A tool for soil conservation education
Excerpt
WHEN the Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) was initiated in 1985, the goal was to develop new soil erosion prediction technology for use in soil and water conservation planning and assessment. About the same time, another Agricultural Research Service initiative, Project EXTRA (Expert systems for Technology and Resource conservation in Agriculture), was starting to develop computer software as a way of providing current information and technology to farm managers and other people working in agriculture and related industries.
RESMAN (4), which was developed as a part of Project EXTRA, is a computer-based decision support program for crop residue management. RESMAN combines the current information available for residue decomposition in the field with the influence of tillage and other operations on residue burial. It is designed to aid the land user in selecting operations that will leave crop residue on the soil surface for erosion protection.
Developed as a tool for exploring the concept of residue management. RESMAN deals with one year's management and a single crop residue at a time. Based on crop type, tillage practices, and climatic conditions, the computer program estimates the amount of residue remaining on a field after planting. If the predicted amount …
Footnotes
D. E. Stott is a soil microbiologist at the National Soil Erosion Research Laboratory, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907.
- Copyright 1991 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
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