|
9 October, 2008
The scientists of the ARS are collaborating with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service to evaluate the economic production impact of these raw materials. In places in all USA, the scientists of the ARS are evaluating how the singular and combined handling decisions influence in different agricultural production systems. In a cooperative study, scientific of the ARS in Oregon and Texas are matching two biophysical models to evaluate the impact in the environment of land handling practices in big and complex basins during a long period of time. This evaluation will also keep in mind the effects of different floor types and the conditions of use and handling of the land. The first model, called CQUESTR, simulates changes in the quantity of the organic carbon of the floor based on such factors as the climate, the farming quantity, the cultivation rotations and the elimination of cultivation residuals. With this model’s incorporation in another model call the Soil Water and Assessment Tool (SWAT), the floor scientists Hero T. Gollany and the agricultural engineer Jeffrey G. Arnold can predict the influence of handling practices of the land in the quantity of the organic carbon of the floor, the organic matter of the floor, the water, the silt, and the accumulation of agricultural chemical products. Gollany works in the The Columbia Plateau Conservation Research Center maintained by the ARS in Pendleton, Oregon, and Arnold works in the Grassland Soil and Water Research Laboratory maintained by the ARS in Temple, Texas. Another model, called PGA-BIOECON, calculates variations among three important objectives: the profitability, the water quality, and the production effectiveness. The hydrologist Gerald Whittaker who works in the Forage Seed and Cereal Research maintained by the ARS in Corvallis, Oregon, helped to develop the pattern. Since the pattern can work in many scales and with multiple objectives, its results provides information for a diverse group of users, individual farmers and the people that establish the national policies. The model of Whittaker projects information about a variety of complex factors, providing data that could allow the users to make the best handling decisions in order to achieve their objectives. Read more on this investigation in the ‘Agricultural Research ‘ magazine of October 2008.¼br /> ARS is a scientific investigations agency of the USDA. By Laura McGuinnis Source: ARS USDA Deje un comentario |
Last articles
|
