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TO ADDRESS THE GOALS OF INCREASING THE SUSTAINABILITY OF AGRICULTURE AT THE FOOD-WATER-ENERGY NEXUS, NONTRADITIONAL WASTE STREAMS SUCH AS BIOSOLIDS, MANURE, URINE, AND RECLAIMED WATER CAN BE USED TO INCREASE EFFICIENCY AND RECOVER VALUABLE NUTRIENTS. HOWEVER, THE RISK TRADE-OFFS FOR SOIL AND WATER QUALITY, NUTRIENT AVAILABILITY, AND NEGATIVE PUBLIC HEALTH OUTCOMES FOR USING NONTRADITIONAL WASTE STREAMS ARE NOT WELL CHARACTERIZED, ESPECIALLY UNDER ARID CONDITIONS. AS A RESULT, WE PROPOSE TO CONDUCT A FACTORIALLY DESIGNED SERIES OF GREENHOUSE EXPERIMENTS TO EVALUATE TRADEOFFS DUE TO THE APPLICATION OF COMBINATIONS OF NONTRADITIONAL WATER AND NUTRIENT SOURCES WITH RESPECT TO PHYSICAL-CHEMICAL AND MICROBIAL ASPECTS OF WATER AND SOIL QUALITY, AGRICULTURAL NUTRIENT NEEDS, AND POTENTIAL MICROBIAL HEALTH RISKS. THROUGH A HOLISTIC QUANTITATIVE RISK MODELING EFFORT, WE AIM TO INCREASE THE RESILIENCE AND SUSTAINABILITY OF AGRICULTURAL OPERATIONS IN A WATER SCARCE REGION OF THE US WHERE WATER-SAVING MEASURES ARE ALREADY BEING PRACTICED. OUR EXPERIMENTS WILL BE OPERATED UNDER AMBIENT CONDITIONS USING FIELD-DERIVED ENVIRONMENTAL MEDIA, ALLOWING US TO MANIPULATE COMBINATIONS OF PARAMETERS AND TO FILL KEY GAPS IDENTIFIED IN PREVIOUS RISK MODELS. OUR PROPOSED EXPERIMENTS AND PREDICTIVE MODELS WILL INFORM PLANNING TOOLS FOR FARMERS THAT IDENTIFY OPTIMUM CONDITIONS FOR MINIMIZING ENVIRONMENTAL AND PUBLIC HEALTH RISKS WHILE MAXIMIZING NUTRIENT RECOVERY BENEFITS. THESE MODELS WILL BE LEVERAGED TO INFORM INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY-BASED DECISION TOOLS AND BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES FOR FARMERS AND REGULATORS THAT CONSIDER PRACTICAL CONSTRAINTS.

$483,820FY2020National Institute of Food and AgricultureUSDA

Arizona State University, Scottsdale AZ

Investigators

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TO ADDRESS THE GOALS OF INCREASING THE SUSTAINABILITY OF AGRICULTURE AT THE FOOD-WATER-ENERGY NEXUS, NONTRADITIONAL WASTE STREAMS SUCH AS BIOSOLIDS, MANURE, URINE, AND RECLAIMED WATER CAN BE USED TO INCREASE EFFICIENCY AND RECOVER VALUABLE NUTRIENTS. HOWEVER, THE RISK TRADE-OFFS FOR SOIL AND WATER QUALITY, NUTRIENT AVAILABILITY, AND NEGATIVE PUBLIC HEALTH OUTCOMES FOR USING NONTRADITIONAL WASTE STREAMS ARE NOT WELL CHARACTERIZED, ESPECIALLY UNDER ARID CONDITIONS. AS A RESULT, WE PROPOSE TO CONDUCT A FACTORIALLY DESIGNED SERIES OF GREENHOUSE EXPERIMENTS TO EVALUATE TRADEOFFS DUE TO THE APPLICATION OF COMBINATIONS OF NONTRADITIONAL WATER AND NUTRIENT SOURCES WITH RESPECT TO PHYSICAL-CHEMICAL AND MICROBIAL ASPECTS OF WATER AND SOIL QUALITY, AGRICULTURAL NUTRIENT NEEDS, AND POTENTIAL MICROBIAL HEALTH RISKS. THROUGH A HOLISTIC QUANTITATIVE RISK MODELING EFFORT, WE AIM TO INCREASE THE RESILIENCE AND SUSTAINABILITY OF AGRICULTURAL OPERATIONS IN A WATER SCARCE REGION OF THE US WHERE WATER-SAVING MEASURES ARE ALREADY BEING PRACTICED. OUR EXPERIMENTS WILL BE OPERATED UNDER AMBIENT CONDITIONS USING FIELD-DERIVED ENVIRONMENTAL MEDIA, ALLOWING US TO MANIPULATE COMBINATIONS OF PARAMETERS AND TO FILL KEY GAPS IDENTIFIED IN PREVIOUS RISK MODELS. OUR PROPOSED EXPERIMENTS AND PREDICTIVE MODELS WILL INFORM PLANNING TOOLS FOR FARMERS THAT IDENTIFY OPTIMUM CONDITIONS FOR MINIMIZING ENVIRONMENTAL AND PUBLIC HEALTH RISKS WHILE MAXIMIZING NUTRIENT RECOVERY BENEFITS. THESE MODELS WILL BE LEVERAGED TO INFORM INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY-BASED DECISION TOOLS AND BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES FOR FARMERS AND REGULATORS THAT CONSIDER PRACTICAL CONSTRAINTS. · GrantIndex