Progress report for LS24-399
Project Information
This three-year project is a multi-state (Texas and Florida) and multi-university (Texas A&M University – Kingsville, University of Florida, Texas A&M AgriLife Research/extension center, and UF Extension Center – Immokalee) collaborative approach for fostering climate-friendly agricultural practices. Major agricultural soils in Texas (South Texas and the Lower Rio Grande Valley) and Florida (South and Central Florida) are low in organic matter content (less than 2%) and consequently encounter reduced crop yield, soil quality issues, nutrient loss, and eventually economic losses during production. We received several requests from vegetable growers of Texas and Florida to apply regenerative agricultural practices for production resiliency, climate friendly ecosystem, and improved soil health. Our initial survey indicates that about 67% growers in Texas and Florida are motivated to use or try sustainable farming (specifically biochar and cover crops) in their farms. Biochar, often called as super charcoal, are capable of increasing crop yield by providing nutrients in the soil, improving soil water retention capacity, promoting seed germination, increasing cation/anion exchange capacity of soil, and promoting soil biodiversity. Similarly, cover crops (CC) are capable to provide ecosystem services including addition of soil organic matter and other nutrients, improve soil structure, increase soil water retention, and more. Also, under EQIP program by NRCS, a CC mixture can provide $76/acre incentive to the growers. Application of cover crops and biochar in the field will improve soil nutrient efficiency and reduce major greenhouse gas emissions: a climate-friendly approach while improving production efficiency.
We recognized that research works on CC and soil health analysis are well documented, however, the effect of sub-tropical CC in combination with biochar on crop yield and soil quality assessment is still limited. Specifically, we are producing biochar from invasive plant-feedstocks which is therefore expected to reduce competition of soil nutrients for main agricultural crops. We will grow sunn hemp (SH) and velvet bean (VB) as CC in bell pepper (Capsicum sp) field and the biochar will be produced from invasive plant-feedstocks that are abundant in Texas and Florida.
A preliminary study on physicochemical properties of biochar made from invasive plant feedstocks indicates high cation exchange capacity (8 to 17 cmol/kg), organic matter contents (95 to 97%), and improve soil pH to near neutral (pH 7.3 to 7.8).
On another note, this project will also encourage diversity by engaging more historically underserved farmers of TX and FL in sustainable farming. Texas has the largest number of Hispanic, Spanish, or Latino origin (HSL) growers in the United States. As of 2017, more than 41,000 agricultural growers in Texas are HSL which contribute about 37% of the total HSL in the US. Similarly, more than 30% Florida farmers are socially disadvantaged among which about 29% farmers are HSL.
We expect the major outcomes of this project will be efficient vegetable production (increased yield due to addition of soil nutrients), reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, improved soil health (high CEC from biochar and organic matter addition from CC), and educational benefits to growers and students on sustainable farming systems.
Project objectives
This is a multi-state (Texas and Florida) and multi-agency coordinated research, extension, and educational project. A strong collaboration between university partners and vegetable industry stakeholders has been established to promote climate-friendly agricultural farming and improve overall sustainability during production. Experiences from growers, other stakeholders, and our advisory committee members in discussing the current problems and expectations were invaluable and we outlined our project objectives and hypotheses accordingly (support letters are attached). Overall, this project will integrate research and extension components through system-based, trans-disciplinary approach where optimum pepper yield will be obtained through application of cover crops and biochar in farmer’s field.
A thorough literature analysis has been carried out and the objectives were carefully devised to avoid duplication of effort with similar activities by others.
Specific objectives of this project are:
1) To evaluate the individual and combined effects of high biomass producing cover crops (sunn hemp and velvet bean) and biochar for pepper (Capsicum sp; Variety: Red Knight) production
We will quantify yield and physiological parameters of pepper at different plant growth stages both at the University farm (Texas A&M University – Kingsville; TAMUK greenhouse and UF research station) and in field trials (collaborative farmer’s field). We hypothesize that the application of biochar and growing high biomass producing cover crops will improve soil fertility, pepper fruit quality, and increase overall crop production.
