L. Sieverding, M. Liebig, D. W. Archer, S. Kumar, J.J. Stone. 2021. The economic and life cycle impacts for reconsideration of integrated crop-livestock system for dryland. Global Change Biology. (in preparation).


Progress 03/01/19 to 02/29/20

Outputs
Target Audience:Producers. Agricultural producers are a major target audience served by this project. The overall goal of this project is to understand and increase the adaptability among various age group farmers by using integrated crop-livestock (ICL) systems in the northern Great Plains. Students. Students will also be a target audience in this project. Students who are interested in agriculture could be future farmers, and if they learn new practices from this project, they could become practitioners of ICL systems in the future. Further, they will be trained in various expertise areas (soil sampling, field work, modeling and others) that will help them in future positions. Researchers. This project will develop and disseminate knowledge of ICL systems to researchers and train them about the various methodologies used in the project. Conservationists. Conservationists advocate or act for the protection and preservation of the environment and wildlife. The ICL systems investigated in this project can help in protecting and preserving soils and the environment. Our outcomes will be disseminated as broadly as possible to increase national and international awareness of ICL systems using publications, presentations, and meeting or conferences, and the project web page (http://ipicl.org/). Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The opportunities for training and professional development provided by the project included: 1) South Dakota State University (SDSU) courses: Environmental Soil Management (PS462/562) Spring 2019 and 2020; Environmental Soil Physics (PS743/43L) in Spring 2019. A total of 23 students attended both these classes in 2019; 2) One-on-one work with a mentor. At the Mead site (NE) seven undergraduate students (Caleb Sheets, Carter Stara, Eric Bohaty, Elizabeth Bergdolt, Abby Lyons, Katie Bresnahan, Donavan Callahan) and one graduate (MS) student (Elizabeth Widder Christenson) were trained in soil sampling analysis. At SDSU four PhD graduate students (Navdeep Singh, Jashanjeet Kaur Dhaliwal, Arun Bawa, Teerath Singh Rai (PhD Students) were trained in soil sampling and analyzing soil properties and greenhouse gas fluxes; 3) Professional and scientific writing was used by all graduates to develop their theses or dissertations; 4) Combination of some opportunities. For example, Teerath Rai, PhD student was trained in the use of the DSSAT model to assessl the impacts of grazing on crop production. Participants in the project included: 1) Postdoctoral Researchers (Gandura Abagandura, Udayakumar Sekaran, Derek Faust); 2) Research Scientist (Rifat Karim); 3) Graduate Students (Navdeep Singh, Arun Bawa, Jashanjeet Dhaliwal, Teerath Singh Rai, Prashansa Shrestha, Elizabeth Widder Christenson; 4) Undergraduate Students (Caleb Sheets, Carter Stara, Eric Bohaty, Elizabeth Bergdolt, Abby Lyons, Katie Bresnahan, Donavan Callahan, Kacey Aukema, Jackson Geltile) How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Research results have been shared by presentations at scientific conferences and publications in peer reviewed journals. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Objective 1: Assess Ecosystem Services from ICL Systems. Task 1: Soil health assessment under ICL systems. Finish the soil parameter data analysis for 2019-2020 at Dickinson Site (ND), Mandan Site (ND), Brookings Sites 1 and 2 (SD), and Mead Site (NE). Prepare five manuscripts using this data. Continue to collect soil samples and analyze the soil data at the study sites: Brookings Site 1 (SD), Brookings Site 2 (SD), Beresford Site (SD), and Mead Site (NE). In addition, soil samples from 3 producer fields were also collected in 2019, and soil samples analysis is under progress. We are also planning to assess the impact of ICL system on crop water use and root water uptake using the HYDRUS model. Water content will be simulated under different treatments based on the measured data using HYDRUS-2D after calibration and validation of the model to monitor crop water use and dynamics. Task 2: Assessment of water quality from ICL systems. Collect water samples and analyze the water data: Brookings Site (SD). Task 3: Trace soil surface GHG fluxes from ICL systems. Finish the soil surface GHG data analysis (CO2, CH4, and N2O fluxes) for 2019 at Brookings Site 1 (SD), Brookings Site 2 (SD), Beresford Site (SD), and Mandan Site (ND). Prepare three manuscripts using the GHG data at Dickinson Site (ND), Mandan Site (ND), Brookings 1 (SD) Site, and Brookings 2 (SD) Site. Continue to collect soil GHG samples and analyze the GHG data at the study sites: Brookings Site 1 (SD), Brookings Site 2 (SD), and Beresford Site (SD), and Mead Site (NE). Task 4: Modeling and development of GHG mitigation strategies from ICL systems. Based on the original plan, the Task 4 started in 2019. Objective 2: Crop and Livestock Performance in ICL Systems. Task 1: Crop performance. Continue to collect grain and biomass yield data among different treatments at the Mandan Site (ND), Brookings Sites (SD), and Beresford Site. Start to collect sample triticale plots for forage yield and quality determination at Mead Site (NE). Begin the process of converting the Shawnee switchgrass pasture to a mixture of big bluestem, Indiangrass, and sideoats grama at Mead Site (NE). Task 2. Livestock Performance. Continue to collect animal grazing and animal performance data among different treatments at the Mandan Site (ND) and Dickinson Site (ND). This study is for long-term evaluation. Task 3. Understanding of N excretion and comparison to existing nutritional models. Collect soil samples for dry matter determination and nutritive value analysis after grazing at Mead Site (NE) and Mandan Site (ND). Objective 3: Adoption of ICL Systems. Five to seven focus groups discussion were conducted in 2018-2019 in South Dakota, North Dakota, and Nebraska. The findings will be combined in publications and submitted to various journals. Objective 4: Economics involved in ICL Systems. The plan was to continue to analyze the ICL production data received from sites in ND, SD, and NE for the fourth year. The data focused on developing a methodology to analyze the life cycle impacts and sustainability of crop rotation diversity, fallow, cover crops, and intensified land use. An article on this work is under development, and will evaluate and contrast the sustainability, land use, and economics of cattle production within a dry lot, rangeland, and integrated systems in cooperation with researchers in ND. The LCA models will be parameterized and calibrated to obtain economic model results. Data for the ICL sites in SD and NE will be gathered and assembled during the coming summer and fall. Expansion of the life cycle inventory, analysis, and interpretation will be continued. Objective 5: Education and Outreach. Task 1: Educate stakeholders and producers. Five to seven focus groups discussion in Field Days will be conducted in 2020 in SD, ND, and NE. We expect 100-200 attendees per year at each site. Extension specialists, researchers, and landowners will be on-site to give tours and provide information. Fact sheets will be available for better communication of results of the research project. These fact sheets will be uploaded on the iGrow Extension website (http://igrow.org/) at SDSU and will be publically available. Project reports, results, video clips from workshops/field days, fact sheets, and any additional information pertaining to this study will be posted on this website. Task 2. Educational plan/course development. We will focus the distribution of our educational materials and resources to middle school and high school agricultural education and science instructors in the North Central Region. The project outcomes will be covered in courses at SDSU: Plant Science 462/562 (Environmental Soil Management), and Environmental Soil Physics (PS 743). These courses are taught by Dr. Sandeep Kumar in Plant Science department. Agricultural educators and science teachers across SD, ND, and NE gather for an annual conference. At the annual conference, resources and curriculum materials will be shared with educators. All materials will be posted for teachers to access along with electronic copies of the curriculum materials. During this professional development seminar and other outreach workshops, teachers will be walked through the curriculum materials and activities developed for this curriculum. Additional information will be provided through local newsletters. Stakeholders and farmers will be able to post comments and concerns about the results of their own efforts and the overall project as it progresses.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Objective 1: Assess Ecosystem Services from ICL Systems (85% Accomplished). Soil, water, and greenhouse gas (GHG) data were measured at the Mandan site (ND), Brookings sites 1 and 2 (SD), Beresford site (SD), Salem site (SD), and Mead site (NE) to meet objective 1. Cover and cash crop rotations were established at these locations in 2016, and grazing treatments were applied. At the Brookings sites, the treatments included: (i) legume dominated cover crops (LdC), (ii) cattle grazed LdC (LdC+G), (iii) grass dominated cover crops (GdC), (iv) cattle grazed GdC (GdC+G), and (v) control (without CC or grazing) in a randomized complete block design with four replications. Results showed that at surface depth (0-10 cm) all cover crop (CC) treatments had lower soil bulk density (SBD) (1.33-1.43 g cm-3 in CC vs 1.44-1.58 g cm-3 control) and soil penetration resistance (SPR) (0.72-1.36 MPa in CC vs 1.71-2.73 MPa in control), and higher soil porosity (0.59-0.65 cm3 cm-3 in CC vs 0.49-0.55 cm3 cm-3 in control) compared to the control. These differences were significant at the 0.05 probability level. Cattle grazing slightly increased SBD and SPR at the surface depth. At Beresford, in soybean phase, soybean treatment (S) had significantly lower (P<0.05) SBD (1.24 g cm-3) than soybean followed by grazing (ICLS) (1.33 g cm-3). Similarly, SPR was significantly lower (P<0.05) in S (0.68 MPa) compared to ICLS (0.92 MPa) in the soybean phase at Beresford site. An on-farm study was conducted near Salem, SD to quantify X-ray computed tomography (CT)-measured soil pore properties. Results showed that the CT-measured macroporosity was significantly higher (P<0.05) in the ICL system (0.084 mm3 mm-3) and native grazed pasture (NGP) (0.093 mm3 mm-3) compared to the control (no grazing and no CC) (0.012 mm3 mm-3). Higher connected porosity, connection probability, and macroporosity in the ICL system and NGP significantly (P<0.05) enhanced saturated hydraulic conductivity (209 mm h-1 in NGP and 119 mm h-1 in ICLS) compared to the control (20 mm h-1). GHG monitoring: Data showed that cumulative CO2 and N2O fluxes at Brookings site 1 were lower for grass dominated cover crops (CC) with grazing (GdC+G) (4042 kg C ha-1 for CO2 and 1499 g N ha-1 for N2O) than for legume dominated cover crops with grazing (LdC+G) (4819 kg C ha-1 for CO2 and 2017 g N ha-1 for N2O). This indicated the superiority of GdC+G over LdC+G in reducing the GHG fluxes. At the Beresford site, in soybean phase, ICLS had significantly lower cumulative CO2 fluxes (2584 kg C ha-1) compared to S (3176 kg C ha-1) in 2018. In 2018, oats+CC (O+CC) followed by grazing (ICLO+CC) had significantly lower cumulative N2O fluxes (2048 g N ha-1) compared to O+CC (2767 g N ha-1). A study was conducted on the Big Sioux River (BSR) to assess the impacts of long-term implementation of the ICL system under projected climate scenarios on stream flow using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model over two time periods: Near Future (NF, 2021-2050) and Far Future (FF, 2070-2099). The combined effects of long-term ICL system and climate change were projected to be a 4-34% increase stream flow for NF and 16-63% for FF. Nitrate and total N (TN) were projected to accumulate along the downstream flow of the river. The high concentration of nitrate and TN during winter and fall seasons might be explained by very low uptake of nutrients, application of manure to fields, and grazing practices during these periods. Objective 2: Evaluate Crop and Livestock Performance in ICL Systems (80% accomplished) A study was conducted to evaluate the impacts of CC and CC with grazing (ICL system) on crop performance at Beresford, SD. The crop rotation was comprised of oat-maize-soybean. The treatments included i) oat (CNT), ii) oat + cover crops (CC), iii) oat + cover crop grazing (ICL). Treatments impacts were studied on succeeding maize and soybean crops. Stand count (plants per meter row), 100 seed weight (g), test weight (kg hL-1), and yield (Mg ha-1) were recorded in 2017, 2018, and 2019 for both the crops. In maize, a significant difference was observed among treatments for 100 seed weight, with the control performing better (39.4 g) than the cover crop (35.7 g) and ICL (37.5 g) treatments in 2017. In 2018 and 2019, no significant differences were observed for the above mentioned parameters among the treatments. Livestock performance: For the Mead, NE site, smooth bromegrass was grazed with 18 steers from May 3-29, 2019, with an average daily gain (ADG) of 4.02 lb/hd/day. Steers were returned to the brome pasture from September 3-26, 2019 to graze re-growth, with an