Dr. Sangeeta Lenka, a Principal Scientist with the Indian Institute of Soil Science under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research in Bhopal, India, was selected to participate in a three-month Scientific Exchange program at Iowa State University sponsored by the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service. With over 15 years of extensive work and research on climate change, Dr. Lenka aims to establish a joint Climate Smart Agricultural Systems program between ISU and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. The research objectives focus on evaluating the effect of climate change and management on soil greenhouse gas emissions, water quality, soil organic carbon storage, and soybean and corn yields. Dr. Rameshwar Kanwar, a Charles F. Curtiss Distinguished Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, is hosting Dr. Lenka.
“Through this program, I would like to be an agent of change for my country to build international collaboration and networking opportunities with the scientists of Iowa State University and other scientists in the U.S. and around the world working on global climate change and food insecurity.”
While at Iowa State, Dr. Lenka met with faculty and scientists in the agricultural and biosystems engineering and agronomy departments at Iowa State, working in related fields. Dr. Lenka has also had the opportunity to broaden her knowledge and learn new techniques by attending workshops and conferences on improving agricultural production practices, reducing nutrient runoff, and implementing enhanced composting practices. Some workshops attended include the Agricultural Production Systems sIMulator (APSIM) training course, the Water and Soil Conservation summer meeting, and the Iowa Smart Conference. Through these various workshops, Dr. Lenka visited different crop production fields and met with progressive farmers and stakeholders to discuss topics like cover crops and manure. One workshop that stood out to Dr. Lenka was the Midwest Compost Workshop, which covered how to utilize windrow composting, which she hopes to implement in her home country, where the current practice of burning crop residue between crop cycles could be immensely reduced by composting the materials.
“Being able to connect and collaborate with experts in the field has been the main focus of my program. Establishing these long-term linkages between Iowa State and the ICAR- Indian Institute of Soil Science will help both institutions work to combat the effects of climate change and water quality issues, which is a global issue.”
Overall, Dr. Lenka had a fruitful experience at Iowa State University and is grateful for the intercultural opportunities, collaboration, and expertise she gained. She looks forward to utilizing her newfound knowledge and connections to contribute to India's climate change mitigation and food security efforts. Drs. Lenka and Kanwar have also worked on two research papers and submitted a grant proposal to USDA-FAS in hopes to continue building upon the research conducted during the program.
