Duration: 10/01/2025 to 09/30/2030

Administrative Advisor(s):

NIFA Reps:

Non-Technical Summary

Forage crops and grasslands provide essential services in US agriculture and society. They serve as the base of the nation’s ruminant and equine livestock production system and are the primary tools for broad-based resource conservation, cellulosic bioenergy feedstocks, and other value-added industries. Since 1966, this committee has been an essential mechanism of communication to stimulate cooperation among forage scientists within and beyond the North Central region. Our objectives for 2025-2030 include: 1) to discuss and critique current research concerning forage and grassland ecophysiology, management, and livestock integration among participating institutions and guests while fostering cooperative efforts and professional development, 2) to identify high-priority management challenges related to physiological and ecosystem-level aspects of forages, grasslands, and forage-livestock interactions, and develop collaborative research opportunities to address those challenges across the diverse environments of participating institutions, and 3) to cooperate to develop effective educational and outreach materials that communicate advances in the management and understanding of forage-livestock systems to stakeholders throughout the region, nation, and world. The wide diversity of forage species and their physiological and compositional characteristics offer opportunities for matching adapted species and management practices with a range of landscapes and environmental conditions to accomplish production and environmental improvement goals.  Ongoing benefits of our collaboration include: (i) program alignment to maximize complementarity and minimize duplication of resources; (ii) multi-disciplinary/ multi-institutional research proposals; (iii) improved classroom, professional, and outreach education resources at all partner institutions, and mentoring of new investigators in our field.

Statement of Issues and Justification

Forage crops and grasslands provide essential services in US agriculture and society. Forages and grassland crops are the base of the nation’s ruminant and equine livestock production system and the primary tools for broad-based resource conservation, cellulosic bioenergy feedstocks, and other value-added industries. Over half of the national acreage in farms is covered by forage, grassland, or rangeland species. In 2023, all hay crops ranked third in total value of harvested crop production behind corn and soybeans at $23.6 billion and are the most valuable and extensively grown crops in many states (USDA NASS, 2024). Alfalfa alone placed in fourth place for single crops behind corn, soybean, and wheat at $12.1 billion in 2023. Forages provide critical provisioning, regulating, and supporting ecosystem services such as providing feed/food, clean water, pollinator services, soil erosion control, climate regulation, and promoting soil health (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005). Provision of essential digestible energy and protein by forage crops to the nation’s beef, dairy, sheep, goat, and equine production systems is like no other crop. Forages are key to reducing soil erosion (Hatlfield et al., 2009; Wu et al., 2011) as well as to reduce nitrogen losses to water (as nitrate leaching) and to air (as nitrous oxide) (Berti and Cecchin, 2023; Osterholz et al., 2019). Perennial forages increase soil organic carbon sequestration with associated improvement in soil structure, water holding capacity, and nutrient supply (Niu et al., 2020). Fixed atmospheric nitrogen from forage legumes can be released for subsequent crops grown in rotations, increasing crop yields and reduced reliance on chemical fertilizers.  Forages enhance biodiversity with reduced insect, disease, and weed pressures; and provision of habitat for pollinators and wildlife (Picasso et al., 2022; Garrett et al., 2017; Sulc and Franzluebbers, 2014). 

Natural and naturalized grasslands can play key roles in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and adaptation to climate variability, but carbon source-sink relationships require further research as those depend on type of grassland and region (Dangal et al., 2020). The wide diversity of forage species and their physiological and compositional characteristics offer opportunities for matching adapted species and management practices with a range of landscapes and environmental conditions to accomplish production and environmental improvement goals. Specific transformative strategies for the mitigation of carbon, methane, and nitrous oxide emissions already exist and can be incorporated into current grassland management while simultaneously contributing to the overarching United Nations sustainability goals of achieving food and energy security and foster climate action (United Nations, 2018). Communication networks among scientists are essential to advancing the science behind the practice of forage and grassland management to meet these goals, and work across disciplines is encouraged to address unanswered ecological and environmental questions regarding forage and livestock production (Gomez-Casanovas et al. 2021).  

