Food, Fuel and Fiber
Corn is essential in America. Every year, 12.7 billion bushels of corn and 104 million tons of corn silage are produced in the United States alone. The corn-based cropping system is an important economic engine, producing food, feed, fuel, and fiber.
However, like all production and manufacturing, this system inherently creates some unintended environmental effects, impacting water quality and producing of greenhouse gases. Combining these elements with wider increased climate uncertainty results in added risk to agricultural production and our environment.
The Project
This five-year project assesses the environmental, economic and social impacts of long-term shifting weather patterns and increasing climate variability, and how these affect the Midwest's crop management systems.
A transdisciplinary team is working together to focus on mitigation and adaptation of the corn-based cropping system. A network of 23 sites across the region provides baseline measurements on greenhouse gases, carbon, nitrogen and water usage.
Project participants are applying physical, climatic, and socio-economic models to the data to derive its "real world" implications. Using these models, team members study the social, economic and environmental impacts and work directly with producers and stakeholders.
