Website and blog share crop research and engage Corn Belt farmers

Marilyn Thelen<thelen22@msu.edu>, Michigan State University Extension -

Farmers in the Corn Belt have two new Internet portals to the latest research findings on how to increase the resiliency of corn-based cropping systems under variable weather conditions.

The new Sustainable Corn website and blog are part of a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) funded project that is gathering and assessing research data from 26 field sites and thousands of farmers in the upper Midwest. The Climate and Corn-based Cropping Systems Coordinated Agricultural Project (CSCAP) brings together scientists from 10 land grant universities and a USDA Agricultural Research Laboratory.

Through collaborative research, education and outreach, the CSCAP team seeks to identify and advance farm practices and public policies that increase Midwestern crop resilience while minimizing environmental impacts in response to increasingly more erratic and extreme weather events.

The goal of the new website and blog is to bring farmers and other agricultural decision-makers the CSCAP team’s latest findings regarding extended rotations, tillage management, cover cropping systems, drainage water management, integrated pest management, weather and agriculture and nitrogen management in corn-based cropping systems in the upper Midwest.

Farmers, researchers, students, news media and others are encouraged to visit the blog weekly, comment on posts, ask questions and share field experiences, especially experiences working on the landscape to make cropping systems more resilient to extreme weather events. Michigan State University Extension says this is a great way to keep up with the latest research on management practices for corn-based cropping systems and let researchers and extension educators know what is working on farms. The dialog can help to shape research across the Midwest.   

Blog post contributors are CSCAP team scientists and extension educators from 10 universities in the upper Midwest, including Purdue University, Lincoln University, Iowa State University, Michigan State University, Ohio State University, South Dakota State University, University of Illinois, University of Minnesota, University of Missouri and the University of Wisconsin.

This article was published by Michigan State University Extension. For more information, visit https://extension.msu.edu. To have a digest of information delivered straight to your email inbox, visit https://extension.msu.edu/newsletters. To contact an expert in your area, visit https://extension.msu.edu/experts, or call 888-MSUE4MI (888-678-3464).

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