Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
In the face of pressing agricultural challenges such as soil degradation, climate change, and food security issues, there is a growing need for innovative and sustainable farming methods. Traditional farming practices often fall short in addressing these problems, leading to inefficiencies and higher resource consumption. To combat these issues, SDI will spearhead the SMART Green Growers project, aimed at transforming agricultural practices through innovative hydroponics technology.Hydroponics, which involves growing plants without soil, offers a promising solution for farmers by significantly reducing the need for land, water, and energy while increasing crop yields. This method not only supports environmental sustainability, but also provides a cost-effective entry point for beginning farmers, making it a viable option for those looking to start their own farming enterprises.Our SMART Green Growers project is designed to develop a comprehensive educational curriculum to enhance SDI's capacity to train and support beginning farmers in hydroponics technology. The curriculum will be crafted with input from our SMEs in hydroponics, agriculture, and education, incorporating up-to-date research and best practices. Our proposed curriculum will ensure that we meet our over-arching goal of setting up smart farming communities to combat agricultural and food security issues and our associated program objectives as well as three of the fifteen BFRDP objectives as follows:Program Objectives:To promote green initiatives and help combat climate change.To help address food security issues such as supply chain issues in the agricultural sector and to combat inflation.To help combat the labor shortages as well as the challenges with the aging population where a significant portion of farmers nearing retirement and only 8% of farmers falling under the 35 year old group.To foster entrepreneurship among beginning farmers.BFRDP objectives:Innovative farm, ranch, and private, nonindustrial forest land transfer and succession strategies (Innovative Farm)Curriculum developmentAddress climate change with climate smart agriculture, food, and forestry solutions
Animal Health Component
25%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
25%
Applied
25%
Developmental
50%
Goals / Objectives
The major goal of the Smart Development Institute (SDI) for this project is to help address agricultural and food security issues by helping build smart farming communitiesthat employ smart innovative farming technologies with high crop yields while being climate-resilient, environmentally friendly, and easily adaptable requiring less resources. We will work with target communities focusing on the education of beginning farmers, classified as farmers with less than ten (10) years of farming experience, and with strong preference to support marginalized areas.To support our major goal, SDI will develop an educational curriculum to enhance the capacity of SDI for providing training and technical assistance to beginning farmers on alternative and innovative hydroponics farming technology in a Controlled Environment Agriculture ("CEA") setting. Through our educational curriculum, we aim to fulfill the following program objectives in achieving our major goal of building smart farming communities that addressagricultural and food security challenges:To promote green initiatives and help combat climate change, beginning farmers will be educated on how to adapt hydroponics to augment existing farms that employ traditional soil-based farming methods. Beginning farmers will experience first-hand that hydroponics will require less land, less water, less energy, and less labor but with higher crop yields per square meter of land compared to soil-based farming as well as promote climate-resilient and environmentally friendly farming enterprise.To help address food security issues such as supply chain issues in the agricultural sector and combat inflation, beginning farmers will be educated on the concepts of distributed farming model using hydroponics. Since hydroponics will require less land and less water, it can be adapted in a multitude of rural and urban settings where a distributed model for farming can easily be adapted. In addition, the business concept of "farm to table" can easily be realized with a distributed farming model. This will have a significant impact on the supply chain where the time for and cost of transport will either be eliminated or significantly reduced, which can significantly reduce crop prices to combat inflation.To help combat the labor shortages as well as the challenges with the aging population where a significant portion of farmers nearing retirement and only 8% of farmers falling under the 35 year old group, we intend to establish training partnerships with educational institutions to introduce and train young students in the exciting field of hydroponics farming. We aim to foster awareness among young people of the advantages of this technology and its importance in addressing the food security issues in the U.S. Furthermore, we will establish partnerships with farm owners and/or farming organizations to create job opportunities for students completing our training courses.To foster entrepreneurship among beginning farmers, we plan to educate farmers on ways to establish a hydroponics-based business enterprise as an economical entry point requiring less land, less water, less energy, and less labor but with higher crop yields per square meter of land compared to soil-based farming as well as promote climate-resilient and environmentally friendly farming enterprise. We will also provide beginning farmers with information on access to capital but will not assist them in the process of securing capital.Our proposed curriculum will provide practical and hands-on experience to participants through our hydroponics lab, allowing them to see and experience full crop sequencing of high-value crops including bok choy, lettuce, basil and kale. The development