The LTAR Cropland Common Experiment at the Kellogg Biological Station

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Robertson, G Philip
Wilke, Brook
Ulbrich, Tayler
Haddad, Nick M
Hamilton, Stephen K
Baas, Dean G
Basso, Bruno
Blesh, Jennifer
Boring, Timothy J
Campbell, Laura
Cassida, Kimberly A
Charles, Christine
Chen, Jiquan
Doll, Julie E
Guo, Tian
et al.
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2024
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Abstract

The Kellogg Biological Station Long-term Agroecosystem Research site (KBS LTAR) joined the national LTAR Network in 2015 to represent a northeast portion of the North Central Region, extending across 76,000 km2 of southern Michigan and northern Indiana. Regional cropping systems are dominated by corn (Zea mays)–soybean (Glycine max) rotations managed with conventional tillage, industry-average rates of fertilizer and pesticide inputs uniformly applied, few cover crops, and little animal integration. In 2020, KBS LTAR initiated the Aspirational Cropping System Experiment as part of the LTAR Common Experiment, a co-production model wherein stakeholders and researchers collaborate to advance transformative change in agriculture. The Aspirational (ASP) cropping system treatment, designed by a team of agronomists, farmers, scientists, and other stakeholders, is a five-crop rotation of corn, soybean, winter wheat (Triticum aestivum), winter canola (Brassicus napus), and a diverse forage mix. All phases are managed with continuous no-till, variable rate fertilizer inputs, and integrated pest management to provide benefits related to economic returns, water quality, greenhouse gas mitigation, soil health, biodiversity, and social well-being. Cover crops follow corn and winter wheat, with fall-planted crops in the rotation providing winter cover in other years. The experiment is replicated with all rotation phases at both the plot and field scales and with perennial prairie strips in consistently low-producing areas of ASP fields. The prevailing practice (or Business as usual [BAU]) treatment mirrors regional prevailing practices as revealed by farmer surveys. Stakeholders and researchers evaluate the success of the ASP and BAU systems annually and implement management changes on a 5-year cycle.

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Journal of Environmental Quality

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© 2024 The Author(s). Journal of Environmental Quality published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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This publication has been entered in Griffith Research Online as an advance online version.

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Biological sciences

Earth sciences

Environmental sciences

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Robertson, GP; Wilke, B; Ulbrich, T; Haddad, NM; Hamilton, SK; Baas, DG; Basso, B; Blesh, J; Boring, TJ; Campbell, L; Cassida, KA; Charles, C; Chen, J; Doll, JE; Guo, T; et al., The LTAR Cropland Common Experiment at the Kellogg Biological Station, Journal of Environmental Quality, 2024

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