Data in Context
We are data driven!
At The Russell Ranch Century Experiment, we collect data on everything we do. Our regular data collection includes water and fertilizer inputs, yield, weather events, pest pressure, soil microbiology, energy use, and more. Every ten years, we take deep soil samples of every plot at Russell Ranch to learn about agriculture's affect on soils all the way to three meters deep. Our data is publicly accessible, and is a growing resource for researchers.
Performing Research at Russell Ranch Century Experiment
We are a research hub!
Russell Ranch is a hub for public and private researchers, growers, industry professionals, governmental officials, and anyone who wants to come together to learn more about sustainable agriculture. A key part of our mission is to host research projects on the Century Experiment plots.
How we look at data
Our available data includes:
Long-term Data Sets
This data includes information collected since 1993 for tomato, corn, and wheat. The Russell Ranch long-term data sets can be accessed in the .csv files below. Metadata is described in the metadata file and must be cited as:
Wolf, K. M., Torbert, E. E., Bryant, D., Burger, M., Denison, R. F., Herrera, I., Hopmans, J., Horwath, W., Kaffka, S., Kong, A.Y.Y., Norris, R. F., Six, J., Tomich, T.P., and Scow, K.M. (2018). The century experiment: the first twenty years of UC Davis' Mediterranean agroecological experiment. Ecology, 99, 503-503.
All data users must adhere to the following requirements:
Summary of Russell Ranch Data Use Policy:
1. User must notify the Russell Ranch Manager, Israel Herrera, via email (igherrera@ucdavis.edu) when any future work based on or derived from Russell Ranch data is submitted for publication in any venue.
2. User will not redistribute Russell Ranch data and documentation.
3. User will cite and acknowledge the Russell Ranch Century Experiment in any publications based on Russell Ranch data following the format:
Russell Ranch Century Experiment. Year. Cover crop biomass yields. Davis, CA: Russell Ranch Electronic Data Archives: CC-001. [Database]. https://asi.ucdavis.edu/programs/rr/research/data
Long-term data set files:
File 1: describes crops grown in each plot-year, and what irrigation type was used
File 2: describes irrigation amounts applied
File 3: describes harvest measurements (see metadata file)
File 4: describes fertilizer and compost nutrient composition
File 5: describes fertilizer and compost application amounts
With questions regarding the long-term data sets, contact Israel Herrera (igherrera@ucdavis.edu).
Soil Sample Archives
The Russell Ranch archives contains samples of each crop and soil from every system from 1993 to present and are accessible on site at Russell Ranch. To access soil and plant archived samples, please send a request to Israel Herrera (igherrera@ucdavis.edu).
Operational Data
We measure tractor passes, fuel use, and labor requirements for each of our different systems. Searchable operational data is coming soon.