Our project addresses three of the Grand Challenges from the recent Science Roadmap for Food and Agriculture. First, with regard to economic sustainability and profitability (Challenge 1), we intend to enhance the productivity, nutritive value, and safety of the crop and livestock systems through research on the physiology of forage and grassland management and by taking advantage of ecosystem services provided by forages. Second, in response to climate change (Challenge 2), we are researching new approaches to management leading to increasing plant diversity, adding perennial crops to rotations, and the expansion of circular economic system options that contribute to greater resilience to climate change by addressing both mitigation of factors leading to change as well as adaptation by changes in management.  Third, to increase environmental stewardship of the land (Challenge 6), we will develop tools and options for management to support positive ecosystem services on farms including increasing soil health, and to reduce harmful inputs such as excessive chemicals.  Project members will collaborate and share research information focused on understanding and developing environmentally sound and profitable forage and forage-based livestock production systems. The proposed activities will benefit forage and grassland practitioners, advisors, scientists, and policy-makers; they will also support the ongoing professional development of new and established forage and grassland scientists. 

Since 1966, this committee has been an essential mechanism of communication to stimulate cooperation among forage scientists and grassland ecologists within and beyond the North Central region. Ongoing benefits of our collaboration include: (i) program alignment to maximize complementarity and minimize duplication of resources; (ii) multi-disciplinary/ multi-institutional research proposals; (iii) improved classroom, professional, and outreach education resources at all partner institutions, and mentoring of new investigators in our field. Highlights of accomplishments from the two previous five-year projects include: a new edition of Forages, Vol. 1, 7th Ed. (Collins et al., 2018), the forage and grasslands science textbook used at many land grant institutions; a revised edition of Forages, Vol. II: The Science of Grassland Agriculture, 7th ed. (Moore et al., 2020); and evaluation of reduced lignin alfalfa across multiple environments (Arnold et al., 2019).  A major Sustainability CAP grant was created, submitted, and funded during the current five-year project: Valentin Picasso and 48 co-PIs, 2021-2026, “Fostering Resilience and Ecosystem Services in Landscapes by Integrating Diverse Perennial Circular Systems (Resilience CAP),” AFRI Sustainable Agricultural Systems Coordinated Agricultural Project (SAS-CAP) grant no. 2021-68012-35917 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.  Many of the members of NCCC-31 contribute to the Resilence CAP grant. 

The NCCC031 project is non-duplicative because it considers all aspects of the ecosystem's levels in managed grassland plant systems across a wide geographic base. Other projects that include forage physiology components include WERA1014 - Intensive Management of Irrigated Forages for Sustainable Livestock Production in the Western U.S., and NC1182: Management and Environmental Factors Affecting Nitrogen Cycling and Use Efficiency in Forage-Based Livestock Production Systems”. The former is specific to irrigation, a practice that is uncommon with forages in the rest of the U.S., and the latter is specific to nitrogen cycling and has a large animal-focused component. In addition,  the committees NE1710  “Improving Forage and Bioenergy Crops for Better Adaptation, Resilience, and Flexibility” (a multistate hatch that includes forage breeders from North America) and  NCCC 211 “Cover crops to improve agricultural sustainability and environmental quality in the upper Midwest” share partially aspects of  NCCC031, related to forage crops breeding (NE1710) and cover crops for grazing (NCCC211). The NCCC031 project is also unique among forage multistate projects from its long history (starting in 1966) as well as its long list of shared research and extension, grant collaborations, mentorship of young scientists, and shared research and education efforts.

Expected participatopm (pending AppE submission by station directors):

• Land Grant Participating States/Institutions: AR, IA, IN, KY, MD, ME, MI, MN, ND, NE, NM, OH, OR, PA, TN, TX, UT, WI
• Non Land Grant Participating States/Institutions: USDA: ARS and WI

Objectives

Procedures and Activities

The committee will meet annually at a location proposed by the Locations Committee and selected/approved by the entire committee present. The meeting location will vary annually and will be selected to provide an opportunity for committee members to view relevant forage-related activities at a different location from their 'home' research location.