ADG of 1.58 lb/hd/day. Liberty switchgrass pasture was grazed with 9 steers from June 5 through August 23, with an ADG of 0.84 lb/hd/day. Shawnee switchgrass pasture was grazed with 9 steers from June 5 through August 23, with an ADG of 0.45 lb/hd/day. Data analyses are in progress. Objective 3: Increase Adoption of ICL Systems (80% accomplished) We studied adoption behavior of diversified crop rotation (DCR) and ICL systems by surveying producers from NE, SD, and ND. Among the respondents, 45.1% reported themselves as cover crop adopters. We found different conservation practices complement each other, as adopters of conservation tillage and DCR practice are more likely to use cover crops. Grazing also helps promote short-term economic returns from CC usage, therefore those who own cattle are more likely to adopt CC. Field days, group discussions, and in-depth Interviews were conducted with producers. We conducted a "Managing soil: maximizing profit" meeting in Colton, SD on December 3, 2019 for producers and scientists. This meeting focused on challenges, motivations, and sources of information regarding livestock grazing on cropland. A fact sheet containing information about ICL systems and agricultural producers in Northern Great Plains (NGP) was distributed. Some of the challenges producers noted were higher cost of insurance, more work and regulations, and market fluctuation. Objective 4: Conduct Economic Analysis of ICL Systems (80% accomplished) A partial budgeting analysis was conducted to assess the economic impacts of implementing the ICL system in ND. A positive effect of ICL implementation was reduced costs from reduced forage consumption. A negative effect was increased costs for CC seed, CC termination, fencing, water tank, and water hauling. Results showed that implementing ICL increased profit by $17.23/acre in the first year and $43.61/acre in the second year. Over the long term, we expect even greater economic profitability due to the reduced risk in cash crop yield during droughts and the reduced need for nitrogen application as soil organic matter increases. A life cycle analysis was conducted on the ND ICL system, showing a 44% reduction in life cycle impact of ND beef production. Development of SD and NE BAU scenarios is on-going. Hay harvesting reduced cow over-wintering costs by 29-67% for property owners and 33-56% for owner/operators. Crop residue and CC grazing combinations including sunflower had slightly better reproductive success (95% vs. 89% calving rate), potentially due to forage diversity and timing within the gestational cycle. The CC grazing component had the greatest over-wintering cost per animal (~$73/AUM due to high seed cost), however it has the greatest potential to increase cattle production. Objective 5: Develop and Utilize Education and Extension Materials (85% accomplished) Six published papers, 6 extension publications, one PhD dissertation, and 13 presentations at various society conferences reached the national and international scientific community. A total of 5 presentations were held at local meetings (SD, ND, and NE) to broadly share ICL knowledge and provide outreach of our preliminary results to producers, students, and government representatives. These meetings reached approximately 500 stakeholders.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Singh, N., and Kumar, S. 2020. Assessing the impacts of cover crops and grazing under integrated crop-livestock system on soil physical quality.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2020 Citation: Shrestha, P., Senturklu, S., Sieverding, H.L., Landblom, D., and Stone, J.J. 2019. Integrated crop-livestock winter beef production life cycle assessment. Agricultural Systems
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Faust, D.R., and Liebig, M.A. 2018. Effects of storage time and temperature on greenhouse gas samples in Exetainer vials with chlorobutyl septa caps. MethodX, 5:857-864. doi.org/10.1016/j.mex.2018.06.016
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Redfearn, D., Parsons, J., Drewnoski, M., Schmer, M., Mitchell, R., MacDonald, J., Farney, J., and Smart, A. 2019. Assessing the value of grazed corn residue for crop and cattle producers. Agriculture and Environmental Letters, 4:18066. doi:10.2134/ael2018.12.0066.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Kumar, S., Sieverding, H., Lai, L., Thandiwe, N., Wienhold, B., Redfearn, D., Archer, D., Ussiri, D., Faust, D., Landblom, D., Grings, E., Stone, J.J., Jacquet, J., Pokharel, K., Liebig, M., Schmer, M., Sexton, P., Mitchell, R., Smalley, S., Osborne, S., Ali, S., ?ent�rkl�, S., Sehgal, S., Owens, V., and Jin, V. 2019. Facilitating crop-livestock reintegration in the Northern Great Plains. Agronomy Journal, 111:1-16.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Redfearn, D., Parsons, J., Drewnoski, M., Schmer, M., Mitchell, R., MacDonald, J., Farney, J., and Smart, A. 2019. Assessing the value of grazed corn residue for crop and cattle producers. Agriculture and Environmental Letters, 4:18066.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2019 Citation: Sekaran, U., Singh, J., Singh, N., Dhaliwal, J., Hernandez, J., Sharma, S., and Kumar, S. 2019. Integration of crop and livestock enhanced soil biochemical properties and microbial community. Applied Soil Ecology.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2020 Citation: Smart, A.J., Redfearn, D., Mitchell, R., Zilverberg, C., Bauman, P., Derner, J., Walker, J., Wright, C., and Wang, T. 2020. Integration of crop-livestock systems: an opportunity to protect grasslands from conversion to cropland in the U.S. Great Plains. Rangeland Ecology & Management
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Shrestha, P., Karim, R. A., Sieverding, H. L., Archer, D. W., Kumar, S., Nleya, T., Graham, C. J., and Stone, J.J. 2020. Life Cycle Assessment of dryland wheat production and crop rotations in Northern Great Plains. International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Shrestha, P., R. A. Karim, H.L. Sieverding, M. Liebig, D. W. Archer, S. Kumar, J.J. Stone. (2020). The economic and life cycle impacts for reconsideration of integrated crop-livestock system for dryland. Global Change Biolog
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Singh, N., Abgandura, G., and Kumar, S. 2019. Short-term grazing of cover crops and maize residue impacts on soil greenhouse gas fluxes in two Mollisols. Journal of Environmental Quality
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2019 Citation: Singh, N., Kumar, S., Udawatta, R.P., Anderson, S.H., de Jonge, L.W., and Katuwal, S. 2019. Crop-livestock integration impacted X-ray-computed-tomography-measured near-surface soil pore parameters. Scientific Reports.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2019 Citation: Singh, N., Dhaliwal, J.K., Sekaran, U., Ussiri, D.A.N., and Kumar, S. 2019. Analysis of integrated crop-livestock system and livestock sectors implications on soil organic carbon and greenhouse gas emissions: a review. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Karim, R.A., H.L. Sieverding, D.W. Archer, S. Kumar, J.J. Stone (2020). Can we do more with less? Can ICL system increase the productivity and sustainability of the agricultural systems in NGP? Agriculture Ecosystems and the Environment
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2019 Citation: Singh, N., Dhaliwal, J.K., Katuwal, S., Kumar, S., de Jonge L.W., Udawatta, R.P., and Anderson, S.H. 2019. Near surface soil hydrological properties using computed tomography and classical approaches under grazed pasture and croplands. Poster and 5-minute rapid Oral Presentation at the ASA-CSSA-SSSA. International Annual Meeting. San Antonio, TX. November 10-13.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2019 Citation: Singh, N., and Kumar, S. 2019. Investigation of near surface soil hydrological properties as influenced by land use systems using combined nondestructive and classical approaches. Oral Presentation at the 8th Asian-Australasian Conference on Precision Agriculture at Punjab Agricultural University. Ludhiana, India. October 14-17.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2019 Citation: Dhaliwal, J.K., Singh, N., Abgandura, G., Sekaran, U., and Kumar, S. 2019. Short term cover crops and grazing under integrated crop livestock system do no negatively impact soil surface greenhouse gas fluxes. Oral Presentation at the SSSA International Soils Meeting. San Antonio, TX. November 10-13.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2019 Citation: Bawa, A., Perez-Gutierrez, J.D., and Kumar, S. 2019. Simulating the influence of integrated crop-livestock system and climate change on water yield at small watershed scale. Poster Presentation at Eastern South Dakota Water Conference 2019. Brookings, SD. October 16.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2019 Citation: Bawa, A., and Kumar, S. 2019. Simulation of landuse and climate change impact on streamflow at the small watershed scale. Poster Presentation at the 8th Asian-Australasian Conference on Precision Agriculture. Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, India. October 14-17.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2019 Citation: Widder, E., Mitchell, R.B., Redfearn, D.D., Jin, V.L., and Schmer, M.R. 2019. An integrated crop-livestock system for eastern Nebraska. Society for Range Management Annual Meeting. Clay Center, NE. October 23.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2019 Citation: Widder, E., Mitchell, R.B., Redfearn, D.D., Jin, V.L., Schmer, M.R., Parsons, J., and Drewnoski, M. 2019. Evaluating the economic sustainability of grazing stocker cattle on marginally productive cropland. ASA/CSSA/SSSA International Annual Meeting. San Antonio, TX. November 10-13.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2019 Citation: Widder, E., Mitchell, R.B., and Redfearn, D.D. 2019. Grazing triticale during early cover crop establishment. ASA/CSSA/SSSA International Annual Meeting. San Antonio, TX. November 10-13.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2019 Citation: Aukema, K.D., Wallau, and Liebig, M.A. 2019. Soil property and CO2 efflux responses to integrated crop-livestock management in the northern Great Plains. ASA/CSSA/SSSA International Annual Meeting. San Antonio, TX. November 10-13.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2019 Citation: Wang, T., Kumar, S., and Sexton, P. 2019. Grazing cover crops in South Dakota: Impact on economic profitability. Soil Health Conference, Selected Poster Presentation. Ames, IA. February 4-5.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2019 Citation: Singh, N., Dhaliwal, J.K., Sekaran, U., and Kumar, S. 2019. Assessing the impacts of cover crops and grazing under integrated crop livestock system on soil physical quality. Oral Presentation at the ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meeting. San Antonio, TX. November 10-13.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Widder, E., Mitchell, R.B., Redfearn, D.D., Jin, V.L., Schmer, M.R., Parsons, J., and Drewnoski, M. 2020. Economic sustainability of a perennial grass system grazed by stocker cattle. Society for Range Management Annual Meeting. Denver CO. February 16-20.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2019 Citation: Liebig, M.A., Faust, D.R., Archer, D.W., Kronberg, S.L., and Hendrickson, J.R. 2019. Nitrous oxide flux from integrated crop-livestock management in a semiarid region. ASA/CSSA/SSSA International Annual Meeting. San Antonio, TX. November 10-13.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Rivera, N., Mitchell, R., Masterson, S. and Redfearn, D. Effect of switchgrass row spacing on inter-seeded legume establishment. UNL CropWatch, March 15, 2019
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Calus, K., Mitchell, R., Masterson, S. and Redfearn, D. Burning, disking, and spraying consequences on big bluestem forage yield, nutritive value, and native legume establishment. UNL CropWatch, March 15, 2019 https://cropwatch.unl.edu/
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Kuhn, A., Mitchell, R., Masterson, S. and Redfearn, D. Effect of row spacing on switchgrass yield and nutritive value. UNL CropWatch, March 15, 2019 https://cropwatch.unl.edu/
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Wang, T., Bly, A., Mueller, J., White, T. and Kumar, S. Farm practices that improve soil health: integrated crop-livestock systems. December, 18, 2019. South Dakota State University Extension web site: https://extension.sdstate.edu/farm-practices-improve-soil-health-integrated-crop-livestock-systems
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Wang, T. Cover crop usage in South Dakota is on the rise. March 11, 2019. South Dakota State University Extension web site: https://extension.sdstate.edu/cover-crop-usage-south-dakota-rise
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Bly, A., Wang, T., Mueller, J., White, T. and Kumar, S. 2019. Farm practices that improve soil health: cover crops and crop residues. November 22, 2019. South Dakota State University Extension web site: https://extension.sdstate.edu/farm-practices-improve-soil-health-cover-crops-and-crop-residues
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Prashansa Shrestha. PhD Student (Graduated Spring 2019) - Life cycle assessment of no-till integrated crop livestock systems in the northern Great Plains of the United States. South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Rapid City, SD.