2) To foster climate-friendly practices by analyzing the efficacy of cover crop and biochar treatments (individual and combined) in accumulating soil carbon and reducing greenhouse gas emissions
Hypothesis 2A: Cover crop mixtures will have positive impact on soil carbon balance (net C accumulation) and reducing greenhouse gas (CO2, CH4, and N2O) emissions in the field compared to the plots have no cover crops. The extracellular exudates released by cover crop roots in the soil will improve overall soil health components (soil aggregate stability, soil bulk density, and water holding capacity).
Hypothesis 2B: Biochar (from invasive feedstocks) in combination with cover crop treatments (biochar + cover crop) will provide higher organic matter, soil nutrients, improve soil structure than individual biochar and cover crop treatments. We also hypothesize that biochar application will reduce the emission of greenhouse gases compared to conventional farming system.
3) To measure the economic benefits (using stochastic models) of cover crops and biochar on pepper production
We will run stochastic economic models to integrate inputs (seeds, fertilizer, labor etc.) and outputs (crop yield, price, market demand etc.) for assessing the economic benefits of cover crops and biochar in pepper productions. We realize that there are uncertainties with crop yields, costs, and market prices under both conventional and proposed sustainable farming approaches. The stochastic economic model will utilize a Monte Carlo approach to account for the above uncertainties and help assess incremental (additional) net profits and variability in returns.
We hypothesize that our proposed sustainable farming approach (biochar and cover crops) will generate higher profits as well as lower economic variability (risks) for growers than conventional farming practices.
4) To develop and evaluate a remote sensing based expert system utilizing UAV technology for plant and soil health analysis
The research studies will be conducted in about five different field sites across South Florida. Geo-coordinates of each soil sampling point will be recorded using the Trimble GeoExplorer (Trimble Navigation Limited, CA, USA) global positioning system (GPS) receiver. All the soil samples will be collected soon after the satellite (Landsat and Sentinel) overpass. The results of this study will improve our knowledge on the soil nutrient dynamics which is critical to calculate nutrient inventory and to improve soil nutrient management through appropriate combination of Cover crop and biochar amendments.
5) To provide educational benefits to the stakeholders and students (both Texas and Florida) on regenerative and sustainable farming system
This project will provide experimental and experiential learning opportunities for agroecology undergraduate and graduate students in Texas and Florida. Series of training workshops and field days during this project will be able to properly disseminate the knowledge acquired through experiments. The newly acquired knowledge about cover crops and biochar integration will help the stakeholders for sustainable agriculture planning and management.
Cooperators
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Research
We are implementing a regenerative agricultural approach in a conventional farming system to increase the overall sustainability of that system. We are bringing these two states together for sustainable vegetable research and extension. This project will involve Texas A&M University – Kingsville (TAMUK), Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Center, University of Florida (UF), and UF Extension Center – Homestead. We will use two research plots (one at the University research station and another at collaborative grower’s field) in Florida and two research plots in Texas (one at TAMUK University farm and another at farmers field). An advisory panel was formed engaging various stakeholders from Texas and Florida vegetable industries to get expert advice, plan the experimental design with them, and their active participation in outreach and knowledge dissemination programs. More details about the stakeholder involvement is discussed in approach and methods for education benefits (objective # 5) and outreach activities.
Objective 1: To evaluate the individual and combined effects of high biomass producing cover crops and biochar for pepper production [Lead: Dr. Dattamudi, Dr. Chanda, and Dr. Li]
a) Biochar production
Australian pine (AP; Casaurina equisetifolia) and Brazilian pepper (BP; Schinus terebinthifolius) will be collected from Homestead, Florida and LRGV, Texas for biochar production. The feedstocks will be sent to LOCOAL, Texas (biochar producing company) to produce biochar through pyrolysis (website: https://www.locoal.com/). We already communicated with LOCOAL (also a partner with Texas A&M University System) and will produce our biochar locally. Biochar produced from AP and BP feedstocks will be applied in the pepper (Capsicum sp, var: Red Knight) field at 12 t ha-1 according to the treatment requirements. On a backup plan: our Florida team communicated with American BioCarbon company, Florida (website: https://americanbiocarbon.com/) to produce the biochar locally in Florida in a situation when we might not have enough feedstocks at Texas or transportation of feedstocks from Florida to Texas is not feasible. Physicochemical properties of the biochar will be analyzed in the University labs.
