Progress report for FNC23-1366
Project Information
Jacob Chapman - Graduated college from KSU in 2013 with two BS degrees. A primary BS in Agronomy - Soils and environmental science, and a secondary BS in Forestry - Natural resource conservation science. While at KSU I worked on and ran various research projects at the campus organic farm. As I learned, I taught and coordinated many classes including topics of sustainable agriculture practices, homesteading skills, mushroom cultivation, bee keeping, and more. While at KSU I also was on a team awarded a P3 grant from the EPA focused on a solid waste study that then turned that campus waste into Consumer questionnaires, education, mushrooms, compost, and recycling implementation. I have continued to teach about agriculture with a focus on sustainability with local NRCS, KSU extension, KC Farm School, Master Gardeners, high schools, and more. Work experience; over 8 years of work on and with college research farms. 14 years self employed as a builder, contractor, electrician amongst many other trades and almost always in the agricultural and sustainability sectors.
I have continued to pursue my passion for sustainable agriculture research and education through, on farm research and classes I've taught with local NRCS, KSU extension, KC Farm School, Master gardeners, and high schools covering topics like basic composting, hatching and raising chickens, many different classes on various aspects of mushroom cultivation techniques and scale, High tunnel construction and considerations, solar installation and irrigation.
My roles in this project are problem solving inventor, builder, scientist, data collector, cultivator, community member, and educator.
I now own and operate my own 3 acre dynamic farmstead that is focused on sustainability, research, and education. I have equipped the farm with Solar power, and rainwater collection. I sell at multiple farmers markets as well as wholesale. My main crop is mushrooms, I'm currently producing 40lbs/week of gourmet and medicinal mushrooms. All processes from spore to fruit are carried out on site. I then also compost all the spent substrate on site along with many other off farm sources of compostable waste, micronutrient sources, biochar, and more in order to make a high quality compost. Which I then use to cultivate a market garden style farm including asparagus, brambles, berries, veggies, fruits, nuts, seeds, honey. Using methods like integrated pest management, no-low till farming, deep mulch, low irrigation techniques to name a few.
During an age of climate crisis our societies' need for adaptation of energy efficiency and resource allocation is paramount. Modern agriculture contributes almost 20% of global Greenhouse emissions (Ritchie, 2020). Both the current mushroom cultivation system and indoor plant cultivation systems have a large efficiency deficit due to their unnatural mono crop cultivation, common with many of today's industries.
In an intensive indoor plant grow high levels of O2(oxygen) are common due to high rates of photosynthesis, slowing the plant's ability to grow. This is commonly offset by injecting bottled CO2 (carbon-dioxide) to balance desired gas concentrations ensuring ample plant growth. This is not sustainable due to the required shipping and generation of concentrated CO2 bottles.
In the mushroom fruiting chambers high CO2 concentrations are common due to high rates of cellular respiration. This is very problematic for proper mushroom formation. In mushroom fruiting chambers the excess of CO2 and depletion of O2 is most commonly dealt with by having high exhaust and intake rates. This process poses a huge energy draw due to having to recondition incoming air to ideal temperature and humidity levels.
All trials in this research project will be conducted using a standard 2’x4’x6’ mushroom fruiting tent, and a standard 2’x4’x6’ indoor plant growing tent. The time frame of the crops used in each tent in combination with research project period will allow for multiple replications and variations of a few basic trails. For trial one the two tents will be isolated systems, for all following trials the two tents will be connected by 2 4” vent tubes. Each pipe then is an intake end for one system and an exhaust end to the other system. With two pipes then giving each system individual system an intake and an exhaust. Creating a closed loop between the two systems. A variable speed 196cfm inline 4” fan will be installed to push air from the plant chamber into the humidification system for the mushroom chamber and then into the mushroom chamber.
Oyster blocks will be roughly 11lb blocks that are composed of 1:1 ratio of Hard wood fuel pellets and Soy bean Hull pellets hydrated to ideal moisture content. These production blocks will be super pastuerized using proven methods and equipment already on farm. They will then be inoculated with consistent rates of oat spawn.
Lettuce will be grown in cell trays in an on farm compost blended media.
Planting and harvest of produce will be timed to optimize quality of produce and hone in on optimizing systems efficiencies.
1) Trial - baseline
- Mushroom tent - 5 blocks oysters
-Plant tent - 6 trays lettuce
-Ventilation - none
-Monitor - CO2 ppm, O2 ppm, temperature ( F), Relative humidity (%), photos (I have had trouble finding the orginal 02 sensors for this project and will just be monitoring CO2, temp, and humidity.) I feel this will suffice because there is a direct inverse correlation between co2 and o2 in this system. )
-Time frame - day 1- estimated 60 (days)
2) Trial - 1 on 20 off
-Mushroom tent- 5 blocks oyster
-Plant tent - 6 trays lettuce
-Ventilation - 196cfm fan 1 minutes every 20 minutes
-Monitor - CO2 ppm, O2 ppm, temperature ( F), Relative humidity (%), photos
-Time frame - day 65- estimated 125 (days)
3) trial - adjust timing to balance towards equilibrium for both chambers, based on trial 2
-Mushroom tent- 9 blocks oyster
-Plant tent - 12 trays lettuce
-Ventilation - 196cfm for adjusted rate
-Monitor - CO2 ppm, O2 ppm, temperature ( F), Relative humidity (%), photos
-Time frame - day 130- estimated 190 (days)
4) trial - adjust tray and block count based on previous trials to optimize production of both
-Mushroom tent- adjust number of blocks oyster
-Plant tent - adjusted number of trays lettuce
-Ventilation - 196cfm fan 1 minutes every 20 minutes
-Monitor - CO2 ppm, O2 ppm, temperature ( F), Relative humidity (%), photos
Time frame - day 195- estimated 255 (days)
5) following trials will be replicates, or continued variations depending on what data is showing needs further testing.
Objectives
- Implement and evaluate the real world combination of research previously done separately for mushroom fruiting chambers and indoor vegetable production into a single closed loop system.
- Identify a balance of tray to block ratio that maintains ideal plant and mushroom growing parameters in a closed system.
- Share findings through a mushroom cultivation workshops
- Based on results, continue to further evaluate and refine the system.
Research
I decided to only measure Co2 vs o2 and Co2 because of availabilty of affordable monitoring equipment. I feel this suffices for the purpose of this study sense 02 and c02 will have a direct inverse relation in this study.
Educational & Outreach Activities
Participation Summary:
I have not presented results yet do to still collecting data. But I have verbally shared the concept of the project and laid out the process during two classes on cultivation Ive taught. I have another upcoming class where i plan to do the same again.
As the project gains more data and pictures, I plan to do another class where I teach mushroom cultivation and share visual information.
Learning Outcomes
To be determined
Project Outcomes
To be determined