In the philosophy class, Research Ethics, I decided to write a philosophical pater about:

WHAT ARE RESEARCH SCIENTISTS’ RESPONSIBILITIES WHEN CONSIDERING CALIFORNIA’S WATER SCARCITY PROBLEM?

Please feel free to have a look at this paper:

-philosophy_research_ethics_march2008

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Local and National Organic Food Production

Group project, OSU Winter 2007  -  organic-food-production_poster_winter2007

The Organic Food Production Act of 1990 established the National Organic Program (NOP) under the direction of the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), an arm of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Organic production is a system that is managed in accordance with the Act and regulations in response to site-specific conditions by integrating cultural, biological, and mechanical practices that foster cycling of resources, promote ecological balance, and conserve biodiversity. Organic products are a commodity at both the local and national level; resulting in increased land and water issues. Farmers at local and national level have different standards and certification procedures. This mediates how consumers use their purchasing power to either support local or national companies.

Comparative Study in Lab Incubations of Five Organic Soil Amendments at Two Different Temperatures

OSU Spring 2007 – organic-soil-amendments_group-project_2007

Abstract:

An experiment was conducted to analyze the difference that two temperatures (22°C and 37°C) have on nutrient content, nitrogen mineralization and carbon release in some common organic products used for organic growers in the Pacific Northwest. The products used for the current study were coffee grounds, feather meal, fish emulsion, shrimp shells and horse manure. These amendments were tested for pH, EC, N mineralization, CO2 lost through decomposition, and plant available nutrients through ion flux with PRS^TM probes in a 7 day period. Temperatures affected the amendments with C: N ratios lower than 10 (fish, feather, shrimp), more than the amendments with C: N ratios more than 20 (horse, coffee). The different temperatures did not affect micronutrient availability. All of the amendments did follow the trend of decomposing more quickly at higher temperatures.

In conjunction with my Mater’s project, I presented the ion technology, PRS probe, to my Nutrient Management in Organic Cropping System class.

Plant Root Simulator Probe_presentation-2007

In addition, I presented a poster, on the Belowground Dynamics of Inter-seeding Wheat and Pea, at the Pacific Northwest Direct Seed Association Conference in January  2008.

PNWDS_PRS_WAII_Poster_Jan08

ARIZONA

I had the privilege to live near the Mogian Rim in Flagstaff, Arizona for five years. The Mogian Rim is located between the Colorado Plateau and the Senora Desert. Have to say I enjoyed my time there. I got to know the high and low deserts and their own beauty.

OREGON

I life since October 2006 in Corvallis, Oregon! I am very much enjoying the changes of seasons here in the Pacific Northwest.

Soil organic matter (SOM) and soil erosion process are connected. Soil erosion is a natural, geological process, which is influenced mostly by wind and rain. However, through extensive agricultural tillage practices, soil erosion has been massively accelerated. The massive loss of(SOM) is an ongoing global problem. Soil tillage leads to decline in soil structure, leading to compaction and erosion. In addition soil tillage leads to depletion in SOM pool and increase a decline in net primary production.
Agricultural soils play an important role in carbon sequestration and so helping mitigate globe warming. Tillage can expose the soil organic matter to the oxidation processes that result in SOM removal as CO2, to more rapid decomposition of crop remains into CO2, and to disruption of aggregates that exposes SOM to microbial and enzyme activity (release of CO2 into the atmosphere = soil respiration).
Sedimentologists argue that soil erosion is a carbon sink. The eroded SOM is transported to depositional sites, in places such as comprising concave slopes, flood plains and buried in aquatic ecosystem. Therefore, the buried SOM is physically protected against mineralization and is sequestered.

I personally do not agree that soil erosion is a carbon sink. Then large fractions of SOM displacement do not reach the depressional sites or get buried in aquatic ecosystems. The remainder of SOM is mineralized into CO2 under aerobic conditions and CH4 under anaerobic environments. Denitrification can occur in depressional sites with an attendant emission of N2O.
More research has to be done in order to better understand the dynamics in mineralization of CO2 from eroded soils. Agricultural soils play most likely an important role in the globe carbon cycle, because soil erosion is illustrated as a carbon source.

General Environmental Issues: 

Technology Transfer among Agricultural Interest Groups
Communication among Oregon farmers, research scientists, county extension personnel, and the agricultural business industry affects sustainable conservation land management practices. I will be analyzing how effective the current communications framework is among these different groups.

Service Learning project PDF

In addition to the Service Learning Project, I did a group project for my communications class during the fall 2006. We proposed for our Communications and Science project, to examine communication involving technology transfer of conservation practices between researchers and farmers in the southern Willamette Valley of western Oregon. Since soil erosion and fertilizer runoff can potentially affect water quality in several Willamette Valley watersheds, implementation of certain conservation practices, such as buffer zones or grassed waterways, within and boarding agricultural fields is one approach in limiting contamination of intermittent and perennial streams.
There are several economic and environmental incentives to entice farmers to set aside a portion of their agricultural land for conservation purposes. One such economic incentive is to participate in Federal conservation programs that support such activities. However, we were unaware if farmers actually understand how these Federal programs can benefit them, both economically and environmentally, and whether they had knowledge of how to apply for these programs.
Therefore, our project objectives included interviewing local grass-seed farmers to see if they were aware of different conservation practices. Also, we interviewed local scientists and university extension personnel to see how they convey scientific information to farmers and their recommendations they had help communicate this information to farmers.
From these data, we gained information on whether sustainable and conservational land management practices were occurring, and whether there is a communication barrier between farmers and scientists. We were be able to identify and make personal recommendations on the current situation. The goal was to identify how to bring scientific information to the farming community.

For results and summary see the PDF attachment

Technology Transfer class project PDF