Agricultural Science Commons^™

Continuous Cropping Alters Multiple Biotic And Abiotic Indicators Of Soil Health, Pervaiz Ahmad, Javed Iqbal, Qingming Zhang, Dima Chen, Hui Wei, Muhammad Saleem

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

The continuous cropping (CC) of major agricultural, horticultural, and industrial crops is an established practice worldwide, though it has significant soil health-related concerns. However, a combined review of the effects of CC on soil health indicators, in particular omics ones, remains missing. The CC may negatively impact multiple biotic and abiotic indicators of soil health, fertility, and crop yield. It could potentially alter the soil biotic indicators, which include but are not limited to the composition, abundance, diversity, and functioning of soil micro- and macro-organisms, microbial networks, enzyme activities, and soil food web interactions. Moreover, it could also alter various …

Use Of Family Structure Information In Interaction With Environments For Leveraging Genomic Prediction Models, Reyna Persa, Hiroyoshi Iwata, Diego Jarquin

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

The characterization of genomes with great detail offered by the modern genotyping platforms have opened a venue for accurately predicting the genotype-by-environment interaction (GE) effects of untested genotypes in different environmental conditions. Already developed statistical models have shown the advantages of including the GE interaction component in the prediction context using molecular markers, pedigree, or both. In order to leverage the family information of highly structured populations when pedigree data is not available, we developed a model that uses the family membership instead. The proposed model extends the reaction norm model by including the interaction between families and environments (FE). …

Coal Char Affects Soil Ph To Reduce Ammonia Volatilization From Sandy Loam Soil, Dinesh Panday, Maysoon M. Mikha, Bijesh Maharjan

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Ammonia (NH3) volatilization loss adversely affects N availability in soil-plant systems, reduces crop yield, and negatively impacts environment. Char (coal combus- tion residue), which contains up to 293 g kg−1 total C by weight, has been shown to reduce NH3 volatilization due to its considerably high surface area and cation exchange capacity. The NH3 loss can be greatly affected by a shift in soil pH or urea hydrolysis. A 21-d laboratory study was conducted to evaluate the effects of char on soil pH, N transformations, and subsequent NH3 volatilization in sandy loam soil. Two char rates (0 and 13.4 Mg …

Isoseq Transcriptome Assembly Of C3 Panicoid Grasses Provides Tools To Study Evolutionary Change In The Panicoideae, Daniel S. Carvalho, Aime Nishimwe, James Schnable

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

The number of plant species with genomic and transcriptomic data has been increasing rapidly. The grasses—Poaceae—have been well represented among species with published reference genomes. However, as a result the genomes of wild grasses are less frequently targeted by sequencing efforts. Sequence data from wild relatives of crop species in the grasses can aid the study of domestication, gene discovery for breeding and crop improvement, and improve our understanding of the evolution of C₄ photosynthesis. Here, we used long-read sequencing technology to characterize the transcriptomes of three C₃ panicoid grass species: Dichanthelium oligosanthes, Chasmanthium laxum, and …

The Lateral Root Density Gene Regulates Root Growth During Water Stress In Wheat, Dante F. Placido, Jaspreet Sandhu, Shirley Sato, Natalya Nersesian, Truyen Quach, Thomas Clemente, Paul Staswick, Harkamal Walia

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Drought stress is the major limiting factor in agriculture. Wheat, which is the most widely grown crop in the world, is predominantly cultivated in drought-prone rainfed environments. Since roots play a critical role in water uptake, root response to water limitations is an important component for enhancing wheat adaptation. In an effort to discover novel genetic sources for improving wheat adaptation, we characterized a wheat translocation line with a chromosomal segment from Agropyron elongatum, a wild relative of wheat, which unlike common wheat maintains root growth under limited-water conditions. By exploring the root transcriptome data, we found that reduced …