A preliminary study on physicochemical properties of biochar made from invasive plant feedstocks indicates high cation exchange capacity (8 to 17 cmol/kg), organic matter contents (95 to 97%), and improve soil pH to near neutral (pH 7.3 to 7.8).
b) Experimental details and growing cover crops
This three-year field experiment will be conducted in research stations and our growers’ collaborative farms in Texas and Florida. A total of ten treatments will be assigned in a factorial randomized complete block design with six field level replications. The treatments will be:
T0: control,
T1: sun hemp cover crop,
T2: velvet bean cover crop,
T3: AP biochar,
T4: BP biochar,
T5: sun hemp + AP biochar,
T6: sun hemp + BP biochar,
T7: velvet bean + AP biochar,
T8: velvet bean + BP biochar and
T9: synthetic fertilizer (conventional farming): about 150 kg N/ha (UF extension)
Where, AP: Australian pine; BP: Brazilian pepper
Sunn hemp and velvet beans will be grown during fallow period. Planting of CC will start at the end of April. Sunn hemp and velvet bean are generally grown for 10 to 12 weeks. Those CC will be terminated after 10 to 12 weeks after planting and the biomass will be incorporated in the soil.
Experimental design and treatment details were outlined after discussing with our collaborative growers through field visit and phone communications.
Preliminary data: In our preliminary research/extension approach with leguminous cover crop (sunn hemp and velvet bean) intercropping in orchard, we found that these cover crop can reduce 65 to 70% of weeds, improve soil health and accumulate 9500 kg ha-1 total C in the soil. Our research outreach team also found (virtual survey distribution and logistic regression analysis) that over 67% of the South Texas and South Florida farmers are interested in cover cropping conservation practice to improve soil quality.
c) Experiments at TAMUK University farm and UF research station
Experiments in first year will be conducted at the TAMUK University Farm (Texas) and UF research station (Florida) to evaluate the effects of cover crops and biochar on crop growth (vegetative, flowering, fruit setting, and harvesting) and soil properties (pH, EC, total P, total N, total C content, OM content, and aggregate stability). We will use raised beds (228 x 77 cm2) for this experiment and representative soils will be collected from our collaborative grower’s field. Treatment details and crop variety were finalized after discussing with our extension specialist and growers.
We will conduct demonstration training on shade house experiments to the local farmers and students during organic farming workshops and field days.
d) Field trials at Texas and Florida
In second year and third year we will conduct field trials: at Rio Grande Valley in South Texas and Homestead region in South Florida. Our collaborative growers agreed to provide land for this project. Field trials will follow the same treatments as scheduled for first year and pepper will receive ten different treatment combinations of cover crops and biochar.
Physicochemical analysis of background soil will be analyzed before conducting the experiment. Yield parameters (shoot weight, root weight, plant height, and fruit yield) and compositional analyses (leaf chlorophyll content, plant height, plant shoot diameter, and nutrient uptake) of pepper will be recorded during plant growth stages and at harvesting. Routine physicochemical parameters (pH, EC, TP, TN, TC, POM, biomass C, N and P, Mehlich-3 extractable plant essential nutrients, ammonium, nitrate, nitrite, OM%, water filled pore space WFPS%, and aggregate stability) of soil samples will be analyzed in regular intervals throughout crop production.
Paid student (assistantships/scholarships) will assist in sample analysis where they will gain knowledge about sustainable agricultural research projects.
Objective 2: To foster climate-friendly practices by analyzing the efficacy of cover crop and biochar treatments in accumulating soil carbon and reducing greenhouse gas emissions [Lead: Dr. Dattamudi and Dr. Schuster]
Soil Carbon Balance (SCB) estimation: The main approach to develop SCB is to account carbon additions in the soil during CC growing and carbon released from the soil as CO2 due to soil respiration. We are not separating root respiration and microbial respiration for this study.
a) Soil respiration (CO2 emission) and other greenhouse gas flux study: Soil collars will be installed (polyvinyl chloride) at each treatment plot before the cover crops are planted (Dattamudi et al., 2019). we recently bought a Li-COR greenhouse gas flux analyzer (with both CO2/CH4 and N2O analyzer) which will be used to measure the in-situ greenhouse gas concentration (soil respiration). Soil respiration data will be collected every alternate day for two weeks before the legumes are planted to get an average background soil GHG emission data. After legumes establishment gas samples will be collected once a week throughout the growing season (90 to 100 days). Gas samples will be collected at a certain time of the day (generally 10:00 am to 12:00 pm) to avoid daytime interferences.
b) Total C contribution: Biomass of legumes will be collected during harvesting. Total C (TC) of dried and ground legume biomass will be analyzed using a Carbon-Nitrogen Analyzer (LECO corporation) via dry combustion method. Measured C content of crop biomass and dry biomass yield will be used to calculate the amount of total C (TC) contributed by CC.
