THE MANAGEMENT-SYSTEMS EVALUATION AREAS PROGRAM - TILLAGE AND WATER-QUALITY RESEARCH

The Midwest Region of the United States produces 80% of the nation's c om and soybeans and is a primary user of fertilizers and pesticides. T he impact of com-soybean farming systems on water resources in the reg ion is a concern, and as part of the President's Water Quality Initiat ive, the Management Systems Evaluation Areas (MSEA) Program was establ ished in Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, and Ohio. The goal of th e program is to develop research and education programs that will lead to voluntary adoption of alternative agricultural systems and technol ogies that will reduce adverse impacts on water resources. The focus i s on com-soybean cropping systems using various combinations of tillag e and chemical management. The regional MSEA Program uses common quali ty assurance and quality control methods for the analysis of water sam ples, identical automatic weather stations, and identical methods for collection, handling, and chemical analysis of soil cores. The program also obtains temporal water quality, soilwater content and plant data at common time intervals. Data will be collected over a sufficient nu mber of years to account for seasonal and annual variations in climate . It will be used to test state and regional hypotheses and in the eva luation and enhancement of simulation models. Excellent progress has b een made during the first 3 years as evidenced by extensive research a nd educational activities already completed. This paper presents an ov erview of the tillage and water quality research being conducted as pa rt of the MSEA Program.