Adjusting Corn Nitrogen Management By Including A Mineralizable-Nitrogen Test With The Preplant And Presidedress Nitrate Tests, Jason Clark, Fabián G. Fernández, Kristen S. Veum, James J. Camberato, Paul R. Carter, Richard Ferguson, David W. Franzen, Daniel E. Kaiser, Newell R. Kitchen, C. A.M. Laboski, Emerson Nafziger, Carl J. Rosen, John E. Sawyer, John F. Shanahan

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

The anaerobic potentially mineralizable N (PMN) test combined with the preplant (PPNT) and presidedress (PSNT) nitrate tests may improve corn (Zea mays L.) N fertilization predictions. Forty-nine corn N response experiments (mostly corn following soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.]) were conducted in the U.S. Midwest from 2014–2016 to evaluate the ability of the PPNT and PSNT to predict corn relative yield (RY) and N fertilizer over- and under-application rates when adjusted by PMN. Before planting and N fertilization, PPNT (0–30, 30–60, and 60–90 cm) and PMN (0–30 cm) samples were obtained. In-season soil samples were obtained at the …

Relating Four-Day Soil Respiration To Corn Nitrogen Fertilizer Needs Across 49 U.S. Midwest Fields, G. M. Bean, Newell R. Kitchen, Kristen S. Veum, James J. Camberato, Richard Ferguson, Fabian G. Fernandez, David W. Franzen, Carrie A.M. Laboski, Emerson Nafziger, John E. Sawyer, Matt Yost

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Soil microbes drive biological functions thatmediate chemical and physical processes necessary for plants to sustain growth. Laboratory soil respiration has been proposed as one universal soil health indicator representing these functions, potentially informing crop and soil management decisions. Research is needed to test the premise that soil respiration is helpful for profitable in-season nitrogen (N) rate management decisions in corn (Zea mays L.). The objective of this research was two-fold: (i) determine if the amount of N applied at the time of planting effected soil respiration, and (ii) evaluate the relationship of soil respiration to corn yield response to …

Adding A Late Fall Application Of Proxy (Ethephon) Before Two Traditional Spring Applications Improves Seedhead Control Of Annual Bluegrass, Zachary Reicher, Matthew Sousek, Aaron J. Patton, Adam Van Dyke, William C. Kreuser, John C. Inguagiato, Kevin M. Miele, John Brewer, Shawn D. Askew, Aaron Hathaway, Thomas A. Nikolai, Alec Kowalewski, Brian Mcdonald

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Annual bluegrass (ABG) (Poa annua L.) is a prolific seed producer in the spring on golf courses that in turn decreases aesthetic quality and trueness of ball roll on coolseason putting greens. Proxy (ethephon) applied twice in the spring after green-up is the current industry standard after the loss of Embark (mefluidide) from the turf and ornamental market. However, plant growth regulators including Proxy have been used for years to help suppressABGseedheads with inconsistent success. The primary objective of this study was to determine if ABG seedhead suppression is improved by adding a late fall application of Proxy to …

Allelic Variation In Rice Fertilization Independent Endosperm 1 Contributes To Grain Width Under High Night Temperature Stress, Balpreet K. Dhatt, Puneet Paul, Jaspreet Sandhu, Waseem Hussain, Larissa Irvin, Feiyu Zhu, Maria Arlene Adviento-Borbe, Argelia Lorence, Paul Staswick, Hongfeng Yu, Gota Morota, Harkamal Walia

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

A higher minimum (night-time) temperature is considered a greater limiting factor for reduced rice yield than a similar increase in maximum (daytime) temperature. While the physiological impact of high night temperature (HNT) has been studied, the genetic and molecular basis of HNT stress response remains unexplored.

We examined the phenotypic variation for mature grain size (length and width) in a diverse set of rice accessions under HNT stress. Genome-wide association analysis identified several HNT-specific loci regulating grain size as well as loci that are common for optimal and HNT stress conditions.