Progress 03/01/18 to 02/28/19

Outputs
Target Audience:Producers. Agricultural producers are a major target audience served by this project. The overall goal of this project is to understand and increase the adaptability among various age group farmers by using integrated crop-livestock (ICL) systems in the northern Great Plains. Students. Students will also be a target audience in this project. Students who are interested in agriculture could be future farmers, and if they learn new practices from this project, they could become practitioners of the ICL systems in the future. Further, they will be trained in various expertise (soil sampling, field work, modeling and others) that can help them in getting jobs. Researchers. This project will develop and disseminate knowledge of ICL systems to researchers and train them about the various methodologies used in the project. Conservationists. Conservationists advocate or act for the protection and preservation of the environment and wildlife. The ICL systems investigated in this project can help in protecting and preserving soils and the environment. Our outcomes can be disseminated as broadly as possible to increase national and international awareness of ICL systems using publications, presentations, and meeting or conferences, and the project web page (http://ipicl.org/). Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The opportunities for training and professional development provided by the project included: Course: Environmental Soil Management (PS462/562) Spring 2018 and 2019; Soil Environmental Soil Physics in Spring 2019 at South Dakota State University (SDSU). A total of 23 students are enrolled in 2019 in both of these classes. One-on-one work with a mentor. At Mandan site (ND): two graduate students were hired under the project, and trained for soils sampling analysis. At NE, one graduate student hired. At SDSU, six graduate students were trained for sampling and analyzing soil properties and greenhouse gasses fluxes. Navdeep Singh, Jashanjeet Kaur Dhaliwal, Arun Bawa, Teerath Singh Rai (PhD Students), Atilla Polat, Vishal Seth (MS Students) Professional and scientific writing was used for all graduates to develop their theses or dissertations. Combination of some opportunities. For example, Teerath Rai, PhD student went for model (DSSAT) training to learn how to model the impacts of grazing on crop production. Participants in the project included Postdoctoral Researchers Gandura Abagandura Udayakumar Sekaran Juan Perez Bishal Kasu Derek Faust Research Assistants Shane Snyders Tess Owens Graduate Student Navdeep Singh Arun Bawa Jashanjeet Dhaliwal Teerath Singh Rai Atilla Polat Prashansa Shrestha d. Undergraduate students Caleb Sheets Blake Wilberger Carter Stara How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We have disseminated the knowledge or information of the ICL to various audiences through journal publications, scientific conferences, lay publications, four Field Days (focus groups) (approximately 237 attendees), and 15 lay presentations (approximately 1000 attendees). What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Objective 1: Assess Ecosystem Services from ICL Systems. Task 1: Soil health assessment under ICL systems. Finish the soil parameter data analysis for 2016-2018 at Dickinson Site (ND), Mandan Site (ND), Brookings Site 1 (SD), and Mead Site (NE). Prepare five manuscripts using this data. Continue to collect soil samples and analyze the soil data at the study sites: Mandan Site (ND), Brookings Site 1 (SD), Brookings Site 2 (SD), Beresford Site (SD), and Mead Site (NE). In addition, soil samples from 5 producer fields were also collected in 2018, and soil samples analysis is under progress. Task 2: Assessment of water quality from ICL systems. Collect water samples and analyze the water data at least at the two study sites: Mandan Site (ND) and Brookings Site 2 (SD). Task 3: Trace soil surface GHG fluxes from ICL systems. Finish the soil surface GHG data (CO2, CH4, and N2O fluxes) analysis for 2018 at Brookings Site 1 (SD), Brookings Site 2 (SD), Beresford Site (SD), and Mandan Site (ND). Prepare three manuscripts using the GHG data at Dickinson site (ND), Brookings 1 (SD) site, and Brookings 2 (SD) site. Continue to collect soil GHG samples and analyze the GHG data at the study sites: Brookings Site 1 (SD), Brookings Site 2 (SD), and Beresford Site (SD), Mandan Site (ND), and Mead (NE). Task 4: Modeling and development of GHG mitigation strategies from ICL systems. Based on the original plan, the Task 4 will start in 2019. Objective 2: Crop and Livestock Performance in ICL Systems. Task 1: Crop performance. Continue to collect grain and biomass yields data among different treatments at the Mandan Site (ND); Start to collect sample triticale plots for forage yield and quality determination at Mead Site (NE). Task 2. Livestock Performance. Continue to collect animal grazing and animal performance data among different treatments at the Mandan Site (ND) and Dickinson (ND). This study is for long-term. Task 3. Understanding of N excretion and comparison to existing nutritional models. Collect soil samples for dry matter determination and nutritive value analysis after grazing at Mead site (NE). Objective 3: Adoption of ICL Systems. Five to seven focus groups discussion were conducted in 2017-2018 in South Dakota, North Dakota, and Nebraska. The findings will be combined in publications and submitted to various journals. Objective 4: Economics involved in ICL Systems. The plan was to continue to analyze the ICL production data received from sites in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska for the third year. The data focused on developing a methodology to analyze the life cycle impacts and sustainability of crop rotation diversity, fallow, cover crops, and intensified land use. An article on this work is under development, and will evaluate and contrast the sustainability, land use, and economics of cattle production within a dry lot, rangeland, and integrated systems in cooperation with researchers in North Dakota. The LCA models will be parameterized and calibrated to obtain economic model results. Data for the ICL sites in South Dakota and Nebraska will be gathered and assembled during the coming summer and fall. Expansion of the life cycle inventory, analysis, and interpretation will be continued. Objective 5: Education and Outreach. Task 1: Educate stakeholders and producers. Five to seven focus groups discussion in Field Days will be conducted in 2019 in South Dakota, North Dakota, and Nebraska. We expect 100-200 attendees per year at each site (SD, NE, and ND). Extension specialists, researchers, and the landowners will be on-site to give tours and provide information. Fact sheets will be available for better communication of results of the research project. These fact sheets will be uploaded on the iGrow Extension website (http://igrow.org/) at SDSU and will be publically available. Project reports, results, video clips from workshops/field days, fact sheets, and any additional information pertaining to this study will be posted on this website. Task 2. Educational plan/course development. We will focus the distribution of our educational materials and resources to middle school and high school agricultural education and science instructors in the North Central Region. The project outcomes will be covered in courses at SDSU: Plant Science 462/562 (Environmental Soil Management), and Environmental Soil Physics (PS 743). These courses are taught by Dr. Sandeep Kumar in Plant Science department. Annually, agricultural educators and science teachers across the state gather for an annual conference. At the annual conference, resources and curriculum materials will be shared with educators. All materials will be posted for teachers to access along with electronic copies of the curriculum materials. During this professional development seminar and other outreach workshops, teachers will be walked through the curriculum materials and activities developed for this curriculum. Additional information will be provided through local newsletters. Stakeholders and farmers will be able to post comments and concerns about the results of their own efforts and the overall project as it progresses.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Objective 1: Assess Ecosystem Services from ICL Systems (70% Accomplished). Soil, water, and greenhouse gas (GHG) data were measured at the Dickinson Site (ND), Mandan Site (ND), Brookings Sites 1, 2, and 3 (SD), and Mead Site (NE) to meet objective 1. Cover and cash crop rotations were established at these locations in 2016, and grazing treatments were applied. Samples were collected and most have been analyzed. Data showed that at the Brookings Site 1 and Site 2, and Beresford Site (SD), ICL system, grass dominated cover crops (CC), and ICL system increased urease activity (3.59, 6.52, and 7.14 µg N-NH4+ g−1 soil h−1, respectively) compared to the control (2.50, 3.62, and 2.70 µg N-NH4+ g−1 soil h−1, respectively). All the CC and grazing treatments significantly increased the β-glucosidase activity compared to control. The major results from soil GHG emission assessments include the following. The Beresford Site (SD) showed that the grazed pasture treatment increased N2O flux (6.54 g ha-1 d-1) compared to grazing of cropland (3.50 g ha-1 d-1). Data from the Brookings Site 2 (SD) showed that cumulative CO2 fluxes were reduced by grass dominated CC (3575.1 kg C ha-1) compared to legume dominated CC (4142.7 kg C ha-1). Similar trend were observed in N2O fluxes. On the other hand, cattle grazing of CC and maize residue increased fluxes of CO2 (22.9 kg C ha-1 for grazed and 14.4 kg C ha-1 for non-grazed) and N2O (43.3 g N ha-1 for grazed and 28.4 g N ha-1 for non-grazed) after maize harvest. Grazing of CC and crop residues enhanced CO2 and N2O fluxes. Dickinson site (ND) data (2016 and 2017) results showed that grazing decreased cumulative CO2 fluxes compared to not grazing for both years. At the Nebraska site, pasture grazing by steers is currently being assessed via weekly GHG emission sampling. Forage samples were collected for the analysis. A significant drop in NO3 and TN concentrations in the upstream and midstream portions of the Big Sioux River, SD. NO3 and TN concentrations were highest in the winter season followed by fall. Objective 2: Evaluate Crop and Livestock Performance in ICL Systems (45% accomplished). Crop performance: To assess the impact of ICLS systems on crop yield, a 3 year rotation (oat-maize-soybean) was evaluated at the Beresford Site (SD). The oat phase of the rotation had three treatments: i) oat + no CC, ii) oat + CC, iii) oat + CC grazing. The grain yield, 100 seed weight, test weight, and stand count were measured for the maize and soybean phases of the rotation. Oat was baled in the first year and significant differences in oat yield were found in the later years. However, no significant treatment differences between maize and soybean yields were found. Livestock performance data from Dickinson site in ND showed that when steers were grazing the annual crops (ANN) in the set-aside field, frost damaged CC plant tissue resulting in steer average daily gain losses of -1.25 kg/day. Steers grazing native grazed pastures (NR) gained 0.91 kg/day. For Mead, NE site, smooth bromegrass was grazed with 18 steers from May 2, 2018 through June 1, 2018 with an average daily gain (ADG) of 1.2 lb/hd/day. Steers were returned to the pasture on 5-18 September to graze re-growth with an ADG of 0.4 lb/hd/day. Liberty switchgrass field was grazed with 9 