of our proposed curriculum not only enhances SDI's capacity to provide training and helps SDI address agricultural and food security issues, but also positions SDI effectively to implement fund-growth strategies for seeking sources of funds for expansion such as other grant programs for supporting beginning farmers.Our proposed curriculum development program supports three out of the 15 BFRDP priorities, which also align with our stated program objectives above, as follow:Objective 1 - Innovative farm, ranch, and private, nonindustrial forest land transfer and succession strategies (Innovative Farm)Our approach integrates smart, innovative, portable, and replicable hydroponics technology, in controlled environment, offering beginning farmers the opportunity to learn in a real-world and practical approach as a supplement or alternative to soil-based farming.Objective 2 - Curriculum developmentThe main aim of this program is to develop a curriculum focused on the technical aspects of hydroponics farming through the following modules:Module 1: Introduction to Hydroponics1.1. Overview of Hydroponics: Definition and principles of hydroponic farming; History and evolution of hydroponics; Advantages and disadvantages of hydroponic systems1.2. Types of Hydroponic Systems: Overview of different hydroponic systems (e.g., nutrient film technique, deep water culture, vertical farming); Comparison of system designs, scalability, and suitability for different cropsModule 2: Crop Selection and Management2.1. Choosing Suitable Crops: Factors influencing crop selection in hydroponic farming (e.g., climate, market demand, crop lifecycle); Popular crops for hydroponic cultivation and their requirements2.2. Crop Nutrition and Nutrient Management: Understanding plant nutrient requirements; Formulating nutrient solutions and managing nutrient levels; Monitoring and adjusting pH and EC levelsModule 3: Hydroponic System Design and Setup3.1. System Components and Equipment: Components of a hydroponic system (e.g., reservoirs, pumps, grow lights, growing media); Selection and sourcing of equipment3.2. System Design and Setup: Planning and designing a hydroponic facility; Installation and assembly of hydroponic systems; Environmental control and automationModule 4: Operations and Maintenance4.1. Planting and Crop Management: Seed selection and germination techniques; Transplanting, spacing, and pruning; Pest and disease management in hydroponic systems4.2. Irrigation and Water Management: Water quality considerations; Irrigation scheduling and techniques; Water conservation and recyclingInitially, our Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) and Curriculum Developers will adapt and develop a curriculum based on the most effective crop sequencing of four high-value crops that the current configuration of our hydroponics lab can support: Bok Choy, Lettuce, Basil and Kale. We can upgrade the configuration of our hydroponics lab to accommodate other high-value crops but at this time, our curriculum development will support the four high-value crops listed above.Objective 3 - Address climate change with climate smart agriculture, food, and forestry solutionsHydroponics, a leading technology in climate-smart agriculture, offers a sustainable solution to combat the impacts of climate change on traditional farming. With our systems utilizing 92% less water, land, energy, and labor compared to conventional methods, they play a crucial role in water conservation, especially in drought-prone regions. By recycling water in closed-loop systems and requiring fewer resources like land, fertilizers, and pesticides, hydroponics significantly reduces agriculture pollution by nearly 70%, contributing to greenhouse gas reduction efforts.This innovative approach not only ensures food security but also fosters climate resilience, empowering farmers to thrive amidst changing climatic conditions.
Project Methods
Our approach for the entire life cycle of the project will be performed with the following project plan:1) Curriculum Development: 6 monthsCurriculum Development, the program's main objective together with Innovative farming, will be the focus of the first six months. Once we design a curriculum framework based on the findings of the needs assessment, we will develop Modules 1 to 4 for five months.2) Recruitment and Intake Process: 2 monthsPrior to completing the curriculum development, we will start recruiting beginning farmers to participate in the pilot training using the curriculum by means of online tools, including social media. Our Hydroponics TV Channel (https://HydroponicsTV.com), this program's digital platform, will serve as a key tool for outreach and communication efforts. Part of the channel's feature is the ability to register into our curriculum and provide access to more content, creating a database of potential participants who will be vetted to participate in the program.3) Pilot Training: 4 monthsPotential participants who register at our digital platform (https://HydroponicsTV.com) will be vetted through a baseline survey administered electronically. The pilot execution of the resulting curriculum will take around four months, two months for Modules 1 and 2, and two months for Modules 3 and 4. Furthermore, the 4-month period will allow participants to see firsthand the actual crop growth sequencing results. At the end of the four months, the participants should not only be familiar with technical aspects of hydroponics farming, but also have gained hands-on experience with the crop sequencing of bok choy, lettuce, kale, and basil.4) Program Review: 1 monthA follow-up survey will be administered to training participants after completing the program to gather their feedback and suggestions for improving the program. Our SMEs with expert knowledge in farming will support this effort by conducting independent program evaluation at the end. We hopeto have certified beginning hydroponics farmers from the Curriculum's pilot program, some of them would hopefully be enticed to start their hydroponics lab farm.