Harmony in the Soil: Uncovering Principles for the Design of Self-Sustaining Beneficial Agricultural Ecosystems

Commodities

• Additional Plants: herbs

Practices

• Crop Production: greenhouses, high tunnels or hoop houses

Our project focuses on
establishing ecosystems within agricultural settings that are not
just effective in the short term but are self-sustaining in the
long run. These are known as self-sustaining bioregenerative
ecosystems (SSBE). Our goal is to create a balanced ecological
system where each introduced organism plays a continuous role in
maintaining and enhancing soil and plant health and suppressing
disease and pests.

The core of our approach
involves:

1. Designing Integrated
   Ecosystems: We plan to design ecosystems where beneficial
   organisms, such as nematodes, don't just solve issues like pest
   infestations in a single-use manner, but become integral,
   enduring components of the ecosystem. This involves introducing
   secondary and tertiary organisms that create a symbiotic
   environment, allowing primary beneficial organisms to thrive
   and recycle indefinitely.
2. Long-term Ecosystem Management:
   The project goes beyond the initial setup of these ecosystems.
   We will monitor and fine-tune the system to ensure its
   long-term viability and adaptability to changing environmental
   conditions and agricultural needs. We hope to achieve SSBE
   persistence over multiple seasons.

Our ultimate objective is to
develop and standardize methodologies and practices that allow
for the creation of these self-sustaining ecosystems in various
contexts. The expected outcome is a blueprint for SSBE-based
farming that significantly reduces the need for external
interventions, thereby promoting sustainability, reducing costs,
and enhancing crop productivity in the long term. This has
utilizations ranging from immediate agricultural applications to
closed-loop bioregenerative life support systems that are
expected to one day support long-term space exploration
missions.

Our project is designed to
achieve several objectives:

• Experiment with Three Major
  Ecosystem Designs: Test three unique ecosystems to identify the
  most beneficial synergies for plant growth, disease and pest
  control. These will be tested sequentially to benefit insights
  gained after each experiment. For each iteration, we will
  compare an untreated control against an experimental ecosystem,
  sending each for root exudate analysis. Along with root exudate
  analysis, we will also study insect populations to assess the
  designed ecosystems’ abilities to promote their
  recycling.
• Experiment with Many Minor
  Ecosystem Designs: This objective is the same as the previous,
  except these experiments will not be analyzed for root
  exudates, thus saving significant costs, allowing for rapid
  iteration.
• Standardize Ecosystem Design
  Methodologies: Standardize methods for designing and deploying
  self-sustaining ecosystems that maintain their health and
  productivity, even in the absence of immediate pest
  threats.

Through this project, we
anticipate not only advancing our scientific understanding of
soil microbiology and plant-microbe interactions but also
delivering practical, tangible benefits to farming practices. Our
goal is to pave the way for more sustainable, efficient, and
productive agriculture, rooted in a deep understanding of the
soil's living tapestry.