Understanding the variation that exists in oil characteristics is an important step in determining the possibility of developing higher value products such as renewable food, fuel, plastics, or other products.
Research Category: Agronomy and Plant Genetics
Farmable vegetative buffers
The objective of our research over the three years of support from the Minnesota Corn Research and Promotion Council (MCRPC) was to develop and test management practices to establish perennial vegetative buffers that can sustain row-crop production while adhering to the Minnesota Buffer Law mandates.
Soil Health Partnership
The Soil Health Partnership is a farmer-led initiative fostering transformation in agriculture through improved soil health, benefiting both farmer profitability and the environment. Established in 2014 by the National Corn Growers Association, the SHP built a network of working farms, including four in Minnesota, it tests, measures and shares results of advanced farm management practices that will enhance sustainability and farm economics.
Irrigation management impacts on corn yield and nitrate leaching
The environmental impact of irrigated agriculture on ground and surface water resources in Minnesota is of major concern. Better irrigation scheduling has the potential in addressing these complex agricultural environmental challenges we face in Minnesota.
Phenomics tools for corn breeding and management decisions
Measuring phenotypes is at the core of corn breeding and management recommendation practices. Due to the time and labor intensive nature of manually phenotyping plants, the data used for these efforts has typically focused only on end of season traits such as plant height, ear height, and yield.