Rapid Response Flux Site – Corteva Range and Pasture (US-CN1)

AmeriFlux partners with Corteva Agriscience to study carbon balance in pastures

Coleman Cattle Farm. Photo credit: Courtland Kelly, Scott Flynn

While March is still wintery in many parts of the country, on the Coleman ranch near Peculiar, MO, the grass is already greening-up in preparation for a productive season. This ranch is part of a multi-year study led by researchers at Corteva Agriscience to study the effects of rotational grazing on productivity and soil carbon. Rotational grazing differs from conventional, continuous grazing, in that pastures are subdivided into smaller paddocks where cattle are only allowed to graze for a few days before being moved to the next paddock. While the higher stocking density may affect some specific grazing behavior to encourage weed control, the biggest benefit is in the rest periods and the more uniform grazing of the vegetation.  Resting allows the pasture grasses to recover from grazing, reducing plant stress and increasing productivity, while the uniformity of forage removal keeps a greater proportion of plants in an actively growing state. This increased productivity could have important effects on soil carbon storage and overall environmental health. However, because the changes are relatively slow, it can take years or even decades to be able to detect the effects of adopting this type of grazing practice.

This is where eddy covariance can add value.

Corteva researchers partnered with the AmeriFlux network to deploy a pair of eddy covariance towers to compare the net ecosystem exchange in two neighboring grazing pastures, one with conventional grazing, and one with rotational grazing. By looking at short-term carbon balances, the differences in the management systems may be detectable in a single season. As interest grows in the potential soil carbon stored in grazing systems, eddy covariance may be a powerful tool to indicate improvement earlier than traditional soil sampling. However, because of the multiple paddocks and animal presence, this system presents some challenges for the eddy flux framework. The team at Corteva is currently working on data analysis for the first two seasons of deployment to understand overall carbon balances and compare the two systems. This multi-year effort will help improve our understanding of grazing systems and best-practices for using the eddy covariance approach in managed lands. This work is a crucial step to increasing adoption of improved grazing management by expanding options for robust carbon measurement and unlocking value for ranchers in various ecosystem service markets.

AmeriFlux Site US-CN1; a Rapid Response System located in the Coleman Cattle Farm. Photo credit: Courtland Kelly, Scott Flynn

Contact: 

Courtland Kelly (courtland.kelly<at>corteva<dot>com) or Scott Flynn (scott.flynn<at>corteva<dot>com)