CSU researchers awarded $1M to study crop rotation strategies for dry climates

FORT COLLINS  — A team of Colorado State University researchers has received a $1 million grant from the Natural Resources Conservation Service to study how crop rotations and management can improve soils through the retention of carbon and water in drier growing regions of the Great Plains.

The NRCS is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture that works with landowners to help them conserve and improve their natural resources.

Diversifying crop rotations and using cover crops has helped maintain yields and reduce environmental impacts in other parts of the United States by helping to improve soil quality. The CSU study will examine which rotation strategies are best suited to Colorado, Kansas and western Nebraska, which are much drier than other growing regions in the country.

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Meagan Schipanski, an assistant professor of soil and crop sciences at CSU, will lead the study.

“This study came about when farmers and producers came to us,” Schipanski said in a release from CSU. “The national buzz about cover crops and crop rotations hasn’t really included a discussion of how those techniques can be used in our climate, where we have less water available.”

Schipanski so far has six farmers on board to take part in the study and is aiming to grow that number to 10.

“On-farm research is an essential component of this study,” Schipanski said. “We would like to utilize a wide spectrum of farmers from across the region to help validate our recommendations for new crop rotation practices.”

More information on the study can be found can b found on the NRCS website.