A novel locus contributing to grain width under HNT …

Leveraging Genome-Enabled Growth Models To Study Shoot Growth Responses To Water Deficit In Rice, Malachy T. Campbell, Alexandre Grondin, Harkamal Walia, Gota Morota

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

lucidating genotype-by-environment interactions and partitioning its contribution to phenotypic variation remains a challenge for plant scientists. We propose a framework that utilizes genome-wide markers to model genotype-specific shoot growth trajectories as a function of time and soil water availability. A rice diversity panel was phenotyped daily for 21 d using an automated, high-throughput image-based, phenotyping platform that enabled estimation of daily shoot biomass and soil water content. Using these data, we modeled shoot growth as a function of time and soil water content, and were able to determine the time point where an inflection in the growth trajectory occurred. We …

Voxel Carving-Based 3d Reconstruction Of Sorghum Identifies Genetic Determinants Of Light Interception Efficiency, Mathieu Gaillard, Chenyong Miao, James Schnable, Bedrich Benes

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Changes in canopy architecture traits have been shown to contribute to yield increases. Optimizing both light interception and light interception efficiency of agricultural crop canopies will be essential to meeting the growing food needs. Canopy architecture is inherently three-dimensional (3D), but many approaches to measuring canopy architecture component traits treat the canopy as a two-dimensional (2D) structure to make large scale measurement, selective breeding, and gene identification logistically feasible. We develop a high throughput voxel carving strategy to reconstruct 3D representations of sorghum from a small number of RGB photos. Our approach builds on the voxel carving algorithm to allow …

Genome-Wide Identification And Analysis Of Heterotic Loci In Three Maize Hybrids, Hongjun Liu, Qin Wang, Mengjiao Chen, Yahui Ding, Xuerong Yang, Jie Liu, Xiaohan Li, Congcong Zhou, Qilin Tian, Yiqi Lu, Danlin Fan, Junpeng Shi, Lin Zhang, Congbin Kang, Mingfei Mingfei Sun, Fangyuan Li, Yujian Wu, Yongzhong Zhang, Baoshen Liu, Xiang Yu Zhao, Qi Feng, Jinliang Yang, Bin Han, Jinsheng Lai, Xian Sheng Zhang, Xuehui Huang

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Heterosis, or hybrid vigour, is a predominant phenomenon in plant genetics, serving as the basis of crop hybrid breeding, but the causative loci and genes underlying heterosis remain unclear in many crops. Here, we present a large-scale genetic analysis using 5360 offsprings from three elite maize hybrids, which identifies 628 loci underlying 19 yield-related traits with relatively high mapping resolutions. Heterotic pattern investigations of the 628 loci show that numerous loci, mostly with complete–incomplete dominance (the major one) or overdominance effects (the secondary one) for heterozygous genotypes and nearly equal proportion of advantageous alleles from both parental lines, are the …

Cover Crops And Cover Crop Mixes: Stratification Of Biological Effects, Landon M. Gibbs

Theses and Dissertations--Plant and Soil Sciences

The potential nutrient cycling benefits from legumes (e.g. N₂-fixation) and the high biomass potential of cereal rye are well known. Further studies are warranted to evaluate bi-culture mixtures and their effects on soil nutrient stratification and microbial enzyme activity because these two properties may be differently expressed (enhanced) by legume/grass mixes. The objectives of this study were: (1) show different cover crops and cover crop mixes containing grasses and legumes differentially stratify carbon and N; (2) show the change in microbial enzyme activity in soils planted with individual cover crops relative to cover crop mixes; 3) determine the …

Toward A Holistic Agricultural Student Recruitment Model: A National Analysis Of The Factors Affecting Students’ Decision To Pursue An Agricultural Related Degree, Antoine J. Alston, Richie Roberts, Chastity W. English

Journal of Research in Technical Careers

Currently, the agricultural industry struggles to fill positions with qualified agricultural workers. Therefore, it is critical to attract high caliber individuals to agricultural degree programs that are prepared to enter the workforce with the skills needed to navigate complex issues and problems. The purpose of this national study was to identify key factors that influence the recruitment of agriculture students at land-grant and non-land-grant universities. Using Chapman’s model of student success as our conceptual lens, we tested 66 factors identified in the literature as successful recruitment strategies for colleges of agriculture based on students’ personal characteristics as well as key …

