The work of the measurement team of the Sustainable Dairy project focuses on developing a network of monitoring sites; conducting experiments related to enteric emissions from cows and barns; manure handling and processing; and soil level fluxes; and establishing a data repository for all of the collected measurements.

Team members are interested in understanding how variations in management practices and regional climate differences affect carbon, nitrogen, water, and energy fluxes across the dairy production system. This basic knowledge is an essential foundation for strategies toward greenhouse gas mitigation, system resilience, and calibration and validation of models that will be incorporated into a life cycle assessment for dairy production systems.

In order to gather the analytical data required, researchers are developing a network of monitoring sites, conducting experiments related to enteric emissions from cows and barns, assessing manure handling and processing, measuring soil level fluxes, and establishing a data repository.

The USDA-ARS Dairy Forage Research Center (USDA DFRC) in Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin serves as the primary location for research related to enteric emissions as well as manure handling and processing. Additional research is being conducted at Penn State University's Agronomy Farm and at Cornell University's Musgrove Research Farm.

Soil measurement research studies are being conducted at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, the University of Wisconsin - Madison Arlington Research Station, the USDA-ARS DFRC in Prairie du Sac, WI, the USDA Marshfield Agricultural Research Station (MARS) in Marshfield, Wisconsin, the Penn State Agronomy Farm at Rock Springs, PA, and at Cornell University's Musgrove Research Farm.

For more information, please contact Mark Powell, USDA DFRC (Mark.Powell@ars.usda.gov)