An official website of the United States government
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
Data from the following LTAR sites are presented. They are related to topics such as agricultural sustainability, climate change, ecosystem services, and natural resource conservation at the watershed or landscape scale.
The Kellogg Biological Station (KBS) Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Data Catalog is a collection of data resources, including data sets, aerial photos, satellite imagery, GIS data, and national LTER network-wide data.
This dataset includes total carbon and total nitrogen measured for plants from the LTER Main Site and the Successional and Forested sites. Total C and N are analyzed at peak biomass for a given treatment.
This dataset gives yields from the European Corn Borer Study. The ECB study is a long-term study at the Main Site complex, in which the European Corn Borer is controlled by biological vs. chemical means.
County, state, and regional yields are not a product of KBS LTER research, but are scavenged from public sources such as http://www.nass.usda.gov/Data_and_Statistics/Quick_Stats/index.asp and made available here for the convenience of KBS research
Farmers are surveyed to understand their perception of and response to climate change. This data forms part of the basis for Stuart, D., R. L. Schewe, and M. McDermott. 2012.
Annual stand count data from the Main site Agronomic Plots T1 through T4. original data source http://lter.kbs.msu.edu/datasets/33
This dataset includes information about the LTER main site treatments, agronomic practices carried out on the treatments and approved site use requests.
Measurement of soil inorganic nitrogen began in 1989 for all treatments on the LTER Main Site and 1993 on the Successional and Forest sites.
Trace gases (nitrous oxide, methane, and carbon dioxide) have been measured on the LTER Main Site since 1991 and on Successional and Forest sites since 1993.
Plants, soil, water and microbial samples are archived. Small quantities are available for research by contacting: Plant and Soil Samples — Stacey Vanderwulp Water Samples — Steve Hamilton Microbial Samples — Tom Schmidt
