In this synthesis, we assess present research and anticipate future development needs in modeling water quality in watersheds. We first discuss areas of potential improvement in the representation of freshwater systems pertaining to water quality, including representation of environmental interfaces, in-stream water quality and process interactions, soil health and land management, and (peri-)urban areas. In addition, we provide insights into the contemporary challenges in the practices of watershed water quality modeling, including quality control of monitoring data, model parameterization and calibration, uncertainty management, scale mismatches, and provisioning of modeling tools. Finally, we make three recommendations to provide a path forward for improving watershed water quality modeling science, infrastructure, and practices. These include building stronger collaborations between experimentalists and modelers, bridging gaps between modelers and stakeholders, and cultivating and applying procedural knowledge to better govern and support water quality modeling processes within organizations.

No abstract

No abstract

In order to differentiate their products, agricultural producers are expanding and diversifying their use of marketing channels. Increasingly, these channels convey farm-level information to the final purchaser. However, the Census of Agriculture, the longest-running U.S. farm survey, tracks only three forms of market differentiation: direct-toconsumer sales, organic sales, and the number of community supported agriculture farms. Current Congressional proposals to increase data collection on market channel diversification rely on "followon" surveys and the Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS) conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Both of these surveys are more limited than the Census of Agriculture in observing farm-level trends; the follow-on survey is particularly limited in providing results that are comparable to all farms and even farms within the same sector. This paper will show that administrative reporting changes in the 2012 census and the introduction of new questions for the 2017 census can improve both farm-level and sector-level observations on marketing channel usage -with greater precision than tracking local and regional food systems. Such data is needed to assist policy-makers, technical assistance providers, and farm lenders in providing resources to the relatively high portion of young, beginning, and full-time producers involved in market channel differentiation.

No abstract