The annual meeting will typically be a 1.5-day meeting including a half-day tour of local forage research and/or production activity and a full day of sit-down meeting. The sit-down meeting will include brief presentations of current research activities by each participating member present, and discussion of research results and opportunities. This annual meeting may at times be in conjunction with another professional meeting if the interaction with committee members in the other meeting is deemed to be of synergistic value to the goals and activity of this committee.

Immediately prior to each annual meeting, each member will compile and share a summary document of their current relevant research as well as publications from their state during the last year. 

Collaborative research and outreach education efforts will be initiated around selected topics of majority interest and regionally broad priority. Such activity has been characteristic of this committee in the past and has led to collaborative funding proposals, research, publications, and the development of recommended practices and principles that have been shared across a broad geographic area. 

Examples of multidisciplinary research proposals developed by committee members in the past few years and plans for the future are listed below:

1. Many members of the NCCC-31 committee initiated proposal development in fall, 2020, towards a USDA-AFRI Sustainable Agricultural Systems Coordinated Agricultural Project (SAS-CAP), led by WI and included a majority of the NCCC-31 members.  The grant was awarded fall, 2021 (no. 2021-68012-35917 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture) and continues to 2026. The Resilience Coordinated Agricultural Project is a collaborative research, education, extension, and outreach effort aimed at improving resilience of agricultural systems by 1) discovering adaptive production and socioeconomic strategies that help shield producers from impacts of climate change and market shocks; and 2) encouraging adoption of perennials, diversification, and integration of livestock with forage and crop production for greater agricultural resilience from field to farm scales.
2. Members of the committee (MI, NY) applied successfully in 2023 to the USDA-NIFA Alfalfa Seed and Forage Systems Program (ASAFS) grants program for a 3-year project ($949,000) studying the causes of alfalfa autotoxicity. The specific objectives are to identify contributing compounds and field conditions and to initiate selection for low-toxicity and tolerant alfalfa varieties.
3. Since 2015, members of the committee (OH, MI, PA, WI, UT) with colleagues at Kansas State Univ. and Univ. of California-Davis have been conducting a series of collaborative replicated multi-state studies to evaluate forage yield and quality of genetically modified reduced-lignin (HarvXtra) and conventionally bred high-digestibility alfalfa varieties. These studies continued through 2020 to inform development of management guidelines for use of high-quality alfalfa in production systems. Work is funded by Monsanto and Forage Genetics International.
4. Members of the committee (MI, PA, WI, WI-ARS) and colleagues at USDA-ARS in Idaho received funding ($250,000) from the USDA-NIFA Alfalfa and Forage Research Program (ARFP) in 2017 for a three-year study to evaluate feasibility of interseeding alfalfa with silage corn in multiple environments. Specific objectives were: 1) conduct multistate research station studies to assess how corn seeding rate, wheel traffic, and application of prohexadione growth regulator and fungicide/insecticide to hybrid and leafhopper-resistant varieties impacts establishment of interseeded alfalfa ; 2) use data collected from multistate research station and on-farm studies to identify key weather, soil, and management factors determining the success of alfalfa establishment by interseeding into silage corn; and 3) formulate best management practices for establishing alfalfa by interseeding into corn silage and conduct outreach. Follow-up experiments are being planned.
5. Two members of the committee (TN, KY) and Extension colleagues submitted a Southern SARE pre-proposal in 2024 focused on evaluating whether incorporation of plantain in mid-south grazing systems would improve N utilization/efficiency.  The title was, “Resilient Grasslands – A sustainable solution for improving Southern pastures.”  It was not selected for full proposal development.
6. Collaborators from TX, WI, AR, IN, submitted a proposal (funding pending) to USDA-NIFA DSFAS program in 2024 (CIN Partnership: Cropping Systems C Data Hub – Ai Innovations In Soil C And Resilience Monitoring In Transitions Of Perennial Systems) to  develop innovative data science tools to integrate multiple data sources to map soil carbon data in forage and crop systems and develop an end-user webtool. The objective is to develop a high resolution remote-sensing based Soil Carbon and Resilience Data Hub as a decision support tool to quantify carbon stocks and identify carbon gaps by leveraging data from the Forage Data Hub, Long-Term Agricultural Research and agricultural experimental stations. This is an expansion of the FDH developed by the Resilience CAP.

