Manuscripts

Interseeding cover crops into late season vegetables

Tillage is common on diversified vegetable and small fruit farms of the Northeast. Tillage loosens the soil and removes vegetative cover, increasing the likelihood of erosion. To counteract erosion and increase soil organic matter, farmers sometimes plant cover crops. These are grasses and/or legumes that are not harvested for sale but are incorporated back into the soil. The growing season in the Northeast is short, and it is often logistically difficult to plant cover crops in the fall after cash crops are harvested. This means that soils are often left bare in the winter, leaving them exposed and vulnerable. To address this problem, we conducted three years of research trials in sweet corn and storage cabbage. We interseeded a diversity of cover crops commonly used in the Northeast into standing cash crops, varying (a) the timing of cover crop seeding, (b) the method of seeding, and (c) the cover crop species. To evaluate the effectiveness of interseeding, we measured yield, weed and cover crop biomass, and soil water.

Collaborators: Gladys Adu Asieduwaa (UMaine), Jason Lilley (UMaine Extension), Rachel Schattman (UMaine)

Funding: This research was funded by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, US Department of Agriculture (USDA), through the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program under Subaward LNE22-451R-AWD00000495. This research was also supported by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Hatch Project ME0-022332 through the Maine Agricultural and Forest Experiment Station, and by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service under Agreement NR233A750008C009

Manuscripts

Awards: Non-monetary motivation for conservation behavior

In this study, we used a serious game approach to explore the effect of non-monetary conservation awards on participants’ agricultural management decisions in an online experiment. Our results show that study participants were highly motivated to implement cover crops on a year-by-year basis by the fictional Ecobadge award, particularly when award thresholds were set at low levels. This exploration suggests that non-monetary awards have high potential to serve as motivational tools to increase adoption of cover crops and potentially other agricultural conservation practices, likely as part of a suite of motivational strategies.

Collaborators: Rachel Schattman (UMaine), Scott Merrill (UVM), Eric Clark (UVM), Luke Trinity (University of Victoria)

Funding: USDA Northeast Climate Hub JVA#11242306-108, USDA NIFA AFRI #2017-68002-26728. and USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture Hatch Project number ME0-1022424 through the Maine Agricultural & Forest Experiment Station.

Outreach, coaching, and payment for ecosystem services programs: Effects on soil health practices and regenerative agriculture in U.S. wheat systems

This project explores the role of privately-funded education and incentive programs, and the effects of these programs on farmer adoption of soil health and regenerative practices. Reduced tillage, cover cropping, livestock grazing cover crops, managed grazing, and diversified crop rotation all have the potential to benefit soil health, and provide ecosystem services both on and off the farm. In 2021, we will assess farmer perceptions of ecosystem service provision, as well as how these perceptions do or do not influence interest in payment for ecosystem service programs. The investigation includes a mail/internet survey of wheat farmers in Kansas and Oklahoma, in addition to a targeted series of interviews with farmers in the Cheney Watershed (Kansas). Our future findings will provide insights into farmer willingness to participate in novel ecosystem marketplaces, as well as the role of privately-supported outreach and education programs.

Collaborators: Rachel Schattman (University of Maine), Sara Kelemen (University of Maine), Andrea Basche (University of Nebraska Lincoln), Gabrielle Roesch-McNally (American Farmland Trust), Steve Rosenzweig (General Mills Inc)

Funding: General Mills Inc. Regenerative Agriculture Program

Manuscripts

Fact sheets

Water Use Efficiency in Northeast Vegetable Systems

Farmers of diversified vegetable in the Northeast often decide to turn irrigation water on and off based on how dry the soil feels to the touch. Our group is currently conducting field trials to determine the effects of this approach versus other approaches (i.e. soil moisture sensors and timers) on yield, quality, and nutrient leaching. Trials are ongoing in Vermont, and will begin in Maine in April, 2020. In addition, we are conducting focus groups with farmers throughout the Northeast to explore barriers to adoption of soil moisture sensors.

Collaborators: Rachel Schattman (UMaine), Joshua Faulkner (University of Vermont Extension), and Rebecca Maden (University of Vermont Extension), Haley Jean (UMaine)

Funding: Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (NE-SARE) award #LNE19-391r