Kansas State University is the lead institution in a consortium to mitigate greenhouses gases. The team is led by Charles W. Rice, professor of soil microbiology and director, Kansas Environmental Protection Agency EPSCoR program at Kansas State University. The grant is the largest ever received by K-State, and is nearly twice the amount of the largest grants received in the past.
The consortium is comprised of expert scientists from Colorado State University, Iowa State University, Kansas State University, Michigan State University, Montana State University, the Ohio State University, Purdue University, Texas A&M University System, University of Nebraska, and Battelle-Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, in conjunction with research groups within the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service, Economic Research Service and Natural Resource Conservation Service.
"The Consortium for Agricultural Soil Mitigation of Greenhouse Gases will provide the information and technology necessary to develop, analyze and implement carbon sequestration strategies," Rice said. "The overall goal of our consortium is to provide the tools and information needed to successfully implement soil carbon sequestration programs so that we may lower the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, while providing income and incentives to farmers and improving the soil.
"The research agenda is to provide the data, models, and understanding needed to assess the potential for soil C sequestration in U.S. agriculture, and to communicate this information to stakeholders," Rice said.