Do Coffee Agroforestry Systems Always Improve Soil Carbon Stocks Deeper In The Soil?—A Case Study From Turrialba, Costa Rica, Nilovna Chatterjee, P. K. Ramachandran Nair, Vimala D. Nair, Abhishek Bhattacharjee, Elias De Melo Virginio Filho, Rheinhold G. Muschler, Martin R.A. Noponen

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Shaded perennial agroforestry systems (AFS) are regarded as desirable land‐use practices that improve soil carbon sequestration. However, most studies assume a positive correlation between above ground and below ground carbon without considering the effect of past and current land management, textural variations (silt and clay percentage), and such other site‐specific factors that have a major influence on the extent of soil C sequestration. We assessed SOC stock at various depths (0–10, 10–30, 30–60, and 60–100 cm) in shaded perennial coffee (Coffea arabica L.) AFS in a 17‐ year‐old experimental field at the Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza, (9°53′44′′ …

Pi‑Plat: A High‑Resolution Image‑Based 3d Reconstruction Method To Estimate Growth Dynamics Of Rice Inflorescence Traits, Jaspreet Sandhu, Feiyu Zhu, Puneet Paul, Tian Gao, Balpreet K. Dhatt, Yufeng Ge, Paul E. Staswick, Hongfeng Yu, Harkamal Walia

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Background: Recent advances in image-based plant phenotyping have improved our capability to study vegetative stage growth dynamics. However, more complex agronomic traits such as inflorescence architecture (IA), which predominantly contributes to grain crop yield are more challenging to quantify and hence are relatively less explored. Previous efforts to estimate inflorescence-related traits using image-based phenotyping have been limited to destructive end-point measurements. Development of non-destructive inflorescence phenotyping platforms could accelerate the discovery of the phenotypic variation with respect to inflorescence dynamics and mapping of the underlying genes regulating critical yield components.

Results: The major objective of this study is to evaluate …

Divergent Phenotypic Response Of Rice Accessions To Transient Heat Stress During Early Seed Development, Puneet Paul, Balpreet K. Dhatt, Jaspreet Sandhu, Waseem Hussain, Larissa Irvin, Gota Morota, Paul E. Staswick, Harkamal Walia

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Increasing global surface temperatures is posing a major food security challenge. Part of the solution to address this problem is to improve crop heat resilience, especially during grain development, along with agronomic decisions such as shift in planting time and increasing crop diversification. Rice is a major food crop consumed by more than 3 billion people. For rice, thermal sensitivity of reproductive development and grain filling is well-documented, while knowledge concerning the impact of heat stress (HS) on early seed development is limited. Here, we aim to study the phenotypic variation in a set of diverse rice accessions for elucidating …

Deep Kernel And Deep Learning For Genome-Based Prediction Of Single Traits In Multienvironment Breeding Trials, José Crossa, Johannes W.R. Martini, Daniel Gianola, Paulino Pérez-Rodríguez, Diego Jarquin, Philomin Juliana, Osval Antonio Montesinos López, Jaime Cuevas

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Deep learning (DL) is a promising method for genomic-enabled prediction. However, the implementation of DL is difficult because many hyperparameters (number of hidden layers, number of neurons, learning rate, number of epochs, batch size, etc.) need to be tuned. For this reason, deep kernel methods, which only require defining the number of layers, may be an attractive alternative. Deep kernel methods emulate DL models with a large number of neurons, but are defined by relatively easily computed covariance matrices. In this research, we compared the genome-based prediction of DL to a deep kernel (arc-cosine kernel, AK), to the commonly used …

Plant Hormones Differentially Control The Sub-Cellular Localization Of Plasma Membrane Microdomains During The Early Stage Of Soybean Nodulation, Zhenzhen Qiao, Prince Zogli, Marc Libault

