A $198,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture-sponsored Conservation Innovation Grant will support ongoing University of Georgia research on cover crops and the effects of those crops on water quality and availability for row crop production.
The grant, which is administered through the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, enables scientists from the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences to join Clemson University in collaborating on this research.
Wes Porter, UGA Cooperative Extension irrigation specialist, and George Vellidis, CAES precision agriculture expert, conduct the cover crop research on the university’s Tifton campus. The research started on Sept. 21, 2017, and will continue through July 2020.
The grant funds research focused on water quality and conservation, Porter said. The UGA team wants to determine whether deep-rooted crops, specifically wheat and rye, reduce nutrient runoff and improve infiltration and soil moisture in fields.
