
Read: a
report on the scanners in Agricultural Research magazine. High-Tech Scanners Ease Methods for Erosion ControlBy Linda McGraw July 7, 2000Can a change in farming practices help reduce car accidents?
Agricultural Research Service scientists
in Manhattan, Kan., think so. Each year, several serious multi-car accidents are caused by high
winds blowing topsoil across highways, according to ARS agricultural engineers
Larry Wagner and Fred Fox. Standing crop residue can be 10 times more effective
in reducing wind erosion than flat residue in erosion, prone areas of the west,
midwest, and northern and southern plains. Erosion causes the loss of more than 2 billion tons of soil from
U.S. cropland each year, and wind erosion accounts for 45 percent of this loss.
Excessive erosion triggers worries about sediments, nutrients and pesticides
affecting water quality, as well as concerns about air quality and traffic
visibility. To guard against erosion, Wagner and Fox designed a lightweight,
portable scanner that can be used by farmers, crop consultants and USDA
Natural Resources Conservation Serviceemployees to measure standing crop residue. Old ways of measuring standing crop
residue were tedious and labor-intensive. Fox reported preliminary results of laboratory tests today at the
International Soil
Tillage Research Conference in Ft. Worth, Texas. The scanner was modeled after a laser scanner developed by ARS
soil scientist Chi-hua Huang at the
National Soil Erosion
Research Laboratory in W. Lafayette, Ind. Huangs original scanner is
used around the world by soil scientists in Australia, Austria, China and
Germany. But he improved on the design, resulting in a scanner that is 100
times faster than the original. ARS is the chief scientific research agency for the
U.S. Department of Agriculture. A full report on the versatility of the scanners can be found in
the July issue of Agricultural
Research. Scientific contacts: Larry Wagner or Fred Fox, ARS Wind
Erosion Research Unit, Kansas State
University, Manhattan, Kan.; phone (785) 532-6807 [Wagner] and (785)
532-6694 [Fox]; fax (785) 532-6528; [email protected],
[email protected]. Story contacts National Soil Erosion Research Fred A Fox Larry E Wagner U.S. Department of Agriculture |