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Phytohormones regulate the mutualistic symbiotic interaction between legumes and rhizobia, nitrogen-fixing soil bacteria, notably by controlling the formation of the infection thread in the root hair (RH). At the cellular level, the formation of the infection thread is promoted by the translocation of plasma membrane microdomains at the tip of the RH. We hypothesize that phytohormones regulate the translocation of plasma membrane microdomains to regulate infection thread formation. Accordingly, we treated with hormone and hormone inhibitors transgenic soybean roots expressing fusions between the Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) and GmFWL1 or GmFLOT2/4, two microdomain-associated proteins translocated at the tip of the …

Cover Crops As An Integrated Approach For Pest Suppression And Pollinator Promotion In Arkansas Watermelon Production Systems, Paige Laurel Hickman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Arkansas watermelon growers face a variety of insect pest and disease problems that have the potential to threaten yield. Integrated pest management tactics can provide control over these threats and are intended to cut down on pesticide use and its associated negative impacts like pesticide resistance, non-target effects, and runoff. Cover crops provide an array of benefits and can be useful in integrated pest management. Evidence has shown that certain cover crops can increase beneficial insects and suppress disease in the following cash crop. They can also provide important resources to pollinators. In order to build a better understanding of …

Effects Of Different Water And Nitrogen Regimens On Yield Of Winter Wheat Produced In Nebraska, Joseph Emory Davis

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Wheat is the 3rd most prominent crop in the United States and approximately 50% is exported annually. Nebraska wheat production is 11^th in the country, and it plays a major role in the state's agricultural economy, especially in western Nebraska. Generally, wheat is grown under dryland conditions and the region grows much more wheat on unirrigated land than it does on irrigated. However, deficit irrigation has shown great value in producing high yielding wheat with much less water than needed for other crops. Finding new ways to leverage irrigation in wheat production may help address the need to produce …

A Survey Of Soil Properties Affecting Vegetation Establishment Along Nebraska Highways, Shad D. Mills

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Vegetation along roadsides is important to prevent soil erosion, provide habitat and filter water running off the road. Along some highways in Nebraska vegetation does not readily establish and persist. It is thought that sodium and bulk density issues are the driving factor behind the lack of vegetation. After a construction project, the shoulder is seeded into the compacted soil, and salts can accumulate in the soil due to deicing agents being used during the winter. The purpose of our study was to determine if the bulk density and sodium are the driving factors of the vegetation cover. We also …

Use Of Uav Imagery And Nutrient Analyses For Estimation Of The Spatial And Temporal Contributions Of Cattle Dung To Nutrient Cycling In Grazed Ecosystems, Amanda E. Shine

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Nutrient inputs from cattle dung are crucial drivers of nutrient cycling processes in grazed ecosystems. These inputs are important both spatially and temporally and are affected by variables such as grazing strategy, water location, and the nutritional profile of forage being grazed. Past research has attempted to map dung deposition patterns in order to more accurately estimate nutrient input, but the large spatial extent of a typical pasture and the tedious nature of identifying and mapping individual dung pats has prohibited the development of a time- and cost-effective methodology. The first objective of this research was to develop and validate …

Evaluation Of Pheromone Mating Disruption For California Red Scale Control In Commercial California Citrus, Joel Timothy Leonard

Master's Theses

California red scale (CRS), Aonidella aurantii, is an increasingly injurious insect pest for the California citrus industry due to insecticide resistance, changing weather patterns, and shifting trade regulations. The presence of the insect on fruit, damages the rind of the fruit and high populations can cause dieback of branches as well as lower yields. Pheromone mating disruption of CRS has the potential to alleviate population control concerns and reduce insecticide use. The efficacy of the pheromone mating disruption technique for pest management of CRS was determined using the products CheckMate® CRS and Semios CRS Plus. CheckMate® CRS was evaluated …

Integration Of Cover Crops Into Midwest Corn-Soybean Cropping Systems And Potential For Weed Suppression, Joshua S. Wehrbein

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Cover crops have potential to provide benefits to agricultural systems, such as improved soil productivity, nutrient scavenging, weed suppression, and livestock forage. There are several challenges associated with cover crop integration into traditional Midwest corn-soybean cropping systems. One of these challenges is timely establishment in the fall, which is limited by the relatively late harvest of corn and soybean. Cover crop effectiveness is related to the amount of biomass produced, thus maximizing the growth period in the fall is desired. To address this challenge, we evaluated the potential to utilize early-season soybean maturity groups (MGs) to allow for earlier soybean …

