Assessment of the Condition of Agricultural Lands in Six Mid‐Atlantic States

Abstract

Indicators of the condition and sustainability of agricultural lands covering 5.5 million ha in six mid‐Atlantic states were measured in 1994 and 1995. The primary objective was to collect baseline information against which future data from the region can be compared. Soil samples and questionnaire data were collected from a random sample of 293 sites. Indicators addressed productivity, management at the agroecosystem scale, and management for the landscape scale on annual crop land. Crop yields were almost 30% higher than those of the 1980s, with a mean observed to expected yield index of 1.27. The mean soil quality index showed moderate quality for supporting plant growth. Non‐tilled sites, which were mostly hay, had greater microbial biomass than tilled sites. Just over half of the annual crop land was covered by rotation plans; hay fields accounted for most of the land where one crop was grown continuously. Hay showed a lower use of applied nitrogen than seed crops. Integrated pest management was practiced on less than 20% of annual crop land. Twenty‐seven different annual crops were grown in the region, with hay (all types) the dominant crop. Less than 20% of the land where pesticides were applied had high to moderately high potential for pesticides leaching into ground water. This information provides a baseline for long‐term monitoring of agricultural lands in the region.

Soil Quality at a National Scale in New Zealand

“…The sites selected provided a good range of soil and land‐use comparisons, but caution is needed in aggregating such data into a national overview because of the sampling bias. Such bias can be partially overcome by applying weighting factors based on the area extent of the soil or land use relative to the sampling frequency (Hellkamp et al, 2000).…”

“…Boehm and Anderson (1997) and Wander and Bollero (1999) found differences in soil properties due to tillage management on farms under different crop management systems, despite a range of soil classes and geographic distribution. Hellkamp et al (2000) grouped sites by land use and management classes, and reported proportions of sites meeting target criteria. The proportion of cropland (12–31%) in the North American states (Brejda et al, 2000a,b; Hellkamp et al, 2000) was very much greater than in New Zealand (<1%).…”

“…Examples are Wander and Bollero (1999), who compared soil quality of 36 arable farms in Illinois, and Boehm and Anderson (1997), who measured soil quality on 20 farms under three crop management systems in Saskatchewan. Hellkamp et al (2000) surveyed 293 sites in six U.S. Mid‐Atlantic states with 12% of the sites on cropped land. In another large‐scale study in the U.S. central and southern High Plains by Brejda et al (2000b), 49% of the land supported intensive livestock production, and 31% was under some form of arable cropland.…”

Distinguishing Sensitivity of Free-Living Soil Nematode Genera to Physical and Chemical Disturbances

“…Criteria of successful ecological indicators are provided by Neher et al (1995) and a conceptual framework for monitoring and assessment of agricultural lands by Hess et al (2000) and Hellkamp et al (2000). Three key characteristics of nematodes to meet these criteria are established.…”

Responses of nematode community structure to pesticide treatments in an arid ecosystem of the Negev Desert

“…In field studies using selective chemical inhibitors such as broad-spectrum nematicides and fungicides, changes in nematode community structure, as well as the relationships between various groups of soil organisms, such as competition and population size, were found to vary (Santos & Whitford, 1981;Yardim & Edwards, 1998;Edwards, 2000). The importance of plant production in agro-system increased interest in studies focusing on pesticide-nematode interactions (Neher et al, 1995;Hellkamp et al, 2000;Hess et al, 2000). Monitoring and assessment of soil on a national or regional scale involve sampling production farm fields affected by multiple types of disturbances as well as large natural environmental variations.…”