Expected Outcomes and Impacts

Projected Participation

View Appendix E: Participation

Educational Plan

The committee members share a common goal to serve societal needs with their forage production and management research, extension, and education activities. The research, teaching and extension activities published by this committee's members ultimately anchor state and regional teaching and extension programs by which research results are disseminated to students, producers, industry, advisers, and consumers. The output of this committee to forage scientists nationally and internationally ensures the efficient use of research results by students and colleagues across broad geographic regions to which they may apply, and by producers and the public through members with or without formal extension appointments.

Organization/Governance

The committee will nominate and elect a new Chair-Elect/Secretary at every annual meeting via an annually-appointed Nominating Committee recommendation followed by an overall committee election. The elected Chair-Elect/Secretary will serve as Secretary at the following year's meeting, and then as Chair the year after that. The overall committee will generally operate via three subcommittees appointed at each annual meeting: Nominating, Locations, and Resolutions committees. The committee will also continue to value the assistance, administrative leadership, and presence of an Administrative Advisor, currently Dr. James Kells of Michigan State University, who has agreed to continue serving in this capacity.

The NCCC-31 structure has historically been very conducive to generating ideas for collaborative work among its members. That work has and will continue to include both older established as well as new committee members with the objective of mentoring new members in collaborative and multidisciplinary research. The following describes the coordination of collaborative research and extension proposals and projects to be followed by the committee.

Ideas for common research and extension proposals and projects will be discussed among committee members formally (i.e. built into the meeting agenda) and informally during each annual meeting. The committee chair will encourage members to come prepared to discuss potential collaborations at each annual meeting. 

Ideas for collaboration of greatest interest to the committee or a significant subset core of members will be pursued by a smaller “action” group that will solidify the idea and select one state to lead the development of the project. Discussions for the development, planning, and execution of the project or activity, including writing grant proposals to fund it, will occur outside the formal annual meeting through teleconferencing and email. The action group will determine if other colleagues within or outside the NCCC-31 group are needed to add significant value to the proposed project, and those colleagues will be invited to contribute. Progress of collaborative projects will be reported at the annual meeting for input and peer review by colleagues. Outputs such as publications, curricula development, and extension education activities will be carried out by the action group involved with a particular collaborative project.

This approach has served committee members well in the past. New communication technologies readily available now greatly facilitate communications for the development of future collaborative work. The NCCC-31 committee provides an excellent means to mentor and include new committee members in collaborative projects by building relationships and providing structure to bring together colleagues with common interests and complementary strengths for strong multidisciplinary teams.

Literature Cited

Arnold, A.M., K.A. Cassida, K.A. Albrecht, M.H. Hall, D.H. Min, X. Xu, S. Orloff, D.J. Undersander, E. van Santen, and R.M. Sulc.  Multi-state evaluation of reduced lignin alfalfa harvested at different intervals. Crop Sci 59:1799–1807. doi:10.2135/cropsci2019.01.0023 

Berti, M.T., and A. Cecchin. 2023. Ecosystem services and life cycle assessment of perennial and annual cropping systems. p. 1465-1468 In Proceedings of  XXV International Grassland Congress, Covington, KY, 14-19 May, 2023. http://dx.doi.org/10.52202/071171-0357 

Collins, M., Kenneth J. Moore, C. Jerry Nelson, and Robert F. Barnes (Eds.).  2018.  Forages, Volume I: An Introduction to Grassland Agriculture, 7th Ed.  . Wiley-Blackwell. 

