Crop physiologists, crop ecologists and crop specialists in the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture focus a large portion of their research activities on understanding the response of major food and feed crops to the environment. We utilize various tools from basic laboratory analyses of cellular and subcellular components to more applied crop production management strategies to study a broad range of environments across ecogeographic zones for both rain dependent and irrigated crops. Our research encompasses water and nutrient use efficiency, stress tolerance, soil management, crop rotations, crop modeling, genotype by environment interactions, and precision agriculture, among others, to enhance crop production and profitability. In extension, we use research-based information to help farmers increase profitability with intensified cropping systems. Our focus in extension is on both rain-dependent and irrigated crop production systems involving corn, soybean, grain sorghum and winter wheat as well as some efforts in crops such as proso millet, sunflower and alfalfa. We have also targeted grass seed production systems in Nebraska's panhandle. The team uses a diverse set of tools ranging from standard crop diagnostic procedures, and hybrid and/or varietal testing programs, to precision agriculture techniques, global information systems (GIS), global positioning systems (GPS), and crop simulation models to achieve the goal of enhanced profitability and integration of systems. All of these efforts recognize the importance of protecting our natural resources and enhancing the important rural-urban interface.