PI: Laura Bowling (AGRY); Co-PIs: Shaun Casteel, Keith Cherkauer, Katy Mazer, Daniel Quinn, Juan Sesmero; Funding: USDA-NIFA
The overall goal of this research is to ecologically intensify corn and soybean management using existing depressional storage of drainage water for irrigation and fertigation to maximize crop production and profitability while enhancing nutrient use efficiency and minimizing downstream impacts. The team will accomplish this by: 1) monitoring the effectiveness of drip fertigation using DWR, 2) monitoring the potential for wetland enhancement using water level management, 3) quantifying the watershed-scale water quality and quantity benefits using distributed water storage, 4) evaluating the economic feasibility of using DWR for supplemental fertigation, and 5) communicating and disseminating findings to advance knowledge on eco-intensification using subsurface drip fertigation from DWR.