steers from 11 June through 29 August with an ADG of 0.9 lb/hd/day. Shanwnee Switchgrass field was grazed with 9 steers from 11 June through 29 August with an ADG of 1.3 lb/hd/day. For SD: Brookings site 1, Brookings site 2, and Beresford site: Forage biomass and nutritive value of CC were determined prior to the grazing period in 2018. Results showed that all nutrients in the plant samples were within limits. A subsample of about 500 g was collected for determination of feed quality parameters including crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF), and relative feed value (RFV). Data analyses are in progress. Objective 3: Increase Adoption of ICL Systems (50% accomplished). Field Days, Group Discussions, and In-depth Interviews were conducted with producers. We conducted a managing soil: maximizing profit meeting in Sioux Falls, SD. Producers and scientists participated. This meeting focused on challenges, motivations, and sources of information regarding livestock grazing on cropland. A fact sheet was given to producers containing information about ICL systems and agricultural producers in Northern Great Plains (NGP). Some of the challenges producers faced were higher cost of insurance, more work and regulations, and market fluctuation. We conducted a survey in the NGP to better understand farmer preferred learning sources and formats, most influential factors, and challenges for adoption of diversified crop rotation systems. University extension was ranked as the second preferred learning source, lagging only behind other farmers. We studied adoption behavior of diversified crop rotation (DCR) and ICL system by producers, using survey data collected from Nebraska, SD, and ND producers. A bivariate probit model is estimated to identify the factors affecting adoption decisions. Farmers' perceptions of monetary incentives and soil health importance were found as important determinants of adoption behavior. In Nebraska, a beef Systems Initiative research field day at Eastern Nebraska Research and Extension Center (ENREC), was attended by 25 producers. Of participants taking the survey, 63% said they were likely or very likely to increase their use of CC forages and 45% said they likely or very likely to reduce their feed costs. Objective 4: Conduct Economic Analysis of ICL Systems (45% accomplished). A partial budgeting analysis was conducted to assess the economic impact of implementing ICL systems in SD. Positive effects from ICL systems implementation include reduced costs from reduced forage consumption. Negative effects include added costs for CC seed, CC termination, fencing, water tanks, and water hauling. Results showed that implementing ICL system increased the profit of the farm by $17.23 and $43.61 per acre in the first and second year, respectively. In the long term, we expect even greater increases in economic profitability due to the reduced risk in cash crop yield during periodic droughts and the reduced need for nitrogen application as soil organic matter builds up. A life cycle analysis was conducted on ND ICL systems, which demonstrated that ICL cattle production is sustainable from both life cycle and economic perspectives. Based on a system developed by NDSU, ICL use has the potential to reduce the life cycle impact of ND beef production by up to 10%. Objective 5: Develop and Utilize Education and Extension Materials (45% accomplished). A total of fifteen education and extension activities were conducted in SD, ND, and NE. Five published papers, 2 reports, and 16 presentations at the Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) International Annual Meeting (Jan 6-9, 2019, San Diego, CA) reached the scientific community. A total of 10 presentations were held at local meetings (SD, ND, and NE) to broadly share ICL knowledge and provide an outreach of our preliminary results to producers, students, and government representatives. These meetings reached approximately 500 stakeholders. Data from the second survey was collected and data processing is ongoing. In addition, two teacher workshops were conducted to disseminate information about integrated crop livestock systems. One workshop was held in Brookings May 24th with 15 agriculture and science teachers. The second workshop was held in Rapid City, SD, July 30, 2018 for 18 career and technical education teachers, with the majority in agriculture and discussed about the importance of ICL system. Given an average class size of 15 students, these teachers have the potential to reach over 490 students a year with these materials.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2019 Citation: 1. Shrestha, P., S. Senturklu, H.L. Sieverding, D. Landblom, J.J. Stone (Submitted 2019) Integrated crop-livestock winter beef production life cycle assessment. Under review by Animal- An International Journal of Animal Biosciences.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: 2. Faust, D.R., and M.A. Liebig. 2018. Effects of storage time and temperature on greenhouse gas samples in Exetainer vials with chlorobutyl septa caps. MethodX 5:857-864. doi.org/10.1016/j.mex.2018.06.016.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Redfearn, D., J. Parsons, M. Drewnoski, M. Schmer, R. Mitchell, J., MacDonald, J. Farney, and A. Smart. 2019. Assessing the value of grazed corn residue for crop and cattle producers. Agriculture and Environmental Letters 4:18066. doi:10.2134/ael2018.12.0066.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2019 Citation: Kumar, S., H. Sieverding, L. Lai, N. Thandiwe, B. Wienhold, D. Redfearn, D. Archer, D. Ussiri, D. Faust, D. Landblom, E. Grings, J.J. Stone, J. Jacquet, K. Pokharel, M. Liebig, M. Schmer, P. Sexton, R. Mitchell, S. Smalley, S. Osborne, S. Ali, S. ?ent�rkl�, S. Sehgal, V. Owens, V. Jin. 2019. Facilitating crop-livestock reintegration in the Northern Great Plains. Ag. J. (In Press).
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2018 Citation: Kumar, S. 2018. Integrated Crop-Livestock Systems for Enhancing Soils and Water Quality in Northern Great Plains, USA. Oral Presentation at the 21st World Congress of Soil Science (WCSS), Aug. 12-17, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2018 Citation: Ozlu, E., Arriaga, F., and Kumar, S. 2018. Intercorrelation in Mechanisms of Soil Aggregate Formation and Carbon Stabilization in Midwest Soils, USA. Oral Presentation at the 21st World Congress of Soil Science (WCSS), Aug. 12-17, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2018 Citation: Singh, N., Dhaliwal, J.K., Abagandura, G., Lai, L., Snyders, S. and Kumar, S. 2019. Impacts of Grazing of Cover Crops under Integrated Crop-Livestock System on Soil Surface Greenhouse Gas Emissions. Oral Presentation in the session: Soil and Water Management and Conservation General Oral I, at the 2018-2019 International Soils Meeting, Jan. 6-9, San Diego, CA, USA.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2018 Citation: Singh, N. 2018. Impacts of Integrated Crop-Livestock System on Soil Surface Greenhouse Gases in South Dakota. Oral Presentation at the Plant Science Graduate Seminar, Dec. 5, South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD, USA.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2018 Citation: Singh, N. 2018. Integrated Agricultural System: An Approach to Curb Global Warming. Oral Presentation at the 3-Minute Thesis Competition, South Dakota State University, Dec.7, Brookings, SD, USA.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2019 Citation: Dhaliwal J K., Singh N., Singh J., Abagandura G., and Kumar S. 2019. The Impact of Grazing and Cover Crops on Soil Surface Greenhouse Gas Fluxes in South Dakota. Oral (5-minutes rapid) and Poster Presentation at the SSSA International Annual Meeting, Jan. 6-9, San Diego, CA, USA.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2018 Citation: Stone, J. and Shrestha, P. 2018. Should life cycle assessments of agricultural products consider midpoints or endpoints? Oral Presentation at LCA XVIII Conference, Sept. 25-27, Fort Collins, CO, USA.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2018 Citation: Shrestha, P. 2018. Life cycle assessment modeling in integrated crop-livestock production systems. Oral Presentation at SD Mines Civil and Environmental Engineering Seminar Series, Oct. 3, Rapid City, SD, USA.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2018 Citation: Faust, D.R., and M.A. Liebig. 2018. Effects of storage time and temperature on greenhouse gas samples in septa-capped vials. Society of Wetland Scientists Annual Meeting, Denver, CO. May 31, 2018.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2019 Citation: T. Wang, S. Kumar, and Peter Sexton. 2019. Grazing cover crops in South Dakota: Impact on economic profitability. Soil Health Conference, Selected Poster Presentation, Ames, Iowa, February 4-5, 2019.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2019 Citation: Sekaran U., Singh J., Singh N., Dhaliwal J K., Polat A., Lai L., Subramanian S., and Kumar S. 2019. Cover crop management and grazing effects on soil microbial community structure. Oral Presentation at the SSSA International Annual Meeting, Jan. 6-9, San Diego, CA, USA.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2019 Citation: Bawa, A., Perez-Gutierrez JD., and Kumar Sandeep. 2019. Spatial and seasonal water quality variation within the Big Sioux River. Oral (5-minutes rapid) and Poster Presentation at the SSSA International Annual Meeting, Jan. 6-9, San Diego, CA, USA.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2018 Citation: T. Wang, Jin, H., Kasu, B., J. Jacquet, and S. Kumar. 2018. Soil conservation practices adoption in Northern Great Plains: Economic vs. stewardship motivations. American Applied Economics Association (AAEA) Annual Meeting Selected Poster Presentation, Washington D.C., August 5-7, 2018.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2018 Citation: Shrestha, P. 2018. LCA modeling  Integrating crops and livestock operations on the Northern Great Plains. Poster Presentation at SD Mines 9th Annual Student Research Symposium, Apr. 3, Rapid City, SD and Sanford Research Center Science Festival, June 9, Sioux Falls, SD.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2018 Citation: Shrestha, P. 2018. Integrating crop and livestock in the Northern Great Plains (NGP), USA. Poster Presentation at ASABE Annual International Conference, July 19-Aug.1, Detroit, MI, USA.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2018 Citation: T. Wang, Kasu, B., J. Jacquet, and S. Kumar. 2018. Tailoring Extension Effort for Promotion of Diversified Crop Rotation System. AAEA Annual Meeting Selected Poster Presentation, Washington D.C., August 5-7, 2018.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2018 Citation: Calus, K., R.B. Mitchell, S. Masterson, and D.D. Redfearn. 2018. Impacts of burning, disking, and spraying on big bluestem forage yield and nutritive value. ASA-CSSA Annual Meeting.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2018 Citation: Kuhn, A., R.B. Mitchell, S. Masterson, and D.D. Redfearn. 2018. Effect of row spacing on switchgrass forage yield and nutritive value. ASA-CSSA Annual Meeting.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2018 Citation: Rivera, N., R.B. Mitchell, D.D. Redfearn, and S. Masterson. 2018. Effect of row spacing on legume establishment in switchgrass for bioenergy. ASA-CSSA Annual Meeting.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2018 Citation: Widder, E., R.B. Mitchell, D.D. Redfearn, V.L. Jin, and M.R. Schmer. 2018. An integrated crop-livestock system for eastern Nebraska. ASA-CSSA Annual Meeting.
  • Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2018 Citation: T. Wang, Kasu, B., J. Jacquet, and S. Kumar Tailoring Extension Effort for Promotion of Diversified Crop Rotation System Journal of Extension, in press.
  • Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2018 Citation: Weigh options for crop residue management. D. Redfearn. Nebraska Farmer. October 8, 2018. https://www.farmprogress.com/corn/weigh-options-crop-residue-management
  • Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2018 Citation: Planting date, varieties affect spring cover crop growth. D. Redfearn, R. Elmore. Nebraska Farmer. May 14, 2018. https://www.farmprogress.com/conservation/planting-date-varieties-affect-spring-cover-crop-growth
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Atilla Polat, MS Student (Graduated Fall 2018) - Impacts of Diverse Crop Rotations and Integrated Crop-Livestock System on Soil Quality in South Dakota
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Submitted Year Published: 2019 Citation: Prashansa Shrestha, PhD Student (will Graduate Spring 2019) - Life cycle assessment of no-till integrated crop livestock systems in the northern Great Plains of the United States
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Vishal Seth, MS Student (Graduated Spring 2018) - Quantifying the Short-term Impacts of Cover Crops and Grazing on Soil Health Under an Integrated Crop-Livestock System in South Dakota


Progress 03/01/17 to 02/28/18

Outputs
Target Audience:Our target audiences included producers, students, researchers, and conservationists. Producers. Agricultural producers are a major target audience served by this project. This is because (a) the overall goal of this project is to help farmers of various age groups within the northern Great Plains understand and increase their adaptability of integrated crop-livestock (ICL) systems, and (b) producers can use the information generated from this project to increase their economic benefits and reduce negative impacts of production on the environment. During this reporting year, we have disseminated knowledge of ICL practices to producers through field days, focus groups, seminars, presentations, publications, and mail surveys. Students. Many students who are interested in agriculture could be future farmers. If they have the knowledge and the information generated from this project, they could become practitioners of ICL systems in the future. We have disseminated knowledge of ICL systems to students through seminars, presentations, publications, classes, and increased course resources. Ten graduate students and six undergraduates were directly trained by supporting from this grant. Researchers. There are many problems related to ICL systems that need to be resolved by additional research. This project will disseminate knowledge of ICL systems to researchers and encourage further studies. We have disseminated knowledge of ICL practices to researchers through seminars, presentations, publications, and some web pages during the reporting year. Conservationists. Conservationists advocate or act for the protection and preservation of the environment and wildlife. ICL systems served by our project can help in protecting and preserving soils and the environment. Our outcomes have been shared to increase national and international awareness of ICL practices through publications, presentations, meetings, conferences, and websites Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Course: PS 462-462L/562-562L Environmental Soil Management held in the Spring 2017 at SDSU with an enrollment of 41 students. The ICL system was introduced in this course in two class hours (100 min). Important aspects and benefits of the ICL system were discussed: soil quality, improved soil nutrient cycling, biological activity and soil structure, reduction in fertilizer inputs, hike in profit etc. Some of the negative impacts resulting from overgrazing or improper management of ICL systems were also discussed (e.g. issues related to soil compaction, water quality problems). One-on-one work with mentors: At the Mandan site (ND), 2 undergraduate students Heidi Scheetzm, Agriculture major, and Robyn Duttenhefner, Biochemisty and Molecular Biology major, were trained for soil sampling analysis. At SDSU, 8 graduate students were trained for sampling and analyzing soil properties and greenhouse gas fluxes. The students included: Navdeep Singh, Vishal Seth, Hanxiao Feng, Atilla Polat, Brant Douville, Jasdeep Singh, Asmita Gautam, and Teerath Singh Rai (Plant Science major). One graduate student Prashansa Shrestha (Civil and Environmental Engineering major) was trained in LCA modeling at SDSM&T. Four undergraduates were trained in sample collection, pasture sampling, and management at Mead site, NE: David Walla (Agribusiness major), Josh Davis (Fisheries and Wildlife), Saleh Husseini (Natural Resources and Environmental Economics), and Andrew Johnson (Biosystems Engineering). Conferences: Five graduate students Navdeep Singh, Vishal Seth, Hanxiao Feng, Atilla Polat, Jasdeep Singh (Plant Science major), and two postdocs Liming Lai and Juan Perez Gutierrez attended the ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meeting, October 22-25 2017, in Tampa, FL, USA. All of them provided oral and/or poster presentations. We held the USDA-CAP Grant (2016-2020) Annual Meeting during June 27-28, 2017, at Mandan, ND. Seven graduate students attended the meeting and provided oral presentations. Survey: One graduate student was involved in the second mail survey. Professional and scientific writing was enhanced for 8 graduates to develop their theses or dissertations. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Fourteen field days, group discussions, and in-depth interviews were conducted. The second mail survey started in September 2017. The goal of the survey was to analyze and evaluate the soil health, water quality, and environmental attitudes and knowledge of agricultural producers. The survey was coordinated by sending more than 3,000 survey letters to producers in SD, ND, and NE. Eight education and extension activities were conducted. Three published papers, 2 reports, and 5 articles and 1 video on the internet, 11 presentations at the ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meeting (October 22-25, 2017, Tampa, FL), and 17 presentations at local meetings (SD, ND, and NE) broadly shared knowledge of ICL systems and provided outreach of our preliminary results to landowners, producers, science teachers and students, NGOs, government representatives, and other stakeholders. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Our plan according to the original project objectives: Objective 1: Assess Ecosystem Services from ICL Systems. Task 1: Soil Health Assessment under ICL Systems: Finish the soil parameter data analysis for Year 2 (2017) at the Dickinson Site (ND), Mandan Site (ND), Brookings Sites 1-2 (SD), and Mead Site (NE). Prepare two manuscripts using the data from the Dickinson Site (ND) and Brookings Sites 1 and 2 (SD) in 2016 and 2017. Continue to collect soil samples and analyze the soil data in 2018 at the 5 study sites: Mandan Site (ND), Brookings Site 1 (SD), Brookings Site 2 (SD), Beresford Site (SD), and Mead Site (NE). Task 2: Trace Soil Surface GHG Flux from ICL Systems: Finish analysis of the soil surface GHG data (CO2, CH4, and N2O flux) from 2017 at the Dickinson Site (ND), Brookings Site 1 (SD), Brookings Site 2 (SD), Beresford Site (SD), and Mandan Site (ND). Prepare two manuscripts using the GHG data from Dickinson Site (ND), Brookings Site 1 (SD), and Brookings Site 2 (SD) in 2016 and 2017. Collect soil GHG samples and analyze the GHG data in 2018 at the 5 study sites: Brookings Site 1 (SD), Brookings Site 2 (SD), Beresford Site (SD), Mandan Site (ND), and Mead Site (NE). Task 3: Assessment of Water Quality from ICL Systems: Finish water data analysis from the 2017 growing season at the Mandan Site (ND) and Brookings Sites 1 and 2 (SD) to develop one manuscript. Continue to collect water samples and analyze the water data in 2018 at the three study sites: Mandan (ND) and Brookings Sites 1 and 2 (SD). Task 4: Modeling and Development of GHG Mitigation Strategies from ICL Systems: Start modeling work. The majority of our efforts will be in calibrating and validating DAYCENT models based on measured data and treatments. Objective 2: Evaluate Crop and Livestock Performance in ICL Systems. Task 1: Crop Performance: Finish analyzing data from the sample collection at the Mandan Site (ND), Mead Site (NE), and Brookings Sites 1 and 2 in 2017. Continue to collect and analyze grain and biomass yield data among different treatments in 2018 at the Mandan Site (ND), Mead Site (NE), and Brookings Sites 1 and 2 (SD). Task 2. Livestock Performance: Finish the data analysis from the sample collection at the Dickinson Site (ND), Mandan Site (ND) and Mead Site (NE) in 2017. Continue to collect and analyze animal grazing and animal performance data at the Dickinson (ND), Mandan (ND), and Mead (NE) sites. Task 3. Understanding of N Excretion and Comparison to Existing Nutritional Models: Analyze the soil nutrients of the samples from the 5 sites in Task 1 in Objective 1. Objective 3: Increase Adoption of ICL Systems. Our plan includes the following: Five to seven focus group discussions will be conducted. The results of the second mail survey "Northern Plains Soil Health and Water Quality Survey 2017-2018" will be analyzed. Two manuscripts will be prepared based on the second mail survey. One manuscript entitled "Women and Sustainable Agriculture: The Case of Rotational Grazing in the United States" will be finished. Nine (three in each state) in-depth interviews with landowners will be conducted. Objective 4: Conduct Economic Analysis of ICL Systems. Task 1. Enterprise Economics and Risk. Task 2. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Platform. We will continue to analyze the ICL production data received from sites in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska for the third year (2018), and continue to expand the inventory databases to include more impact data as it is obtained by collaborators. Also, historical data from the Mandan site will be compiled for analysis. Objective 5: Develop and Utilize Education and Extension Materials. Task 1. Educate Stakeholders and Producers: Five to seven Field Days, Group Discussions, or In-depth Interviews will be conducted in 2018 in South Dakota, North Dakota, and Nebraska. Fact sheets will be available for better communication of research project results. These fact sheets will be uploaded on the SDSU iGrow Extension website (http://igrow.org/) and the UNL BeefWatch.unl.edu and CropWatch.unl.edu websites from Nebraska Extension.