Project Overview
Commodities
- Vegetables: peppers
Practices
- Crop Production: cover crops
Proposal abstract:
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 from proposal:
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.