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Long Term Agroecosystem Research Overview

In pursuit of sustainable U.S. agriculture, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) launched the Long-Term Agroecosystem (LTAR) network. The LTAR network is composed of 18 locations distributed across the contiguous United States working together to address national and local agricultural priorities and advance the sustainable intensification of U.S. agriculture.

The LTAR network represents a range of major U.S. agroecosystems, including annual row cropping systems, grazinglands, and integrated systems representative of roughly 49 percent of cereal production, 30 percent of forage production, and 32 percent of livestock production in the United States. Furthermore, the LTAR sites span geographic and climatic gradients representing a variety of challenges and opportunities to U.S. agriculture.

The LTAR network uses experimentation and coordinated observations to develop a national roadmap for the sustainable intensification of agricultural production. While the LTAR network is a new network, experimentation and measurements began at some LTAR sites more than 100 years ago, while other locations started their research as recently as 19 years ago.

A primary goal of LTAR is to develop and to share science-based findings with producers and stakeholders. Tools, technologies, and management practices resulting from LTAR network science will be applied to the sustainable intensification of U.S. agriculture. Technical innovations, including new production techniques, genetics, and sensor infrastructure applied at the farm/ranch level can increase the capacity for adaptive management, reduce time and operational costs, and increase profits and the quality of life for producers.

For full list of LTAR sites, view the sites matrix at https://ltar.ars.usda.gov/sites/.

For more information about the LTAR network visit: https://ltar.ars.usda.gov

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Datasets

8 datasets

US Department of Agriculture Soil Climate Analysis Network (SCAN) site 2195 data, CMRB LTAR-MO, Columbia, Missouri

NAL Geospatial Catalog
    This dataset contains air temperature, relative humidity, precipitation, solar radiation, wind speed, soil temperature, and soil moisture data from Soil Climate Analysis Network (SCAN) site 2195 in Boone County, Missouri. This SCAN site is at the Long-Term Agroecosystem Research (LTAR) project's Central Mississippi River Basin (CMRB)'s location in Columbia, Missouri.

    Central Mississippi River Basin LTAR Dataset: NFARM, Inorganic N, & C Production, 2016-2018

      In situ denitrification rates in intact soil cores from the Central Mississippi River Basin (CMRB) LTAR site in MO quantified by directly measuring dinitrogen (N2) and nitrous oxide (N2O) production via the Nitrogen-Free Air Recirculation Method (N-FARM) from 2016-2018. 10-day laboratory incubations provided estimates of ancillary soil data, including microbial respiration and potential net N mineralization and nitrification.

      Long-Term Agroecosystem Research Network regions, 2018 version

        The Long-Term Agroecosystem Research Network, consisting of 18+ research locations, is conducting research on the sustainable intensification of agroecosystems. To enable coordinated network level research, a spatial framework is required to facilitate analysis. This dataset contains a geodatabase of three new maps describing regional boundaries for the LTAR Network titled "Long-Term Agroecosystem Research Network regions, 2018 version.”