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Objective 1: Assess Ecosystem Services from ICL Systems (50% accomplished). Soil, water, and greenhouse gas (GHG) data were measured at the Dickinson Site (ND), Mandan Site (ND), Brookings Sites 1, 2, and 3 (SD), Beresford site (SD), and Mead Site (NE) to meet objective 1. Cover and cash crop rotations were established at these locations in 2016, and grazing treatments were applied at these sites. All sample collections were finished, and most of the samples have been analyzed. The major results are follows. (i) soil health assessment. At the Dickinson Site (ND), only soil bulk density (BD) was significantly higher in the grazed area (1.30 Mg m-3) than the un-grazed area (1.27 Mg m-3). At the Brookings Site 1 (SD), results showed that grazing significantly increased BD (1.32 Mg m-3 under grazing vs. 1.30 Mg m-3 without grazing), but not other soil properties. (ii) Soil GHG emission assessments. At the Brookings Site 2 (SD), results showed that CO2 fluxes were significantly higher during grazing (6.3 kg ha-1 d-1) than that in the un-grazed control (4.4 kg ha-1 d-1). N2O fluxes were significantly higher in the grazed period (7.4 g ha-1 d-1) than that in the un-grazed control (6.1 g ha-1 d-1). N2O and CO2 fluxes decreased with the decrease of temperature. At the Brookings Site 3 (SD), results showed that the grazing treatment significantly increased soil N2O flux (7.78 g ha-1 d-1) compared to the control (4.28 g ha-1 d-1). The cover crop significantly increased soil CO2 fluxes (37.57 kg ha-1 d-1 in the legume field and 40.52 kg ha-1 d-1 in the grass field), compared to the fallow (27.73 kg ha-1 d-1). CO2 and N2O fluxes increased as the temperature increased. Objective 2: Evaluate Crop and Livestock Performance in ICL Systems (45% accomplished). Grain and biomass yields of crops, forage quality, and steer weight gain were measured at the Dickinson Site (ND), Mandan Site (ND), Brookings Sites 1 and 2 (SD), and Mead Site (NE). Above ground biomass samples were collected before and after grazing. Most of the lab analyses have been completed. Livestock weights were recorded before and after grazing. (i) Crop performance. Results from the Dickinson Site (ND) showed that spring wheat yields for rotation and control treatments were 68 and 90%, respectively, of the preceding 6-year average yield. Winter crop injury contributed to the triticale and hairy vetch (THV) stand reduction. Delayed germination reduced cover crop yield to 28% of long-term 6-year yield. Results from the Mead Site (NE) showed that liberty switchgrass harvested as hay after frost yielded 3.6 tons/ac, whereas, shawnee switchgrass yielded 0.88 tons/ac. Average corn grain yield for the field-scale replicates was 148 bu/acre, which was lower than the average corn yield of 170 bu/ac in the area. At the Brookings site 2 (SD), plant tissue samples were collected from all plots prior to the grazing treatment, as well as the non-grazed control. The plant tissue samples were all within limits for nitrate-N, B, Ca, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, N, P, K, Na, S, and Zn, indicating the cover crops were good for forage. (ii) Livestock performance. Results from the Dickinson Site (ND) showed that when steers were grazing annual crops (ANN) in the set-aside field, frost damaged cover crop plant tissue resulted in average daily weight reductions of 1.25 kg/day. Steers grazing native range pastures (NR), however, did not experience the negative impact of the frost like that of the ANN forage steers. Results from the Mead Site (NE) showed that Strategic use of annual forages following wheat, seed corn, corn silage, and high-moisture corn can produce 2,500 to 4,500 kg ha-1of high-quality fall forage. The limited data for stewardship and ecosystem service goals suggest that grazing crop residues and cover crops do not have negative crop production, soil, or other environmental impacts. Objective 3: Increase Adoption of ICL Systems (50% accomplished). There were two types of activities to increase adoption of ICL practices. (i) Field Days, Group Discussions, and In-depth Interviews were conducted with producers. A total of 309 people participated in fourteen events. Producers were from diverse backgrounds, ages, farm sizes, and experience levels. Broadly, these activities were focused on motivation, challenges, and sources of information regarding livestock grazing on cropland. Producers were motivated to graze their livestock on cropland to improve the soil health, increase production and long-term profit. Some of the challenges producers faced were more work, higher cost of insurance, more regulations, and market fluctuation. (ii) Two mail surveys were conducted. Analysis of the first mail survey conducted in 2016 in SD, ND, and NE was completed and four manuscripts have been developed. Out of 3,177 delivered surveys, 672 were completed. The biggest challenges of farmers in SD, ND, and NE are in avoiding soil compaction (41.2%), not having fencing (40.6%), and not having adequate winter protection (33.5%). The second mail survey started in September 2017. The goal of the survey was to analyze and evaluate the soil health, water quality, and environmental attitudes and knowledge of agricultural producers in SD, ND, and NE. So far, we have received 328 completed surveys, and data analysis is in progress. Objective 4: Conduct Economic Analysis of ICL Systems (45% accomplished). Data from Mandan and Dickinson sites (ND) were used for economic analysis by USDA-ARS Mandan and LCA by researchers at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (SDSM&T). (i) Business-as-usual (BAU) economic scenarios for crop and livestock production have been developed based on the experiments. (ii) A paper on BAU for regional crop production for the western Dakotas and Nebraska, based on SDSU experimental data, has been generated. (iii) An economically allocated ICL model has been developed from NDSU research. If all residues from row crops were used in an ICL system with similar stocking rates and grazing intensities used in the NDSU experiment, North Dakota could overwinter nine times more cattle that are currently present in the state and save millions of dollars in fertilizer expenses annually. If 50% of cropland was planted cover crops and incorporated cover crop grazing, North Dakota would have the potential to overwinter 340,000 more cattle via ICL cover crop grazing systems. Objective 5: Develop and Utilize Education and Extension Materials (45% accomplished). Twelve education and extension activities were conducted in SD, ND, and NE, with a total of 309 participants at these events. Three published papers, 2 reports, 5 articles and 1 video on the internet, and 11 presentations at the ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meeting (October 22-25, 2017, Tampa, FL) reached the scientific community. Seventeen presentations were held at local meetings (SD, ND, and NE) to broadly share the ICL knowledge and provided an outreach of our preliminary results to producers, students, and government representatives. These meetings reached approximately 420 stakeholders. This was helped particularly during the second mail survey when we raised awareness of the environmental sustainability of ICL systems by sending more than 3,000 surveys to producers.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Faust, D.R., S. Kumar, D.W. Archer, J.R. Hendrickson, S.L. Kronberg, and M.A. Liebig. 2018. Integrated crop-livestock systems and water quality in the Northern Great Plains of North America: Review of current practices and future research needs. Journal of Environmental Quality, Vol. 47 No. 1, p. 1-15. doi:10.2134/jeq2017.08.0306.
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Douville, Brant. 2017 Impacts of Integrated Crop-livestock System on Soil Surface Greenhouse Gas Fluxes at a Farm Scale in South Dakota. South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD, Theses and Dissertations. 2174. https://openprairie.sdstate.edu/etd/2174.
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Feng, Hanxiao. 2017. Soil Response to Cropping Sequences and Grazing under Integrated Crop-livestock System. South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD. Theses and Dissertations. 2160. https://openprairie.sdstate.edu/etd/2160. Passed in October 2017.
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2018 Citation: Vishal Seth. 2018. Quantifying the Short-Term Impact of Cover Crops and Grazing under Integrated Crop-Livestock System on Soil Health Parameters in South Dakota. South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD. Theses and Dissertations. The thesis has been successfully defended.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2017 Citation: Fergen, J.T., Jeffrey Jacquet, Bishal Kasu, Matthew Barnett, Anne Junod and Sandeep Kumar. 2018. Out Where the West Begins: Measuring Land Use Preferences and Environmental Attitudes across the Great Plains Transition Zone. Journal of Great Plains Research (Accepted).
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2017 Citation: Kasu, B., Jacquet, J.B., Junod, A., and Kumar, S. 2017. Integrated Cropping and Grazing Knowledge, Behaviors and Attitudes among Agricultural Producers on the Northern Great Plains. Journal of Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems (submitted and in review).
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2017 Citation: Kasu, Bishal, Jeffrey Jacquet, Sandeep Kumar, and Tong Wang. 2017. Rationale and Motivation of Agricultural Producers in Adopting Diverse Crop Rotation in the Northern Great Plains, USA. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation (submitted and in review).
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2017 Citation: Wang, Tong, Hailong Jin, Bishal Kasu, Jeffrey Jacquet, and Sandeep Kumar. 2018. Soil Conservation Practices Adoption in Northern Great Plains: Economic vs. Stewardship Motivations. Journal of Ecological Economics (submitted and in review).
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2017 Citation: (submitted and in review). Journal Articles Accepted 2017 Yes Wang, Tong, Kasu, B., J. Jacquet, and S. Kumar. 2018. Tailoring Extension Effort for Promotion of Diversified Crop Rotation System. Journal of Extension (submitted and in review).
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2017 Citation: P. Shrestha, S. Senturklu, H. Sieverding, D. Landblom, and J.J. Stone. 2017. Life cycle assessment and potential of overwintering bred beef cattle using integrated crop-livestock. Animal (submitted and in review).
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2018 Citation: P. Shrestha, H.L. Sieverding, D.W. Archer, S. Kumar, T. Nleya, C.J. Graham, and J.J. Stone. 2018. Life cycle assessment of dryland wheat rotation intensification. Journal of Industrial Ecology (submitted and in review).
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2018 Citation: S. Sent�rkl�, D.G. Landblom, R. Maddock, T. Petry, C. J. Wachenheim, and S. I. Paisley. 2018. Yearling steer sequence grazing of perennial and annual forages in an integrated crop and beef cattle production system and the subsequent effect on delayed feedlot entry finishing performance, carcass measurements, and systems economics. J. Anim. Sci. (Submitted  In Review)
  • Type: Books Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Song�l Sent�rkl� and Douglas Landblom. 2017. Stockpiled grass and crop-residue grazing reduce cow wintering cost.North Dakota Beef Report (AS1862), pp 25-29.
  • Type: Books Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Song�l Sent�rkl�, Douglas Landblom and Steve Paisley. 2017. Steer performance, carcass measurements and value of rotation crop, cover crop and bale grazing in western North Dakota. North Dakota Beef Report (AS1862), pp 49-52.
  • Type: Books Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Sent�rkl�, S., D. G. Landblom, R. J. Maddock, T. Petry, and S. I. Paisley. 2017. Effect of retained ownership and vertical integration within an integrated cropping system among yearling steers of differing frame score on feedlot performance, carcass measurements, and systems economics following delayed feedlot entry. Proceedings, West. Sec., Am. Soc. Anim. Sci., Vol. 68:203-207 (Abst.).
