Agricultural research has been known for carrying out studies on small plots. The arrival of precision ag technologies potentially allows rigorous, replicated studies to scale up to cover whole farm fields, spanning multiple soil types and landscape positions. But a standardized procedure for designing field-scale research trials and processing the data has not yet been developed. These sorts of trials could help to answer questions about the benefits of cover crops to soil health because results are heavily impacted by soil type.
Objectives:
- To develop standardized methods for the use of precision agriculture technologies and big data analytics when conducting rigorous field-scale, on-farm research
- To explore the performance and management of simple and complex cover crops planted after winter wheat for soil health benefits within the corn-soybean-wheat cropping cycle across different soil types
