Managing Prior Converted Hydric Soils to Support Agriculture Production and Maintain Ecosystem Services: A Dedicated Outreach to the Agriculture Community

Hydric soils and prior converted soils are frequently used for agricultural production. Agriculture production and their associated agribusinesses are the chief economic sector; thus, agriculture is critical for rural prosperity. However, the continuous production of grain crops increases the risk of disease and insect outbreaks, which may lead to soil nutrient exhaustion or substantial usage of annual fertilizer amendments, loss of soil carbon, and soil structure degradation attributed primarily to tillage, decrease in biodiversity, and increased soil compaction. At the David M. Barton Agriculture Research Center at Southeast Missouri State University, our focus has been to support profitable agriculture production and environmental stewardship. We have developed a decade-long research program specializing in subsurface controlled irrigation with the gradual development of edge-of-field technologies. We further developed a constructed wetland to address nutrient pollution concerns with confined feeding operations. Pastures associated with the confined feed facility and the constructed wetland have initiated a soil health program. Our evolution has now permitted the David M. Barton Agriculture Research Center to become a regional center to showcase the relationships that support both profitable agriculture and environmental stewardship.