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). Research experiments were located through the U.S. Corn Belt and examined farm-level adaptation practices for corn-based cropping systems 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 with 3 to 4 replications per site. It should be noted that none of the sites were identical in terms of treatment structure or data collected as sites were a combination of previously and newly established experiments that aligned with project research goals.

The dataset contains 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 identifiers, experimental treatments, variables measured).

Users can query and download data from the Sustainable Corn CAP research web-accessible application. At this website, users can also access site-specific weather data and select the time period of interest for water data (here they are uploaded at a daily interval). In addition to the research 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 and project reports through the Iowa State University Digital Repository.

A complete list of refereed journals, theses, dissertations, and reports published by the Sustainable Corn CAP project team members can be accessed at https://datateam.agron.iastate.edu/cscap/

• Resource Title: Sustainable Corn CAP Research Data .

  File Name: Sustainable_Corn_Research_Data_2011-2015.xlsx

  Resource Description: Data file contains: Plot Identifiers, Agronomic, Soil, GHG, IPM, Water_Tile Flow, Water_Water Quality, Water_Water Table, Field Operations, Pesticides, Site Metadata, Drainage Control Structure Mngt, and Notes.




• Resource Title: Sustainable Corn Research Data 2011-2015 Data Dictionary.

  File Name: Sustainable_Corn_Research_Data_2011-2015_DataDictionary.csv