Bioresource and Agricultural Engineering Commons^™

Ammonia Cycling And Emerging Particulate Matter Pollutants Under Arable Land-Use Management: A Modelling Approach, Vivien Pohl

Doctoral

Air quality monitoring in Ireland is under the jurisdiction of the Environmental Protection Agency in compliance with the Gothenburg Protocol, EU/national legislation, and the National Clean Air Strategy. Particulate Matter (PM) has been acknowledged as a key atmospheric pollutant, with serious public health impacts and no safe threshold of exposure in place to-date. Ammonia (NH3) emissions are linked to the secondary production of PM through atmospheric reactions occurring with acidic atmospheric components such as sulfuric acid, nitric acid, and hydrochloric acid. These reactions result in the formation of ammonium sulfate, ammonium nitrate and ammonium chloride, among others. More than 95% …

Design Of A Deep Flow Technique Hydroponic System And An Elementary Education Module For Tri Cycle Farms, Cady Rosenbaum

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Hydroponics is an agricultural technique in which plants are grown without soil and are instead grown in water systems that include nutrients and other growth-supporting media. Hydroponic systems typically reside inside, so that the system can be fully controlled by the grower by manipulating the temperature and amount of light the plants receive. The benefits of growing plants using hydroponics include: the amount of water used is reduced, it is less labor to grow organic produce with an indoor system, less space used, and it allows for growing food anywhere. Tri Cycle Farms is planning for the construction of a …

Design Of A Shallow-Aero Ebb And Flow Hydroponics System And Associated Educational Module For Tri Cycle Farms, Julie Halveland

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Tri Cycle Farms, whose main mission is to reduce food insecurity in their community, is a non- profit urban farm in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The “Tri” in their name refers to the three parts of their foundation: giving a third of their yield to volunteers, giving a third to local food pantries, and selling a third to sustain the farm and demonstrate the economy of local food production. They want to expand on the third part and have a vision of building a hydroponic greenhouse with the intention that it will create more crops to sell and give, as well as …

Internal Design Of A Hydroponics Greenhouse For Tri Cycle Farms, Sarah Gould

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Hydroponics is the agricultural technique of growing plants without soil, using other growing media and added nutrients in a solvent. It is an attractive agricultural method over conventional agriculture because it is more water efficient, is less labor intensive, yields higher quality crops in less time, and is easier to control. According to the Digital Journal, “hydroponics crop value is anticipated to grow to USD 27.29 Billion by 2022 at an estimated CAGR of 6.39% from 2015 to 2020” (Sawant, 2016). Alongside this growing market acceptance for hydroponics, there is also a local demand that requires only a small transportation …

A Comparative Analysis Of Feed And Environmental Factors On Broiler Growth In The United States, Alexandra Gulli

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Broiler production in the United States has become an important industry within the last half century. As the demand for poultry continues to increase and the concern of climate change also increases, it will become an important part of the industry to become more sustainable. This study uses a feed optimization model, a broiler growth model, and a life cycle assessment (LCA) to determine how feed ingredients and the barn environment can affect the broiler’s growth and production emissions. A multi-criteria ration optimization model is used to produce feeds based on carbon footprint and cost. A growth model is used …

A Five-Year Assessment Of Corn Stover Harvest In Central Iowa, Usa, Douglas Karlen, Stuart J. Birrell, J. Richard Hess

Douglas L Karlen

Sustainable feedstock harvest strategies are needed to ensure bioenergy production does not irreversibly degrade soil resources. The objective for this study was to document corn (Zea mays L.) grain and stover fraction yields, plant nutrient removal and replacement costs, feedstock quality, soil-test changes, and soil quality indicator response to four stover harvest strategies for continuous corn and a corn–soybean [Glycine max. (L.) Merr.] rotation. The treatments included collecting (1) all standing plant material above a stubble height of 10 cm (whole plant), (2) the upper-half by height (ear shank upward), (3) the lower-half by height (from the …

A Cradle To Farm Gate Life Cycle Analysis Of Land Use In U.S. Pork Production, William Benjamin Putman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this study was to conduct a detailed Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of the U.S. live swine production supply chain to quantify land use requirements and to assess the impact associated with various ration compositions. The functional unit was defined as one kilogram (2.2 pounds) of live swine at the farm gate, ready for transport to the abattoir. This assessment focused on the three highest producing USDA regions, which encompassed the Midwest (Regions 5 and 7) and the Southeast (Region 4), representing 86% of U.S. market hog production.

First, a literature review was conducted to summarize the most …

Overcoming India’S Food Security Challenges: The Role Of Intellectual Property Management And Technology Transfer Capacity Building, Stanley Kowalski, Aarushi Gupta, Ifica Mehra

Law Faculty Scholarship

The growth of the Indian economy after Independence has had little impact on the food security of the country. The paper analyses the development of advanced crop varieties through the use of agricultural technologies (hereinafter "agbiotech") within the technology transfer system, a framework which comprises of the interactions of intellectual property rights law and agricultural research and development in India. Through this, the author argues that agricultural innovation in India is failing due to the absence of connections within the technology transfer system and advocates for the creation of a national program aimed at advancing IP and tech-transfer capacity in …

Quantifying Total And Sustainable Agricultural Biomass Resources In South Dakota—A Preliminary Assessment, Kurt A. Rosentrater, Dennis Todey, Russell Persyn

Kurt A. Rosentrater

Conversion of biomass is considered the next major advance in biorenewable fuels, energy, and products. Wholesale conversion to biomass utilization could result in removal of current crop residues from agricultural fields (on prime agricultural lands) or even implementation of different crops and cropping strategies (i.e., switchgrass on marginal lands). To date, the driver for biomass processing has been economics and limitations on the conversion of the lignocellulose. Over the last forty years significant investments and resultant changes in management practices in the agricultural sector have focused on soil and water conservation. One of the major efforts has focused on conservation-till …

Quantifying Total And Sustainable Agricultural Biomass Resources In South Dakota, Kurt A. Rosentrater, Russell Persyn, Dennis Todey

Kurt A. Rosentrater

Conversion of biomass is considered the next major advance in biorenewable fuels, energy, and products. Wholesale conversion to biomass utilization could result in removal of current crop residues from agricultural fields or even implementation of different crops and cropping strategies (i.e., switchgrass). To date, the driver for biomass processing has been economics and limitations on the conversion of the lignocellulose. Over the last forty years significant investments and resultant changes in management practices in the agricultural sector have focused on soil and water conservation. One of the major efforts has focused on conservation-till or no-till, with the goal of retaining …

A Case Study Of Bioengineering In America: Profits, Risks And Standards Of Value In The Commercialization Of Monsanto Company's Newleaf Potato, Bridget Lyons, Teresa Ralabate, Nadhim Frangul

WCBT Faculty Publications

Last year, approximately 45 million acres of American farmland were planted with crops that had been genetically engineered to either produce their own pesticides, or withstand herbicides. The long and short-term effects of this biotechnology on humans and the environment, are being studied, but remain unknown. Leading the way in the field of bioengineered crops is the Missouri-based Monsanto Company. Monsanto believes that current agricultural practices are inconsistent with sustainable development. The NewLeaf potato is one of three products Monsanto has created to feed the growing world population. The genetically engineered crop produces, in every cell of the plant, a …