Cotton tillage and planting guidelines (1994)

Tillage operations performed prior to planting cotton should make a firm, well-drained seedbed that will provide a warm environment for seed germination and vigorous seedling growth. Since cotton is a semi-tropical, perennial plant, it grows very slowly early in the growing season compared to other Missouri crops such as corn and soybeans. This publication gives tilage and planting guidelines for cotton in order to help farmers provide a seedbed that will allow the young seedling to get off to the best start possible.David W. Albers (State Extension Specialist-Cotton, Delta Center), David L. Reinbott (Area Farm Management Specialist, Scott County)New March 199

Cotton tillage and planting guidelines

"Original author: David W. Albers, former State Extension Specialist-Cotton Support for the tillage research referenced in this publication is in part from the Missouri State Support Committee and Cotton Incorporated, using grower check-off dollars.""Tillage operations performed prior to planting cotton should make a firm, well-drained seedbed that will provide a warm environment for seed germination and vigorous seedling growth. Since cotton is a semi-tropical, perennial plant, it grows very slowly early in the growing season compared to other Missouri crops such as corn and soybeans. The slow, early growth nature of this crop requires a grower to provide a seedbed that will allow the young seedling to get off to the best start possible. With new equipment, especially planters and cultivators, developed to handle high-residue conditions, it is possible to plant cotton into stale beds or fields that have received minimal tillage. Clean-till approaches are still the predominant tillage system for cotton, but using fewer tillage operations is one way that cotton growers have found to reduce costs yet produce yields equal to those in conventional, clean-till systems."--First page.David L. Reinbott (Area Farm Management Specialist, Scott County), Gene Stevens (Extension Professor, Agronomy)Taken from the Extension website: Reviewed Sept. 201

Missouri crop-share leasing patterns (1999)

This guide focuses on one specific rental agreement, the crop-share lease. This guide uses producer survey information to determine how tenants and landowners share the costs of production under 50-50 and 2/3- 1/3 lease agreements. A 2/3- 1/3 crop-share arrangement apportions two-thirds of the crop to the tenant and one-third to the landowner.New 7/99/5M

Crop-share leases in Missouri

"Original authors: Joe Parcell, Ray Massey and David Reinbott"--Page 4."Producers expand their base of operations by purchasing or renting additional land. Some producers may prefer leasing farmland as opposed to purchasing due to a lack of capital, to reserve capital for other purposes, a shortage of land for sale, or the personal belief that leasing farmland is more profitable than owning it. The three most common types of farmland lease agreements in Missouri are cash rentals, flexible-cash leases and crop-share leases. This guide presents information on crop-share leases."--First page.Revised by Ben Brown (Senior Research Associate, Agriculture Business and Policy Extension), Drew Kientzy (Student Research Assistant). Original authors: Joe Parcell, Ray Massey and David Reinbott.Includes bibliographical reference

Carbon-sensitive pedotransfer functions for plant available water

Currently accepted pedotransfer functions show negligible effect of management-induced changes to soil organic carbon (SOC) on plant available water holding capacity (θAWHC), while some studies show the ability to substantially increase θAWHC through management. The Soil Health Institute\u27s North America Project to Evaluate Soil Health Measurements measured water content at field capacity using intact soil cores across 124 long-term research sites that contained increases in SOC as a result of management treatments such as reduced tillage and cover cropping. Pedotransfer functions were created for volumetric water content at field capacity (θFC) and permanent wilting point (θPWP). New pedotransfer functions had predictions of θAWHC that were similarly accurate compared with Saxton and Rawls when tested on samples from the National Soil Characterization database. Further, the new pedotransfer functions showed substantial effects of soil calcareousness and SOC on θAWHC. For an increase in SOC of 10 g kg–1 (1%) in noncalcareous soils, an average increase in θAWHC of 3.0 mm 100 mm–1 soil (0.03 m3 m–3) on average across all soil texture classes was found. This SOC related increase in θAWHC is about double previous estimates. Calcareous soils had an increase in θAWHC of 1.2 mm 100 mm–1 soil associated with a 10 g kg–1 increase in SOC, across all soil texture classes. New equations can aid in quantifying benefits of soil management practices that increase SOC and can be used to model the effect of changes in management on drought resilience

Linking soil microbial community structure to potential carbon mineralization: A continental scale assessment of reduced tillage

Potential carbon mineralization (Cmin) is a commonly used indicator of soil health, with greater Cmin values interpreted as healthier soil. While Cmin values are typically greater in agricultural soils managed with minimal physical disturbance, the mechanisms driving the increases remain poorly understood. This study assessed bacterial and archaeal community structure and potential microbial drivers of Cmin in soils maintained under various degrees of physical disturbance. Potential carbon mineralization, 16S rRNA sequences, and soil characterization data were collected as part of the North American Project to Evaluate Soil Health Measurements (NAPESHM). Results showed that type of cropping system, intensity of physical disturbance, and soil pH influenced microbial sensitivity to physical disturbance. Furthermore, 28% of amplicon sequence variants (ASVs), which were important in modeling Cmin, were enriched under soils managed with minimal physical disturbance. Sequences identified as enriched under minimal disturbance and important for modeling Cmin, were linked to organisms which could produce extracellular polymeric substances and contained metabolic strategies suited for tolerating environmental stressors. Understanding how physical disturbance shapes microbial communities across climates and inherent soil properties and drives changes in Cmin provides the context necessary to evaluate management impacts on standardized measures of soil microbial activity

Missouri Crop-Share Leasing Patterns

This guide focuses on one specific rental agreement, the crop-share lease. This guide uses producer survey information to determine how tenants and landowners share the costs of production under 50-50 and 2/3-1/3 lease agreements. A 2/3-1/3 crop-share arrangement apportions two-thirds of the crop to the tenant and one-third to the landowner

Bioenergy Research and Education at MU Research Centers [abstract]

Only abstract of poster available.Track III: Energy InfrastructureThe MU College of Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources (CAFNR) research centers have began research studies and educational demonstrations to showcase their vast differences in topography and agricultural diversity. In central and northern Missouri the Bradford Research Center (BREC) and the Greenly Research Center have studies underway that examines soil nutrient and soil properties changes from various cropping systems. These include, comparing the removal of corn grain only and grain plus stover to warm season grasses such as switchgrass, big bluestem and Miscanthus. The Horticulture and Agroforestry Research Center (HARC) has examined 80 different genetic selections of cottonwood for biomass yield and is examining the energy production potential of warm season grasses in agroforestry type settings. Sweet sorghum is being examined by researchers at the Delta Center and BREC as an annual biofuel crop on poorer soils that normally would not support high corn yields. A by-product of corn ethanol production, dried distillers grains, is being examined for further use in livestock production. Construction plans are underway at the Graves-Chapple Center in Northwest Missouri and BREC for their new conference buildings as alternative energy and energy conservation demonstration and education facilities. At several other research centers demonstration gardens of biofuel crops are on display for field days and at each FFA Field Day in 2008 there was at least one presentation dedicated to biofuels and alternative energy sources