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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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LTAR Research Sites

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.

  • Archbold Biological Station (ABS), Venus, FL
  • Cook Agronomy Farm (CAF), Pullman, WA
  • Central Mississippi River Basin (CMRB), Columbia, MO
  • Central Plains Experimental Range (CPER), Cheyenne, WY; Fort Collins, CO; Nunn, CO
  • Eastern Corn Belt (ECB), Columbus, OH; West Lafayette, IN
  • Gulf Atlantic Coastal Range (GACP), Tifton, GA
  • Great Basin (GB), Boise, ID; Burns, OR
  • Jornada Experimental Range (JER), Las Cruces, NM
  • Kellogg Biological Station (KBS), southwestern MI
  • Lower Mississippi River Basin (LMRB), Oxford, MS; AR; LA; MO
  • Northern Plains (NP), Mandan, ND
  • Platte River-High Plains Aquifer (PRHP), Lincoln, NE
  • Southern Plains (SP), El Reno, OK
  • Texas Gulf (TG), Riesel, TX
  • Upper Chesapeake Bay (UCB), University Park, PA
  • Upper Mississippi River Basin (UMRB), Ames, IA; MN; WI
  • Walnut Gulch Experimental Watershed (WGEW), Tucson, AZ; Tombstone, AZ
  • Lower Chesapeake Bay (LCB), Beltsville, MD

    • Datasets

    619 datasets

    Manuresheds: Redesigning crop-livestock agriculture for sustainable intensification

      The Long-Term Agroecosystem Research (LTAR) network is exploring the concept of the “manureshed,” the manure-spreadable land in the geographic, environmental, and social radius of a confined livestock operation. To better understand opportunities for expanding manuresheds in the United States, we identified the nationwide, county-level pattern of livestock distribution, manure excess, and crop assimilation of manure nutrients.

      US Department of Agriculture Soil Climate Analysis Network (SCAN) site 2027 data, Little River, Tift County, Georgia

      NAL Geospatial Catalog
        This dataset contains air temperature, relative humidity, precipitation, solar radiation, wind speed, soil temperature, and soil moisture data from the Soil Climate Analysis Network (SCAN) site 2027, "Little River," located in Tift County, Georgia. The dataset links to a National Resources Conservation Service data request form, from which available data can be queried. The data collection site is at an elevation of 350 feet; data has been continuously collected there since 1999-05-19.

        Walnut Gulch Experimental Watershed, Arizona (Meteorologic)

        NAL Geospatial Catalog
          The Southwest Watershed Research Center (SWRC) has operated Walnut Gulch Experimental Watershed (WGEW), located in the vicinity of Tombstone, Arizona, for more than 50 years. A 17 year (1990-2006) meteorological and soil hydrology database has been established by the USDA Agricultural Research Service, SWRC.

          Upper Washita River Experimental Watersheds: Nutrient Water Quality Data

          NAL Geospatial Catalog
            Climate variability, changing land use and management, and dynamic policy environments are the main reasons why long-term water quality data sets are needed to understand and predict possible water quality outcomes to alternative future scenarios. Such data sets were acquired by the USDA-ARS in three watersheds in Oklahoma: the Southern Great Plains Research Watershed (SGPRW), the Little Washita River Experimental Watershed (LWREW), and the Fort Cobb Reservoir Experimental Watershed (FCREW).

            Little Washita River Experimental Watershed, Oklahoma (Flow)

            NAL Geospatial Catalog
              Over the past five decades, the United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) have collected stream flow, reservoir, and groundwater data in the Fort Cobb Reservoir Experimental Watershed (FCREW) and Southern Great Plains Research Watershed (SGPRW), which includes the Little Washita River Experimental Watershed (LWREW) in central Oklahoma.

              The RHEM Web Tool

                RHEM is designed to provide sound, science-based technology to model and predict runoff and erosion rates on rangelands and to assist in assessing rangeland conservation practice effects. RHEM is a newly conceptualized, process-based erosion prediction tool specific for rangeland application, based on fundamentals of infiltration, hydrology, plant science, hydraulics and erosion mechanics.