Category: Current Projects

Doug Collins, Extensions Specialist, Washington State University On-Farm Cover Crop Use, Evaluation, and Data Sharing with the Western Cover Crop Council. This project supports on-farm cover crop demonstrations in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. Demonstrations will show how cover crop variety and management practices affect specific management goals. We are developing simple and systematic cover crop … Continue reading On-Farm Cover Crop Use, Evaluation, and Data Sharing with the Western Cover Crop Council →… Read the rest

Amélie Gaudin, Associate Professor of Agroecology, Department of Plant Sciences This research explores how biodiversity and animal re-integration through grazing cover crops impacts soil ecosystems and functions in vineyards. We are specifically interested in how sheep grazing impacts understory plant community productivity and species composition and how these interactions alter soil functions such as the … Continue reading Soil health outcomes of sheep grazing of cover corp in vineyards →… Read the rest

Amélie Gaudin, Associate Professor of Agroecology, Department of Plant Sciences Cover crops can provide ecosystem services in almond orchards without compromising yield, but adoption remains low due to operational constraints and lack of data on tradeoffs. This project synthesizes research, experimentation, and on-farm experience to develop a set of preliminary best management practices for cover … Continue reading Cover crop best management guide for Almond systems →… Read the rest

Amélie Gaudin, Associate Professor of Agroecology, Department of Plant Sciences Almond orchards can benefit from cover cropping, but operational constraints and lack of data on benefits and tradeoffs have limited adoption. This interdisciplinary project will examine the provision of ten ecosystem services provided by cover crop species mixes to help predict impacts based on species … Continue reading Developing cover crop systems for Almond Orchards →… Read the rest

Amélie Gaudin, Associate Professor of Agroecology, Department of Plant Sciences Sheep grazing of cover crops could provide new ways to offset the cost of winter cover crops in annual vegetable systems while enhancing soil health outcomes. This project compares soil health, foodborne pathogen risk and productivity of 3 winter management strategies (grazed cover crop, ungrazed … Continue reading Grazing Winter Cover Crops With Sheep to Improve Economic Feasibility in Annual Vegetable Systems →… Read the rest

Matt Palmer, Utah State University Extension, Sanpete County Director Cover crops are being heavily promoted by government agencies and other organizations, yet little replicated research on cover crops has been conducted in Utah. This study proposes a multi-county project to collect replicated data on how cover crops perform and how they influence forage and soil … Continue reading Utah Cover Crop Research and Demonstration →… Read the rest

Matt Yost, Ph.D. Agroclimate Extension Specialist, Utah State University This project seeks to provide agricultural producers and water managers with tools for optimizing agriculture water use. Utah State University and Southern Utah University are partnering with the irrigation industry, Water Conservancy Districts, soil and water conservation districts, Utah water agencies, and several other federal and … Continue reading Optimizing water use in agriculture by stacking conservation practices →… Read the rest

Koon-Hui Wang, Ph.D. Associate Professor and Department ChairCTAHR Dept. Plant and Environmental Protection Sciences University of Hawaii A WSARE Graduate Student grant is secured to identify beneficial soil microbial profiles associated with no-till cover cropping of sorghum/sorghum-sudangrass hybrids that can improve soil water conservation, and enhance soil building properties in a no-till farming agroecosystem.… Read the rest

Koon-Hui Wang, Ph.D. Associate Professor and Department ChairCTAHR Dept. Plant and Environmental Protection Sciences University of Hawaii We are examining if brown mustard biofumigation through tissue maceration, low till and 1 week of plastic cover could suppress soilborne diseases such as Rhizoctonia rot on lettuce, Fusarium crown rot on asparagus and Panama wilt on banana, … Continue reading Soil health-friendly biofumigation using brown mustard and oil radish cover crops for soil-borne disease management →… Read the rest

Koon-Hui Wang, Ph.D. Associate Professor and Department ChairCTAHR Dept. Plant and Environmental Protection Sciences University of Hawaii To address a decline of growth and seed production of sunn hemp cover crop in Hawaii related to Fusarium wilt, this project focuses on screening sorghum or sorghum-sudangrass hybrids that are most suppressive to root-knot nematodes, and able … Continue reading Finding new friends for sunn hemp to revitalized degraded soil in the tropic →… Read the rest