SCB (kg ha -1) = (TC contributed – TC released)
Where SCB is the Soil Carbon Balance in kg ha-1 and TC stands for total C.
Objective 3: To measure the economic benefits (using stochastic models) of cover crops and biochar on pepper production [Lead: Dr. Turner and Dr. Chanda]
Production cost due to growing cover crop, incorporation, and biochar application will be measured using stochastic models. Cost of cultivation (economic enterprise budgets for bell pepper in Florida), crop yield, market price and profitability will be measured. Federal incentives and potential carbon budget will be also included in net profitability calculation. Carbon credits will be accounted following the paper published by Gu Her et al., 2022.
Vegetable and fruit growers in the southern U.S. are seeking agricultural conservation practices that are both environmentally sustainable and financially profitable and low risk. Our research under this objective will test the following hypothesis: that integration of cover crops and biochar will achieve higher average net profit via lower production risk (variance) and lower input costs (e.g., chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides) relative to existing conventional farming practices. The financial feasibility analysis of cover crop-biochar integration and conventional farming based on our three-year study will also incorporate initial costs of cover crop establishment and changes in labor costs and efficiencies to provide a more comprehensive farm-level financial picture of the trade-offs posed by these conservation practices.
Such trade-offs or considerations include (but aren’t limited to): i) change in the total production cost of due to changes in the use pesticides (either the type of treatment, frequency, or both), ii) additional input costs to accommodate cover cropping, iii) change in the yields (either increase or decrease as a result of biochar and cover crop application), iv) additional soil health benefits from cover crop and biochar mixtures.
We define the “incremental” financial benefits of integrating cover crops and biochar in pepper fields will be the difference in the net profits between two cropping systems (with and without cover crop-biochar mixtures). Assuming per acre production cost of conventional pepper production (control treatment, c) is Cc ($/ac), selling price Pc ($/lb), and yield is Yc (lb/ac), we obtain the net profit ($/ac)(Πc):
Πc ($/ac) = (Yc x Pc) - Cc
Similarly, if per acre production cost of cover crop-biochar mixtures (our treatment) is Ct ($/ac), selling price Pt ($/lb), and yield is Yt (lb/ac), then the net profit from sustainable pepper production (Πt) is:
Πt ($/ac) = (Yt x Pt) - Ct
Therefore the “true or incremental” benefit (IB) can be calculated by:
IB = Πt - Πc
Using deterministic and stochastic enterprise budgeting techniques we compare the profitability of two production systems on an annual basis, varying projections for crop yields (Yc and Yt), input costs (Cc and Ct), and prices (Pc and Pt). Data based on the field and lab experimental trials will provide the needed mean and standard deviations to project yields, while historical market data will be used to develop appropriate distributions reflecting economic uncertainty with respect to input costs and output prices. Additional Monte Carlo simulations, which account for additional uncertainty in crop parameter values (yields, costs, etc.) by expressing them as probability distributions rather than fixed values, will allow for net profit estimations from several thousand treatment scenarios, providing the analysis with the magnitude (mean) as well as variability (SD and percentile distributions) of the per acre net margins of two alternative production systems under this study. The analysis will be repeated for all study cover crops and biochar in Texas and Florida.
Objective 4: To develop and evaluate a remote sensing based expert system utilizing UAV technology for plant and soil health analysis [Lead: Dr. Bhandari]
The main objective of remote sensing based expert system is to get accurate soil and plant health data in less amount of time. Dr. Bhandari is an assistant professor of precision agriculture, and he has been working with UAV technology in predicting crop yield, plant health, disease infestation and soil health status in the field. Specifically, most of the vegetable farmers in South Texas has large farm holdings where UAV technology will be used to monitor pepper production and soil quality assessment. Dr. Bhandari has license for flying UAV and we will acquire proper authorization before flying those UAVs at the University farm and farmer’s field.
