This project uses established experiments, each with a unique crop rotation and management history, to look at long-term impacts of changes in soil microbiology on soil health. The three sites are the Long-Term Agroecological Research (LTAR) Experiment established in 1998 near Greenfield, the USDA-ARS Organic Water Quality site on the ISU Agronomy Research Farm in Boone County in its third year, and the Organic Reduced-Tillage site in its seventh year, also on the ISU Agronomy Farm. Additional soil and water samples will be collected as part of this grant, as well as development of Best Management Practices guides based on research results.
Professor Kathleen Delate serves a split appointment in Iowa State’s Agronomy and Horticulture departments. Her research lab conducts projects across Iowa on ISU research farms and on-farm trials. They include organic crop production with various crop rotations; organic soybeans following CRP land; variety trials; production of organic herbs (St. John's Wort and catnip), fruits (grapes and apples) and vegetables (peppers, tomatoes, edamame soybeans and sweet corn). The lab also maintains long-term agroecological plots that compare conventional and organic systems. She has undergraduate and graduate degrees in agronomy and horticultural science from the University of Florida and a Ph.D. in agricultural ecology from the University of California-Berkeley. Prior to coming to ISU in 1997, she worked at the University of Hawaii.
Email: kdelate@iastate.edu
Cynthia Cambardella, soil scientist, USDA National Labor for Agriculture and the Environment, Ames
Matt Bakker, microbiologist, USDA National Labor for Agriculture and the Environment, Ames
Ann Johanns, farm management specialist, Iowa State University Extension and Outreach