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Navdeep Singh, Liming Lai, Juan P�rez-Guti�rrez, and Sandeep Kumar. 2017. Impacts of cover crops under integrated crop-livestock system on soil surface greenhouse gases in South Dakota. Oral presentation and awarded 1st place in Students Oral Presentation Competition in the ASA Community, Soil Carbon and Greenhouse Gas Emissions held during the ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meeting, October 22-25, 2017, Tampa, FL, USA.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Liming Lai, Sandeep Kumar, and Peter Sexton. 2017. Soil surface greenhouse gases in an integrated crop-livestock system in South Dakota, USA. The ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meeting, Oct. 22-25 2017, Tampa, FL, USA. Oral Presentation
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Liming Lai, Navdeep Singh, Hanxiao Feng, Douglas Landblom, Songul Senturklu, Kris Ringwall, and Sandeep Kumar. 2017. Effects of crop rotation and grazing in an ICLS on greenhouse gas emissions in the Northern Great Plains. The ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meeting, Oct. 22-25 2017, Tampa, FL, USA. Poster Presentation.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Vishal Seth, Michael Lehman, and Sandeep Kumar. 2017. Impacts of cover crop management under no-tillage on soil microbial parameters. The ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meeting, Oct. 22-25 2017, Tampa, FL, USA. Oral Presentation.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Vishal Seth, Michael Lehman, and Sandeep Kumar. 2017. Impacts of cover crop management under no-tillage on soil quality. The ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meeting, Oct. 22-25 2017, Tampa, FL, USA. Poster Presentation.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Hanxiao Feng, Douglas Landblom, Songul Senturklu, Liming Lai, Kris Ringwall, and Sandeep Kumar. 2017. Impacts of integrated crop-livestock system on soil health parameters in North Dakota. The ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meeting, Oct. 22-25 2017, Tampa, FL, USA. Poster Presentation.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Archer, D., M. Liebig, D. Landblom, S. Kronberg, J. Hendrickson, D. Faust, D. Tanaka, and E. Scholljegerdes. 2017. Integrated crop-livestock systems and cover crop grazing in the Northern Great Plains. 2017 American Society of Animal Science-Canadian Society of Animal Science Annual Meeting and Trade Show. July 11, 2017 Baltimore Convention Center, Baltimore, MD. Oral Presentation.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Faust, D.R., S. Kumar, D.W. Archer, J.R. Hendrickson, S.L. Kronberg, and M.A. Liebig. 2017. Potential water quality outcomes from integrated crop-livestock systems in the Northern Great Plains. ASA-CSSA-SSSA Annual Meeting. October 23, 2017. Tampa, FL. Oral Presentation.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Faust, D.R., and M.A. Liebig. 2017. Greenhouse gas fluxes from integrated crop-livestock systems in central North Dakota. ASA-CSSA-SSSA Annual Meeting. October 23, 2017. Tampa, FL. 5-minute Rapid Oral Presentation and Poster Presentation.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Hendrickson, J.H., M.A. Liebig, D.W. Archer, and S.L. Kronberg. 2017. Integrated system approach (crops, livestock, and perennials) for improving soil health and food provision. ASA-CSSA-SSSA Annual Meeting, Tampa, FL. October 24, 2017. Oral Presentation.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Redfearn D. 2017. A Model Integrated Crop-Livestock System for Eastern Nebraska, Prairie and Native Grass International Conference: Switchgrass IV, August 9, 2017, Lincoln, NE. Oral Presentation.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Rob Mitchell. 2017. Perennial Grasses for Marginally-Productive Cropland: Challenges and Opportunities for the Bio-Economy, Crop Residues for Advanced Biofuels Workshop, ASA/CSSA/SSSA, August 17, 2017, Sacramento, CA. Oral Presentation.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Daren D. Redfearn, Robert B. Mitchell, Mary Drewnoski, Jay Parsons, James C. MacDonald, Marty R. Schmer, Humberto Blanco and Virginia L. Jin. 2017. Forage and Crop Residue Utilization in Corn and Beef Systems in the Midwest, Invited Symposium-Cover Crops and Forage Utilization in Integrated Crop-Livestock Systems I, ASA-CSSA-SSSA Annual Meeting, October 22-25, 2017, Tampa, FL, USA. Oral Presentation.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Kasu, Bishal. 2017. Improving Production with Integrated Crop-Livestock Systems (IPICL). SDSU Extension: Managing Soil: Maximizing Profit Conference December 1, 2017. Sioux Falls. Oral Presentation.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Doug Landblom. 2017. Northern Nebraska Cattlemens Alliance Annual Meeting: Chadron State College  Farm and Ranch Management class guest speaker (Ron Bolze, class). November 9, 2017. Oral presentation.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Doug Landblom. 2017. South Dakota State University, Extension Agronomy Program, Managing Soil: Maximizing Profit, Sioux Falls, SD. December 1, 2017. Oral presentation
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Doug Landblom. 2017. ND Soil and Water Conservation Society Annual Meeting, November 21, 2017, Bismarck State College, Bismarck, ND. Oral presentation.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Doug Landblom. 2017. Midwest Soil Health Summit Annual Meeting, Fergus Falls, MN. February 14-15, 2018 (Two Invitations). Oral presentation.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Doug Landblom. 2017. North Dakota Soil Conservation Districts Annual Meeting, Bismarck, ND. 11/19/2017 - 11/21/2017. Oral presentation
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Sandeep Kumar. 2017. Enhancing Soils Quality Using the Integrated Crop-Livestock Systems in Northern Great Plains, USA. The ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meeting, Oct. 22-25, 2017, Tampa, FL, USA. Oral Presentation
  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: A news article entitled Improve soil health with cover crops posted on Feedstuffs. December 20, 2017. (http://www.feedstuffs.com/news/improve-soil-health-cover-crops)
  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: A news article entitled Improving soil health with cover crops- Study give producers decision-making data posted on Newswise. Article ID: 687096, Released: 19-Dec-2017 2:05 PM EST. Source Newsroom: South Dakota State University (http://www.newswise.com/articles/improving-soil-health-with-cover-crops)
  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: A video regarding Effect of cover crops and grazing on soil health posted on Facebook. December 26, 2017. 9:00 AM CST. (https://www.facebook.com/SouthDakotaStateUniversity/videos/10155272823101647/)
  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: A news article entitled SDSU researchers study impact of cover crops on soil health Posted in Entrepreneurship & Innovation, University. December 20, 2017. (https://brookingsedc.com/2017/12/20/sdsu-researchers-study-impact-covercrops- soil-health/).
  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Faust, D.R. 2018. Management impacts on water quality in integrated crop-livestock systems. Northern Great Plains Research Laboratory INTEGRATOR. February 2018. https://www.ars.usda.gov/ARSUserFiles/30640500/PDF/INTEGRATOR%20February%202018.pdf.
  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Faust, D.R. 2018. Management impacts on water quality in integrated crop-livestock systems. North Dakota Area 4 Soil Conservation District Cooperative Research Farm 2017 Research Results. February 2018. https://www.ars.usda.gov/ARSUserFiles/30640500/PDF/INTEGRATOR%20February%202018.pdf.


Progress 03/01/16 to 02/28/17

Outputs
Target Audience: Producers. The agricultural producers are major target audiences served by this project. This is because (i) the overall goal of this project is to understand and increase the adaptability among various age group farmers by using the integrated crop-livestock (ICL) systems within the northern Great Plains. (ii) Only the producers can use the knowledge and information generated from this project to increase their economic benefits and reduce negative impacts of their production on soil and the environment. During this reporting year, we have disseminated the knowledge of the ICL to the producers through Field Days, focus groups, seminars, presentations, publications, mail survey, and this project web page (http://ipicl.org/). Students. Many students who are interested in the agriculture could be future farmers. If they learn the knowledge and information generated from this project, they could become the practitioners of the ICL systems in the future. We have disseminated the knowledge of the ICL to students through seminars, presentations, publications, classes and increased course resources and this project web page. Researchers. There are many problems for the ICL systems that need to be resolved by more researchers. This project can disseminate the knowledge of ICL systems to researchers and encourage more researchers to further research them. We have disseminated the knowledge of the ICL to researchers through seminars, presentations, publications and this project web page during the reporting year. Conservationists. The conservationists are persons who advocate or act for the protection and preservation of the environment and wildlife. The ICL systems served by our project can help in protecting and preserving soils and the environment. Our outcomes can be disseminated as broadly as possible and increase national and international awareness of ICL systems using publications, presentations, and meeting or conferences, and this project web page (http://ipicl.org/). Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The opportunities for training and professional development provided by the project included: (i) Course: Soil Environmental Soil Physics in Fall 2016 at South Dakota State University (SDSU). (ii) One-on-one work with a mentor. At Mandan site (ND): two graduate students were hired under the project, and trained for soils sampling analysis. At SDSU, five graduate students were trained for sampling and analyzing soil properties and greenhouse gasses fluxes. (iii) Conference: Prashansa Shrestha and Heidi Sieverding attended the South Dakota AgHorizons annual conference in Pierre, SD during December 2016. At this producer meeting, they had the opportunity to visit with producers and attend seminars on ICL, agricultural, and environmental topics. (iv) Survey: Two graduate students got opportunities to involve in the survey and focus group discussions. They involved in developing the survey questionnaire, conducting the survey, and data analysis process. (v) The professional and scientific writing was used for all graduates to develop their theses or dissertations. (vi) Combination of some opportunities. For example, Prashansa Shrestha, a Ph.D. student, who has learned how to create a life cycle inventory, analyze, and interpret results using SimaPro LCA model software. As part of her training, Ms. Shrestha visited SDSU's Cottonwood Research Station and area producers to familiarize her with regional agricultural management practices. She has been developing her professional and scientific writing and communication skills through publication development, presentations, and monthly project calls. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We have disseminated the knowledge or information of the ICL to the producers and other audiences through fourField Days (focus groups) (approximately 210 attendees), 15 presentations (approximately 760 attendees), 14 publications (including articles on the internet), and mail survey (672 producers completed). The mail survey showed that, for the 672 producers completed, 37% of people are very familiar and 47% somewhat familiar with the livestock grazing. The familiarity with livestock grazing is higher in Nebraska and South Dakota than North Dakota. These two states are ahead not only in the familiarity but also in the practicing of livestock grazing than North Dakota. Nearly half of the population (48%) involves in livestock grazing; one-fourth of the population (25%) occasionally grazes livestock; nearly one-third of the population (27%) has never grazed livestock on cropland. The prevalence is highest in Nebraska, where more than half of the population (58%) involves in livestock grazing. The proportion of the population who never graze is highest in North Dakota. In North Dakota, 40 percent of the population has never grazed livestock on cropland as part of their agricultural operation. Through the mail survey (3,177 surveys were mailed) and other activities (field days and presentations), the more than 4,140 peoples have been disseminated (the number does not include the people who have read our publicans on the internet and journals because it is difficult to estimate how many people have read these articles). What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The plan for the coming year by the project original objectives: Objective 1: Ecosystem services from ICL systems. Task 1: Soil health assessment under ICL systems. Finish the soil parameter data analysis for the last year (2016) at Dickinson Site (ND), Mandan Site (ND), Brookings Site 1 (SD), and Mead Site (NE). Prepare two manuscripts using the data at Dickinson site (ND) and Brookings 1 (SD) site. Continue to collect soil samples and analyze the soil data at the six study sites: Dickinson Site (ND), Mandan Site (ND), Brookings Site 1 (SD), Brookings Site 2 (SD), Beresford Site (SD), and Mead Site (NE). In addition, soil samples from 3 producer fields were also collected in 2016, and soil samples analysis is under progress. Task 2: Assessment of water quality from ICL systems. Collect water samples and analyze the water data at least at the two study sites: Mandan Site (ND) and Brookings Site 2 (SD). Task 3: Trace soil surface GHG fluxes from ICL systems. Finish the soil surface GHG data (CO2, CH4, and N2O fluxes) analysis for the last year (2016) at Dickinson Site (ND), Brookings Site 1 (SD), Brookings Site 2 (SD), Beresford Site (SD), and Mandan Site (ND). Prepare three manuscripts using the GHG data at Dickinson site (ND), Brookings 1 (SD) site, and Brookings 2 (SD) site. Continue to collect soil GHG samples and analyze the GHG data at the six study sites: Dickinson Site (ND), Brookings Site 1 (SD), Brookings Site 2 (SD), and Beresford Site (SD), Mandan Site (ND), and Mead (NE). Start to collect soil GHG samples and analyze the GHG data at Mead Site (NE). Task 4: Modeling and development of GHG mitigation strategies from ICL systems. Based on the original plan, the Task 4 will start the third year. Therefore, no plan will be for the coming year (the second year). Objective 2: Crop and Livestock Performance in ICL Systems. Task 1: Crop performance. Continue to collect grain and biomass yields data among different treatments at the Mandan Site (ND); Start to collect sample triticale plots for forage yield and quality determination at Mead Site (NE). Task 2. Livestock Performance. Continue to collect animal grazing and animal performance data among different treatments at the Mandan Site (ND) and Dickinson (ND). This study is for long-term. Task 3. Understanding of N excretion and comparison to existing nutritional models. Collect soil samples for dry matter determination and nutritive value analysis after grazing at Mead site (NE). Objective 3: Adoption of ICL Systems. Task 1. Social and behavioral factors for adopting a practice. Task 2. Focus groups and interviews. Task 3. Mail survey. Task 4. Follow-up Interviews. Task 5. Multi-stakeholder Engagement. Our plan included: Five to seven focus groups discussion will be conducted in 2017 in South Dakota, North Dakota, and Nebraska. The findings are useful for the outreach program too. From the analysis of the mail survey data and focus group discussion, we are expecting to have an extension publication, as well as 2-3 peer-reviewed journal articles. One manuscript, the "Integrated cropping and grazing patterns among agricultural producers on the Northern Great Plains" is already under preparation. Objective 4: Economics involved in ICL Systems. Task 1. Enterprise economics and risk. Task 2. Life cycle assessment (LCA) platform. The plan was to continue to analyze the ICL production data received from sites in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska for the second year: The first paper focused on developing a methodology to analyze the life cycle impacts and sustainability of crop rotation diversity, fallow, cover crops, and intensified land use, and the paper is under process. The paper is currently developing will evaluate and contrast the sustainability, land use, and economics of cattle production within a dry lot, rangeland, and integrated systems in cooperation with researchers in North Dakota. To complete this paper, the LCA models will be parameterized and calibrated to obtain economic model results. This next research paper is expected to be accomplished within the next reporting period. Data for the ICL sites in South Dakota and Nebraska will be gathered and assembled during the coming summer and fall. Expansion of the life cycle inventory, analysis, and interpretation will be continued. Objective 5: Education and Outreach. Task 1. Educate stakeholders and producers. Five to seven focus groups discussion in Field Days will be conducted in 2017 in South Dakota, North Dakota, and Nebraska. We expect 50-100 attendees per year at each site (SD, NE, and ND) location. Extension specialists, researchers, and the landowners will be onsite to give tours and provide information. Fact sheets will be available for better communication of results of the research project. These fact sheets will be uploaded on the iGrow Extension website (http://igrow.org/) at SDSU and will be publically available. Project reports, data, results, video clips from workshops/field days, fact sheets, and any additional information pertaining to this study will be posted on this website. Task 2. Educational plan/course development. We will focus the distribution of our educational materials and resources to middle school and high school agricultural education and science instructors in the North Central Region. We are proposing to develop modules based on soil and water quality. All modules will include resources, guides, and curriculum materials for high school science and agricultural education teachers to teach the concept successfully and age-appropriately. The project outcomes will be covered in courses at SDSU; Plant Science 462/562 (Environmental Soil Management), and Environmental Soil Physics (PS 743). This course is taught by Dr. Sandeep Kumar in Plant Science department. Annually, agricultural educators and science teachers across the state gather for an annual conference. At the annual conference resources and curriculum materials will be shared with educators. All materials will be posted for teachers to access along with electronic copies of the curriculum materials. During this professional development seminar and other outreach workshops, teachers will be walked through the curriculum materials and activities developed for this curriculum. Task 3. Data availability-webpage development and feedback. A web page in the South Dakota State University website was developed with a web link to sustainable ICL system website. The website link is http://ipicl.org/. This website will continue to improve and all the soils and other data will be uploaded in this website after published in peer-reviewed journal. Project reports, data, results, video clips from workshops, fact sheets, and any additional information pertaining to this project will continue to be posted on this website. Additional information will be provided through local newsletters. Stakeholders and farmers will be able to post comments and concerns about the results of their own efforts and the overall project as it progresses.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? This project focuses on the Integrated Crop-Livestock (ICL) systems in the Northern Plains. It addresses the food security by diversifying production and increasing ecosystem services with the ICL systems. The information generated from the project will help and guide agricultural producers in developing flexible and adaptive ICL systems to develop resilient agroecosystems and increase economic benefits and increase knowledge of agricultural and environmental sciences and the awareness of ICL systems of producers, students, landowners, conservationists, and researchers. Also, the project can provide demonstrated references for agricultural policy-makers and planners. Objective 1: Ecosystem services from ICL systems. The rotation (cover crops and cash crops) and grazing (cattle) treatments were established at Dickinson Site (ND), Brookings Site (SD), Beresford Site (SD), and Mandan Site (ND) in 2016. The soil, greenhouse gas (GHG), and water samples were collected at the four study sites. Part of data measurements has been completed. The preliminary results of soil properties from Dickinson Site (ND) showed that soil pH under rotation 3 (spring wheat-cover crop-corn-pea-sunflower with grazing) was significantly lower (8.63%) than that under control (continuous spring wheat with ungrazing). The soil bulk density under rotation 4 (cover crop-corn-pea-sunflower- spring wheat) was significantly lower (9.8%) than that under control, indicating soil under the rotation 4 had lower compaction. The soil under rotation 6 (pea-sunflower-spring wheat-cover crop-corn) has the least water retention for all the pressure in the surface depth, indicating the rotation 6 had a lower capacity to hold water. The preliminary results of GHG fluxes from Dickinson Site (ND) showed that annual average soil surface N2O fluxes ranged from 2.74 to 4.75 g ha-1 d-1 and the highest flux was found in control. The rotation did not significantly impact the N2O fluxes. However, the mean N2O emission was significantly higher in grazing plots (5.73 g ha-1 d-1) than ungrazing plots (2.98 g ha-1 d-1). However, the rotation and grazing did not impact CO2 and CH4 fluxes. Objective 2: Crop and livestock performance in ICL systems. At Mandan site (ND) (long-term ICL experiment), in the 2016 season, the grain and biomass yields were measured for corn, spring wheat, and soybean crops under grazed treatments. The biomass samples were collected before and after grazing for estimation of forage intake. Livestock weights were recorded before and after grazing. At Dickinson site (ND) (long-term ICL experiment), in the 2016 season, yearling Angus x Red Angus x Simental beef cattle steers grazed a diverse crop rotation. The preliminary results showed that weight gain per day for each annual forage grazed was 1.05, 0.95, and 0.83 kg d-1 for the pea-barley, forage corn, and cover crop, respectively, and the combined annual forage total steer gain per hectare was 56.85 kg. The other data analyses are in progress. At Mead Site (NE), the understanding of N excretion and comparison to existing nutritional models were conducted. Soil sample collection for all components (total four lands with different crops) was completed on June 14, 2016, prior to grazing treatment installation. Objective 3: Adoption of ICL systems. A total of four Field Days were conducted at Dickinson (ND), Mandan (ND), and Gettysburg (SD). Two focus group discussion at Gettysburg showed that farmers were familiar with livestock grazing on croplands. They thought that allowing cattle to graze on croplands is beneficial. For example, livestock grazing on croplands can improve soil quality and health of the livestock. Producers mentioned from a survey that cattle can be all day long in the field and enjoy roaming around in the open sky; they have less stress as well and gain weight. Besides, in the field where cattle were grazed, the crop production enhances the following year crop yield. Further, according to these producers, challenges of livestock grazing include the cost fencing, no enough water for farmers, and cover crop problems (e.g., some cattle do not eat mix cover crops and cover crops grow slowly). A total of 15 presentations were presented at different conferences at Huron, Sioux Falls, and Rapid City, South Dakota, and at Crop Production Clinics, Women in Ag Conference, WCREC Field Day, Crop Diagnostic Clinic, and Producer field days in Nebraska (approximately 760 attendees). A mail survey (672 producers completed) was conducted to measure knowledge, attitudes, and practices of the ICL system in South Dakota, North Dakota, and Nebraska. The partial survey results showed that (i) people are familiar (84%) with the livestock grazing. (ii) In general, agricultural producers think livestock grazing is beneficial to soil and water quality and increases livestock and crop production. (iii) Probably social network encourages positive behaviors. (iv) The major barriers to livestock grazing include difficulty in avoiding soil compaction, winter protection, and retaining soil cover. Objective 4: Economics of ICL systems. The life-cycle analysis (LCA) model was used for the analysis of the economics of ICL systems. The first year ICL data for Mandan site (ND) and Dickinson site (ND) were obtained. The LCA models were currently being parametrized using the data. A rubric and ranking method to equate and compare crops and livestock products was developed. The preliminary results from the LCA model for Mandan site (ND) showed that ungrazed plots had a greater land use, whereas, grazed plots had a higher GHG impact due to cattle-related emissions. Objective 5: Outreach and extension. A total of 13 extension and outreach articles were published, and one research paper was published in peer-reviewed journal. These articles disseminating the results generated from this project to researchers, students, producers and other professionals. The outreach and extension activities have been carried out in the form of participation in Field Days (Objective 3). During these Field Days, the importance of ICL systems was introduced to the farmers. The focus groups were also identified and were interviewed for their apprehensions about the ICL systems. The farmers who were practicing the integrated systems showed keen interest towards the project and were much interested in participating in the project and learning with new experiments. ?In conclusions, during the first year, we have established the treatments at all the study sites in South Dakota, North Dakota, and Nebraska. All the data proposed in the proposal related to soil, water, GHG, crop yields, and cattle weight were collected, and analysis is in progress. The economic analysis of ICL was also conducted using LCA model. One research manuscript is accepted and three were submitted to peer-reviewed journals. Four manuscripts are under progress those will be submitted to peer-reviewed journals in 2017. Furthermore, the mail survey, Field Days, and presentations were conducted and data will be disseminated to the larger audiences in future.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Schmer, M., R. Brown, V. Jin, R. Mitchell, and D. Redfearn. Corn residue utilization by livestock in the USA. Agricultural and Environmental Letters doi:10.2134/ael2016.10.0043. 2017.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2017 Citation: Sandeep Kumar, Kunal Sood, Heidi Sieverding, Nleya Thandiwe, Anthony Bly, Brian Wienhold, Daren Redfearn, David Archer, David Ussiri, Derek Faust, Douglas Landblom, Elaine Grings, James J. Stone, Jeffrey Jacquet, Krishna Pokharel, Mark Liebig, Marty Schmer, Peter Sexton, Rob Mitchell, Scott Smalley, Shannon Osborne, Shaukat Ali, Song�l ?ent�rkl�, Sunish Sehgal, Vance Owens, and Virginia Jin. 2017. Improving Production with Integrated Crop-Livestock Systems: A review facilitating a more Sustainable Agriculture. Submitted to Agr. Ecosys. Environ.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2017 Citation: David A.N. Ussiri, Liming Lai, and Sandeep Kumar. 2017. Role of integrated crop-livestock system on land degradation and agricultural emissions. It was submitted by February 2017.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2017 Citation: Shrestha, P., Sieverding H.L., Archer, D.W., Kumar, S., Nleya, T., Graham, C.J., and Stone, J.J. 2017. Life cycle assessment modeling of long-term agricultural crop rotations. Submitted to: Agricultural Systems.