Remote sensing-based assessment of treatment effects: Recent years have witnessed the development of digital agriculture applications using remote sensing tools coupled with big data analytics. Unoccupied Aerial Systems (UAS) commonly referred to as drones have increased our capability to collect high spatial and temporal resolution data and provide a great opportunity to monitor plant growth and development. The Digital Agriculture Program led by Bhandari works on the development of UAS-based High Throughput Phenotyping (UAS-HTP) tools for precision crop management and soil health analysis (Bhandari et al., 2023). In this study, we intend to use UAS and satellite-based imagery systems to obtain crop features. The UAS and satellite data collection will be synchronized with ground measurements of soil and plants in addition to critical crop growth stages (vegetative growth, flowering, fruit setting). To facilitate seamless data transfer, visualization, processing, and analysis, the team has developed a web-based platform known as UASHUB. The processed imagery datasets along with the results of the study will be uploaded in the UASHUB for visualization which will enhance the demonstration and education of the research results.
Satellite imagery acquisition: Multi-spectral imagery data collected by two different satellite system platforms will be used in this study. The first platform is the PlanetScope, operated by Planet (Planet Labs, San Franscisco, CA) is a constellation of approximately 130 satellites, able to image the entire land surface of the earth everyday with approximately 3.7 meters per pixel Ground Sampling Distance (GSD) at nadir. The multi-spectral data obtained from PlanetScope are captured in blue, green, red, and NIR regions of the spectrum. These data products are freely available for research and education purposes. Another set of satellite-based multi-spectral imagery data will be from Sentinnel-2 at 10 meters GSD and is freely available United States Geological Survey (USGS) earth explorer website. Relevant VIs will be obtained from satellite-based imagery as well.
Once the crop morphological features and VIs are obtained from both UAS and satellite system, these measurements will be correlated with soil and plant nutrient compositional measurements. We hope to develop a regression model which can potentially be translated as a decision support tool to assess nutrient status, calculate nutrient inventory, and to improve soil nutrient management through appropriate combination of CC and biochar amendments.
Objective 5: To provide educational benefits to the stakeholders and students (both Texas and Florida) on regenerative and sustainable farming system [Lead: Dr. Dattamudi, Dr. Bhandari, and Dr. Li]
One of the major goals of this project is to provide educational benefits to local growers of Texas and Florida and give experimental and experiential learning opportunities to the agroecology students. This educational outreach activities are scheduled to be done through the involvement of collaborative stakeholders of this project. As mentioned earlier we developed an advisory committee (Table 1) including growers, vegetable association members, packing and handling agents and University extension scientists. Additionally, we have scientists (agronomist, soil scientist, horticulturist, plant pathologist, and agricultural economist) from TAMUK, UF and TAMU – Corpus Center on board for helping research and extension activities of this project. Our advisory panel will meet with our project team members four times a year (virtually) and physically once a year to discuss about the outreach and educational programs both in Texas and Florida.
a) Texas educational programs: Educational and knowledge dissemination programs in Texas will be led by Dr. Dattamudi (TAMUK) and Dr. Bhandari (TAMU – Corpus Center). Dr. Dattamudi has developed an undergraduate REU program where TAMUK Agroecology students will learn more about sustainable farming and regenerative agriculture. TAMUK has several established learning and training activities for students including Texas GrowFest, Compost workshop, Hoggie Days, Farm Life field day, Take our Kids to the Farm and more to mention. A program called ‘F2F (farm to Fork)’ is under development where University senior undergraduate students will learn more about agricultural crop production at the University farm and University greenhouse. Dr. Dattamudi also invites growers, USDA scientists, faculty members from other Universities to share their experiences with undergrad and grad students at TAMUK. We will encourage and involve our Agroecology students to participate in collecting feedstocks for biochar production and invite them to get hands-on experiences working with biochar and cover crops at the University farm and greenhouse. Dr. Bhandari works at Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Corpus Christi where they conduct series of training workshops and field days for growers and other stakeholders. We will demonstrate the benefits of biochar and cover crops on vegetable production, soil health improvement, and agricultural sustainability to the stakeholders during those workshops. Dr. Dattamudi and Dr. Bhandari collaboratively train students on digital agriculture: therefore, this project is expected to be included in that leaning curriculum for those students.
