Through this research project a variety of ornamental plants will be grown to assess how production practices can be improved through a series of experiments examining irrigation methods and volume, fertilizer quantity, substrate additives, and substrate components. Plant water needs will be assessed to understand how much irrigation is needed to produce good quality plants. This will provide growers with ways of improving irrigation applications by grouping plants by water needs and reducing irrigation applications when possible.
Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station
Sponsoring Unit: Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station
The goal of this research is to gain better insight into the decision making process of Massachusetts forest-owning families in regards to the future of their land so that educators may tailor outreach programs and material to help these families make informed decisions about it. The results will be shared with policy makers interested in supporting family decisions about the future of their land.
Livestock farms face a number of environmental concerns including both water and air quality issues. Stakeholders and regulators agree that attaining the dual goals of profitability and environmental accountability are major challenges facing animal agriculture. Under current economic conditions with increasing input costs and stagnant or decreasing product prices, many farms are struggling to survive. The additional costs of mitigating environmental impacts may accelerate farm exit.
Identify land-grant universities, the BLM and others entities involved in sustainable management of feral equids, to collaborate and find solutions for a balanced coexistance of feral and domestic populations.
Goals / Objectives
(1)
Integrate existing biological, ecological and economic data to make comprehensive science-based recommendations for the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board for sustainable management of wild and free-roaming horses and burros and the rangelands they inhabit.
(2)
Reaching the potential for renewable biofuels depends on the development of new technologies that are able to release the energy stored in cellulose fibers. This research project centers around an unusual microbe, Clostridium phytofermentans, that can convert a broad range of biomass sources directly to ethanol without expensive thermochemical pretreatment. Further development of conversion processes using C. phytofermentans will create a path to renewable biofuels using our region's sustainable forestry and crop resources.
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