Projects

The primary goal of my research program is to develop and refine estimates of the impacts of ongoing and future land use change and global change on agro-ecosystem processes and services. Projects are currently under development that will apply a combination of field-based measurements with agro-ecosystem models to assess:

  1. the water use and water use efficiency of sorghum, a potential bioenergy feedstock
  2. the impacts of perennial bioenergy feedstock production on sloping terrain
  3. the implications of introducing novel, highly productive lines of Switchgrass on agro-ecosystem services
  4. interactions of large-scale wind energy operations with surrounding agricultural fields
  5. the impacts of global change (increasing drought frequency, atmospheric CO2 and temperature) on the productivity and biogeochemistry of the corn-soybean agro-ecosystem.

  • Summary of the project here

  • weather station

    FACTS is an ongoing project developed to forecast and evaluate real-time soil-crop dynamics in specific ISU fields. Predictions and measurements will be frequently updated as new information becomes available during the growing season. 

    What we do:

    During the growing season we provide real-time measurements and forecasts for weather, soil water and nitrogen, crop water and nitrogen, yield predictions, crop stage and heat/frost stress. Before/after the growing season we benchmark production, economic, and environmental performance, estimate the yield gaps, and perform what-if scenario analysis to identify management practices with the highest profits and lowest environmental impacts.

    Why we do it:

  • Summary of the project here