Dangal, S.R.S., H. Tian, S. Pan, L. Zhang, and R. Xu. 2020. Greenhouse gas balance in global pasturelands and rangelands. Environmental Research Letters 15, 104006. 

Garrett, R.D, M.T. Niles, J.D.B. Gil, A. Gaudin, R  Chaplin-Kramer, A. Assmann, T.S. Assmann, K.  Brewer, P.C.D. Carvalho, O. Cortner, R. Dynes, K. Garbach, E.  Kebreab, N. Mueller, C. Peterson, J.C. Reis, V.  Snow, and J. Valentim. 2017. Social and ecological analysis of commercial integrated crop livestock systems: Current knowledge and remaining uncertainty. Agricultural Systems  155: 136-146. 

Gomes-Casanovas, N., E. Blanc-Betes, C.E. Moore, C.J. Bernacchi. 2021. A review of transformative strategies for climate mitigation by grasslands. Science of the Total Environment, 799, 149466. 

Hatfield, J.L., McMullen, L.D., and Jones, C.S. 2009. Nitrate-nitrogen patterns in the Raccoon River Basin related to agricultural practices. J. Soil Water Conserv. 64: 190-199. 

Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005. Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Synthesis. Island Press, Washington, DC. 

Moore, K.J., M. Collins, C.J. Nelson, and D.D. Redfearn. 2020. Forages: Volume II: The Science of Grassland Agriculture, 7th Ed., Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-119-43657-7. 

Picasso, V., M. Berti, K. Cassida. S. Collier, D. Fang, A. Finan, M. Krome, D. Hanaway, W. Lamp., A.W. Stevens. 2022. Diverse perennial circular forage systems are needed to foster resilience, ecosystem services, and socioeconomic benefits in agricultural landscapes. Grassland Res. doi: 10.1002/glr2.12020 

Niu, Y., Luo, Z., Cai,L., Coulter, J.A., Zhang, Y. and M. Berti. 2020. Continuous monoculture of alfalfa and annual crops influence soil organic matter and microbial communities based on the substrate utilization pattern analysis in rainfed Loess Plateau of China. Agronomy 10:1054, doi:10.3390/agronomy10071054 

Osterholz, W.R., Renz, M.J., Jokela, W.E., and Grabber, J.H. 2019. Interseeded alfalfa reduces soil and nutrient runoff losses during and after silage corn production. J. Soil Water Conserv. 74: 85-90, doi:10.2489/jswc.74.1.85. 

Sulc, R.M., and A.J. Franzluebbers. 2014. Exploring integrated-crop livestock systems in different ecoregions of the United States. Europ. J. Agronomy 57:21-30. 

USDA NASS, 2024 . Crop values 2023. National Agricultural Statistical Services Available at:  https://www.nass.usda.gov/Charts_and_Maps/Crop_Progress_&_Condition/2023/index.php

Wu, S., Wu, P., Feng, H., and Merkley, G.P. 2011. Effects of alfalfa coverage on runoff, erosion and hydraulic characteristics of overland flow on loess slope plots. Frontiers Environ. Sci. Engineering in China 5: 76-83. 

United Nations. 2018. Sustainable development goals. Sustainable development knowledge platform (https://sdgs.un.org/goals). Accessed Oct 8, 2024. 

Climate Change Position Statement Working Group. 2011. Position Statement on Climate Change. Working Group Rep. ASA, CSSA, and SSSA, Madison, WI, May 11, 2011. 

USDA NASS. 2018. Crop values: 2018 Summary. Available at https://downloads.usda.library.cornell.edu/usda-esmis/files/k35694332/g445cn37b/8910k2787/cpvl0419.pdf.

Attachments

Land Grant Participating States/Institutions

IN, KY, ME, ND, OH, PA, UT

Non Land Grant Participating States/Institutions

USDA-ARS/Wisconsin