Targeted Soil Health Improvements for Improved Conservation and Economic Outcomes

The purpose of this award is for VA Tech and project partners to demonstrate and evaluate the potential for remediating under-performing areas in eastern Virginia commodity crop fields with targeted crop rotation and intensive, multi-year and/or multi-season cover cropping. The specific objectives of this project are: (1) - Demonstrate and evaluate strategies for (a) identifying consistently under-performing areas of eastern Virginia commodity crop fields and (b) diagnosing the causes of reduced crop performance in those sub-field areas, (2) - Demonstrate and evaluate crop rotation, in particular intensive, multi-season cover cropping, as a method for remediating under-performing sub-field areas, (3) - Evaluate changes in crop yields and profitability and, where possible, soil and crop health parameters, following rotation of under-performing sub-field areas to cover crops or alternative crops, and (4) - Disseminate project results and lessons learned to a wide range of audiences, including growers, crop advisors, and government personnel.