RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Navigating spatial and temporal complexity in developing a long-term land use database for an agricultural watershed
JF Journal of Soil and Water Conservation
FD Soil and Water Conservation Society
SP 288
OP 296
DO 10.2489/jswc.70.5.288
VO 70
IS 5
A1 Veith, T.L.
A1 Richards, J.E.
A1 Goslee, S.C.
A1 Collick, A.S.
A1 Bryant, R.B.
A1 Miller, D.A.
A1 Bills, B.W.
A1 Buda, A.R.
A1 Sebring, R.L.
A1 Kleinman, P.J.A.
YR 2015
UL http://www.jswconline.org/content/70/5/288.abstract
AB No comprehensive protocols exist for the collection, standardization, and storage of agronomic management information into a database that preserves privacy, maintains data uncertainty, and translates everyday decisions into quantitative values. This paper describes the development of a relational database intended to meet the agronomic and ecosystem interests of potential users from a long-term experimental watershed located in Pennsylvania, United States' Ridge and Valley physiographic province. We discuss the type and complexity of the data, which has historically been documented in free-form surveys collected through discussion with farmers. We detail the development process of a spatially and temporally explicit land management database and discuss the challenges in standardizing, without generalizing, 13 years of historic free-form data for 13 farms and 315 fields. Finally, we provide examples at field, farm, and watershed scales of how this database serves as a foundation for other data sets and modeling efforts that support research aimed at helping farmers meet long-term production, land stewardship, and water quality goals.