Sustainable Corn CAP Research Data (USDA-NIFA Award No. 2011-68002-30190)

The Sustainable Corn CAP (Cropping Systems Coordinated Agricultural Project: Climate Change, Mitigation, and Adaptation in Corn-based Cropping Systems) was a multi-state transdisciplinary project supported by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (Award No. 2011-68002-30190). The field research experiments examined corn-based cropping systems in the U.S. Corn Belt region and potential farm-level adaptation practices to increase resilience to current and predicted impacts of climate change. Research data were collected from 2011 to 2015 at research sites in 8 states: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin. The research coverage area spanned 95.3°W to 81.9°W and 38.5°N to 44.7°N. Research sites encompassed a varying set of management practices including crop rotation, cover crop, tillage, drainage, and nitrogen management, with several sites having landscape position incorporated as an additional treatment. These treatments were typically arranged in a randomized complete block design as a complete factorial or main-split plot block with 3 to 4 replications per site. It should be noted that none of the sites were identical in terms of treatment structure and data collected as sites were a combination of previously and newly established experiments that aligned with project research goals. The dataset contain agronomic, soil, water, greenhouse gas, crop disease, and pest data collected from 30 sites. Standardized protocols were developed and followed by the project team for estimating C, N, and water footprints of corn production in the region and performing baseline monitoring. Variables measured during the five-year period include: grain and biomass yield, C and N content in crop grain and vegetation, soil water moisture and temperature, C and N concentration in soil, greenhouse gas fluxes, drainage water quality and quantity, groundwater table and others. Hourly or sub-hourly weather data are also provided for each location. In addition, the dataset includes site description (e.g. site location, plot area, soil type), field management information (e.g. planting, harvesting, tillage and fertilizer application dates, seeding rate, fertilizer and pesticide type and application rate), and experimental design (e.g. plot layouts, experimental treatments, variables measured). Users can query and download data from the Sustainable Corn CAP research web-accessible application. In addition to the data, the web tool also provides a list of over 100 referred journal articles as well as theses and dissertations related to the dataset. Other project-related materials such as fact sheets, videos, and extension publications are available for free download through the Iowa State University Extension and Outreach website.