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Forecast and Assessment of Cropping sysTemS (FACTS; 2015-present)

FACTS is an ongoing project developed to forecast and evaluate real-time soil-crop dynamics in specific ISU fields. Predictions and measurements will be frequently updated as new information becomes available during the growing season.

What we do:

  • During the growing season we provide real-time measurements and forecasts for weather, soil water and nitrogen, crop water and nitrogen, yield predictions, crop stage and heat/frost stress.
  • Before/after the growing season we benchmark production, economic, and environmental performance, estimate the yield gaps, and perform what-if scenario analysis to identify management practices with the highest profits and lowest environmental impacts.

Why we do it:

  • To provide quantitative answers to questions that farmers commonly ask such as what is going to be the yield this year, how much nitrogen is in the soil today, do I have enough soil water for the next few days, what if I had used more nitrogen, planted more seeds, gotten more rain.
  • To improve the science behind predictive tools, ground-truth predictions, and explore different approaches to accurately forecasting yields.
Principal Investigators
Professor
Pioneer Hi-Bred Agronomy Professor
Photo Credit: Kathryn Gamble
Office:
1216 Agron
Phone:
(515) 294 7413
Email:
sarchont@iastate.edu
Professor and Lead, Iowa Nitrogen Initiative
William T. Frankenberger Professorship in Soil Science
mike_cropped
Office:
2104l Agronomy 716 Farm House Ln
Phone:
(515) 294-3963
Email:
castelmj@iastate.edu
Associate Professor
Extension Cropping Systems Specialist
mark_licht
Office:
2104M Agronomy Hall
Phone:
(515) 294-0877
Email:
lichtma@iastate.edu
Associate Professor
Andrew Vanloocke (Christopher Gannon/Iowa State University)
Office:
3015 Agronomy 716 Farm House Ln
Phone:
(515) 294-8398
Email:
andyvanl@iastate.edu