What is SoyFACE?

SoyFACE (Soybean Free Air Concentration Enrichment) is an innovative facility for growing crops under production field conditions in an atmosphere that has higher levels of carbon dioxide and ozone, higher temperature and altered soil water availability. SoyFACE was designed to discover the effects of atmospheric change on the agronomy and productivity of Midwestern crops as well as to find solutions that will lead to crops better adapted to this future.

This unique facility and the highly interdisciplinary research teams that it serves seek answers to important questions, including:

• What yield and quality changes will result with rising CO2, temperature, drought stress and ozone?
• What genotypes and genes may be exploited to increase yield and maintain quality under the changed atmospheric conditions?
• What system changes will increase yields and maintain quality under the changed atmosphere?
• Will soil quality be degraded, and how can this be alleviated?
• Will rates of soil carbon deposition be increased, and what value might this have in terms of carbon credits?
• How will changes in CO2, temperature, drought stress and ozone impact insect and pathogens?