b) Florida educational programs: Dr. Li has a joint appointment with University of Florida (UF) and research scientist and as an extension specialist at Tropical Research and Extension Center at Immokalee, FL. He will be the lead for educational and outreach programs in South Florida. He also works closely with Florida International University (largest Hispanic Serving Institution in the USA) where Agroecology students works on various projects with UF faculty members. Different training programs including Miami international cattle and agriculture show, Agroecology annual symposium, South Florida regional science and engineering fair and more. We have more than five farmers (collaborative grower) from Florida involved in this project and their support letters are attached. Dr. Li has been working with these growers and they often conduct training workshops at South Florida. We have a plan to showcase our result outcomes in those workshops and disseminate knowledge about the application of biochar and cover crops in vegetable fields. The knowledge dissemination program will continue through classroom teaching at FIU and UF agroecology courses.
In addition, extension articles will be published online in the Electronic Data Information Source (EDIS), which will provide guidance on how to implement cover crops and biochar. Overall, this program intends to positively impact both the environment and the economy by promoting sustainable agricultural practices that benefit growers and the environment.
Annual report: updated on 04/17/2025
The project has just started and we do not have enough data to present at this time. Update on the project progress will be posted here.
Educational & Outreach Activities
Participation Summary:
Outreach activities
University of Florida (UF) and Texas A and M University have statewide well-organized extension program. Tropical Research & Education Center of UF sponsors and participates in several outreach programs and events to disseminate newly acquired knowledge about sustainable agricultural practices. We have Dr. Qingren Wang, an extension specialist for commercial vegetables in Florida. He will be our team leader for extension and outreach activities for this project in Florida. We have Dr. Bhandari as team leader for extension and outreach activities in Texas.
Other Outreach/Extension/Dissemination Activities
a) Climate instability and resultant drought, soil loss in Texas is everywhere in the news in past year. Adaptation of cover crop and biochar can improve soil health and thus minimize soil loss, soil carbon sequestration, soil nutrient holding capacity, soil water holding capacity, and others. Adoption of this sustainable technique can result in carbon negative farming system and has the potential to minimize the emission of other GHG. We are planning to highlight our work in local news media to educate public about regenerative farming, organic farming, soil health, carbon sequestration, and over all sustainable living. University of Florida and TAMU has their own website to publish articles on the research and developments in the agriculture. We are planning to publish our finding as an short article in those websites. Southern SARE website will be included in the news, so that interested people can direct their questions and concerns to us. Our webpage ‘Cover crops and biochar: A potential solution to the climate change’ will provide information about this project to students, faculty, farmers, and general public. This project improves environmental and economical sustainability of existing farming system.
b) Workshops, field days, and training sessions
Our project will conduct a series of workshops, field demonstration and training for the pepper and other vegetable growers of Florida. We will also use webpage articles, newsletters, webinars, electronic publications, peer-reviewed articles, and annual conferences to disseminate the outcome of the project to the industry stakeholders and scientific community. We will also invite FDACS administrative personnel, Texas Department of Agriculture to visit our field trial site. Texas A and M University - Kingsville organizes Subtropical Agriculture and Environmental Society (SAES) meeting for industry stakeholders. The purpose of the society is for the advancement and development of horticulture from a scientific and practical standpoint in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas. We can use this event to demonstrate the potential of our sustainable crop production technique. University of Florida will organize field days or workshops will be conducted during the growing seasons of bell pepper. Growers, USDA scientists, personnel from govt. organizations, students and other stakeholders will be invited in those field days and workshops. In addition, extension articles will be published online in Electronic Data Information Source (EDIS) which will provide the overall outcome of the research experiment (open access site).
Hence, through field demonstrations and extension publications, this program aims to increase awareness and knowledge of soil health and provide research experiences for improving soil health. Overall, this program intends to positively impact both the environment and the economy by promoting sustainable agricultural practices that benefit growers and the environment.
c) Meetings with local growers
We plan to conduct regular meetings with local growers, industry stakeholders to discuss about the potential benefits for adoption of cover crops, biochar, and cover crops – biochar combination to improve overall production sustainability. The participating farmers have decades of experience in sustainable crop production and their valuable inputs will be helpful to disseminate the knowledge to different industry stakeholders.
