The management systems evaluation areas program: Tillage and water quality research

The Midwest Region of the United States produces 80% of the nation's corn and soybeans and is a primary user of fertilizers and pesticides. The impact of corn-soybean farming systems on water resources in the region is a concern, and as part of the President's Water Quality Initiative, the Management Systems Evaluation Areas (MSEA) Program was established in Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, and Ohio. The goal of the program is to develop research and education programs that will lead to voluntary adoption of alternative agricultural systems and technologies that will reduce adverse impacts on water resources. The focus is on corn-soybean cropping systems using various combinations of tillage and chemical management. The regional MSEA Program uses common quality assurance and quality control methods for the analysis of water samples, identical automatic weather stations, and identical methods for collection, handling, and chemical analysis of soil cores. The program also obtains temporal water quality, soilwater content and plant data at common time intervals. Data will be collected over a sufficient number of years to account for seasonal and annual variations in climate. It will be used to test state and regional hypotheses and in the evaluation and enhancement of simulation models. Excellent progress has been made during the first 3 years as evidenced by extensive research and educational activities already completed. This paper presents an overview of the tillage and water quality research being conducted as part of the MSEA Program.