Exercises: Evaluating Wind Erosion Problems with WEPS

Wisconsin

This is an example that we will use to evaluate a wind erosion problem in the Stevens Point area of central Wisconsin.

The scenario for the problem is:

•	The farm is located near Stevens Point, Wisconsin, in Portage County

•	The CLIGEN station is Stevens Point and the WINDGEN station is Wausau/Alexander

•	The Soil Map Unit used in the evaluation is MfB-Mecan-100-LS

•	The original two-year Cropping system is Spring Peas and Snap Beans (green)

•	The field size is 2640' X2640', 160 acres

•	The WEPS evaluation of the cropping system will be run for 20 rotation cycles

Figure 1.18 shows the two-year rotation of Spring Peas and Snap Beans (green), including the dates and field operations. After evaluation of the erosion rates on the two-year rotation, it has been decided to set up a three-year rotation to include Early Potatoes.

When we expand the two-year rotation to include Early Potatoes, we can add the operations, dates of operation, and the potato crop directly to the two-year rotation or we can build a separate template for Early Potatoes and then insert the new template in the rotation. We recommend the option of building a separate template for Early Potatoes and then inserting it into the existing rotation; the template will then be available the next time you are building a rotation that includes this crop. The new single-year template for Early Potatoes begins within MCREW by clicking on "File", then click on "New" and this will drop a clean MCREW screen down. With the clean MCREW screen, we enter dates and operations as instructed in the section on MCREW. The single-year cropping scenario for early Potatoes should be saved as a template. We will save it by clicking on "file" and then "save as a template". The list of management files will drop down and we will go to the window on the bottom of the list called "File name", remove the * and then type in the name of the single-
crop scenario we are saving. To finalize we click "Save" on the bottom right of the window. We now have a new single-year template and will add it to our two-year rotation.

Figure 1.19 shows the three-year rotation of Early Potatoes, Spring Peas, and Snap Beans (green), including the dates and field operations. After evaluation of the erosion rates on the three-year rotation, it has been decided to set up a four-year rotation to include Sweet Corn.

When we expand the three-year rotation to include Sweet Corn, we again, can add the operations, dates of operation, and the Sweet Corn crop directly to the three-year rotation or we can build a separate template for Sweet Corn and inserting the new template into the rotation. We again recommend the option of building a separate template for Sweet Corn and insert it into the existing rotation. Follow the same instruction used for Early Potatoes to add Sweet Corn.

Figure 1.20 shows the four-year rotation of Early Potatoes, Sweet Corn, Spring Peas, and Snap Beans (green) including the dates and field operations. After evaluation of the erosion rates on the four-year rotation, it has been found acceptable.