d) Incorporation in classroom teaching
We have numerous agriculture sciences courses offered in classroom on regular basis. Some of the courses are sustainable agriculture, soils health, soil science. We plan to bring students at experimental sites to provide hand-on experience regarding conducting experiment, collection of data. We will also demonstrate basic sample analyses in the laboratory. Students will gain both experiential and experimental knowledge on sustainable farming.
e) Presentation in annual conferences and publication in peer-reviewed journals
We expect to generate valuable data regarding GHG emission and soil health in this project. We will have several extension articles and peer-reviewed scholarly publications. We also plan to present in annual conferences such as tri-society meetings (ASA-CSSA-SSSA) and regional farmers’ meet and more. Project reports will be submitted to SSARE based on the requirements. We will submit a final project report at the end of the third year.
f) Data Management Plan
The project will leverage the extensive data management strategies and protocols followed by the participating institutes its trained archival staff. The project will assign qualified data manager within the institutions who is certified in disclosure risk management to act as steward for the data while they are being collected, processed, and analyzed. All research data collected as part of this project is owned by the University.
- Types of data
Both digital and non-digital data will be generated from lab work, field work, surveys, satellite imageries etc. Types of data to be collected, stored, and shared include: (a) Location of farm, (b) general farm and environmental data including crop species/variety grown, numbers, growth features, productivity, soil type, irrigation and fertilizer application, specific agronomic/horticultural practices.
The data will be stored as MS excel spread sheet, MS word, PDF files, and images/pictures as JPEG/TIFF files. Each data set will have specific identifiers and required information to help understand, validate, and use the data.
- Data storage and preservation
We will process and manage data in a secure environment (e.g., lockable computer systems with passwords, firewall system in place, power surge protection, virus/malicious intruder protection) and by controlling access to digital files with encryption and/or password protection. We will share the results of the study with the research community via journal publication, conferences, and seminars. We will also dedicate a website for this project to share and publish these results. Our project team have received training in human subject’s protection and will operate under the IRB approval for the project. Only project team members will have access to the confidential individually identifiable data, and they will aggregate or anonymize all data for publication or for data sharing purposes.
- Data sharing and public access
Project results and report are accessible to all public including university scientists, students, SSARE scientists and administrators and farm organization and farmers. Additionally, the key results and images and other useful information from the project will be uploaded onto EDIS website. The research team will hold the intellectual property rights for the research data they generate. The team own the raw data, the processed data, and the products derived from this project and will have the first use of the data. We will permit re-use and re-distribution of the aggregated and anonymized data and creation and publication of derivatives from such data for data sharing purposes as long as those seeking to do so receive prior permission from the research team, and the research team receives attribution or co-authorship for the work in the form of an acknowledgement (for data generation) in any publications or products derived using the data. The research team does not plan to permit others to use the data to develop commercial products or that in any way produce a financial benefit for those requesting the data. Since the data is generated using public funds, we expect that the products derived will be used exclusively for public benefit. We will announce the conditions for re-use and re-distribution of data on the project website within three months of the grant closing.
The participating institutions will make the research data from this project available to the broader organic agriculture research community. Public-use data files, in which direct and indirect identifiers have been removed to minimize disclosure risk, may be accessed directly through the repository website. After agreeing to Terms of Use, users with a repository data account and an authorized IP address from a member institution may download the data, and non-members may purchase the files. Restricted-use data files: These files are distributed in those cases when removing potentially identifying information would significantly impair the analytic potential of the data. Users (and their institutions) must apply for these files, create data security plans, and agree to other access controls.
- Roles and responsibilities
The Principal Investigator and Co-PI’s of this project and the Information Manager will take responsibility for the collection, management, and sharing of the research data.
- Plans for Archiving and Preservation of Access
We will utilize the Repository of TAMUK data storage, preservation, and dissemination over a period of three years beyond the conclusion of the project. In addition, we will establish a cloud-based data repository (Dropbox and Google Drive), along with an external hard drive for storing and maintaining the collected data. The principle investigators will hold the intellectual property rights to the data but will grant redistribution rights to other users for research and education purposes.
g) Student involvement
We will recruit one graduate student and one postdoctoral research scholar in this project. Part of this project will serve as thesis research for the graduate student. We have extensive experience mentoring student in such activities and proved successful. Student graduated from this program will facilitate the knowledge dissemination of the outcome of the project.