Critical Time For Weed Removal In Corn (Zea Mays L.) As Influenced By Pre Herbicides, Ayse Nur Ulusoy

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

A weed control program that utilizes PRE herbicides and ensures a timely post-emergence weed removal could protect growth and yield of corn. The use of pre-emergence (PRE) herbicides for weed control could reduce the need for multiple POST applications of glyphosate in glyphosate-tolerant (GT) corn and provide an additional mode of action for combating glyphosate-resistant weeds. Thus, field studies were conducted in 2017 and 2018 at Concord, NE with the following objectives develop weed management recommendations that considers soil applied herbicides and determine proper timing of glyphosate based on the crop growth stage.

Therefore the material in this thesis is …

Evaluation Of A Global Spring Wheat Panel For Stripe Rust: Resistance Loci Validation And Novel Resources Identification, Ibrahim Elbasyoni, Walid M. El-Orabey, Sabah Morsy, P. S. Baenziger, Zakaria Al Ajlouni4, Ismail M. Dweikat

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Stripe rust (incited by Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici) is airborne wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) disease with dynamic virulence evolution. Thus, anticipatory and continued screening in hotspot regions is crucial to identify new pathotypes and integrate new resistance resources to prevent potential disease epidemics. A global wheat panel consisting of 882 landraces and 912 improved accessions was evaluated in two locations in Egypt during 2016 and 2017. Five prevalent and aggressive pathotypes of stripe rust were used to inoculate the accessions during the two growing seasons and two locations under field conditions. The objectives were to evaluate the panel for …

Metabolic Dynamics Of Developing Rice Seeds Under High Night-Time Temperature Stress, Balpreet K. Dhatt, Nathan Abshire, Puneet Paul, Kalani Hasanthika, Jaspreet Sandhu, Qi Zhang, Toshihiro Obata, Harkamal Walia

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

High temperature stress during rice reproductive development results in yield losses. Reduced grain yield and grain quality has been associated with high temperature stress, and specifically with high night-time temperatures (HNT). Characterizing the impact of HNT on the phenotypic and metabolic status of developing rice seeds can provide insights into the mechanisms involved in yield and quality decline. Here, we examined the impact of warmer nights on the morphology and metabolome during early seed development in six diverse rice accessions. Seed size was sensitive to HNT in four of the six genotypes, while seed fertility and seed weight were unaffected. …

Legacy Effects Of Biodegradable Mulch And Soil Amendments On Vegetable Crops And The Soil, Elise V. H. Reid

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Plastic film mulches are used in horticulture to manage weeds, improve water retention, and increase soil temperature. Bioplastics and biofabrics are potentially sustainable alternatives to plastic film; however, they have different rates of in soil degradation. Polylactic acid (PLA) is a 100% biobased polymer that degrades slowly, but could fulfill organic certification to be soil incorporated. Mater-Bi is a commercially available biodegradable plastic (bioplastic), which degrades quickly, but cannot be incorporated in organic systems. Our objectives were to determine the individual and combined effects of soil amendments and residual mulch on vegetable crop yield and soil fertility. In a two-year …

Organic Agriculture Teaching And Learning In 2025: Transforming The Future Learning Landscape, Randa Jabbour, Charles A. Francis, Mary Barbercheck, Katharina S. Ullman

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

University instructors are compelled to anticipate future changes in farming and food systems that will impact their students. Sixteen educators met in 2018 to envision the future of organic agriculture courses needed by 2025. Likely future global issues include food access, especially for people of limited economic means; climate change; and fossil fuel costs. Changes that will impact education are increasing demand for quality food, more organic production, and globalization of food systems due to consolidation. Probable course content changes are increasing focus on whole farm systems; designing for resilience in changing physical, economic, environmental, and political climates; and increasing …