ACRE Field Sites
Figure 1. Map of ACRE field sites on the Lower Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, USA.
Figure 2. This is an example of one of the four randomized blocks at Poplar Hill. Each plot was 9 m wide and 15 m long with a 1 m buffer between plots and a 15 m buffer between each block. Each plot has one of the six treatment methods: (1) PV1, (2) PV2, (3) PV3, (4) CC, (5) CC+ES, (6) CC+PL. Half of the plots will be planted with Panicum virgatum (switchgrass) for the duration of the study or rotate between corn and soybean as the cash crop and have a cover crop between growing seasons (e.g., ryegrass, cereal rye, wheat).
We have established two primary field sites for running experiments for the ACRE Project (Figure 1).
Poplar Hill, or the Lower Eastern Shore Research Education Center (LESREC), is located in Wicomico County, Maryland. This is our research site, where we will collect porewater, soil, biomass, and greenhouse gas samples. We have planted 24 plots (< 1 acre) of both switchgrass and cover crops to represent the different treatments we will implement on our farmer partners’ land (Figure 2).
Millennium Farms is located in Worcester County, Maryland. This is the site of our Anaerobic Digesters. We have planted 6 acres of switchgrass and 10 acres of cover crop (of which 1/3 has no amendment, 1/3 has poultry litter, and 1/3 has ElementSoil™ applied).