Progress 10/01/10 to 09/30/15
Outputs
Target Audience:This research had 2 target groups. Greenhouse and nursery growers, particularly production managers, are being provided information through trade magazine articles as well as lectures at workshops or industry meetings. Various crops were grown in soilless plant production systems so that farmers of those crops are beneficiaries of the research results. A significant facet of this work was the use of photovoltaic solar panel technologies to provide shade in a container nursery setting. Once it became clear that it was possible to grow plants in teh shade of solar panels, another target group emerged: policy makers who are involved in making decisions regarding using solar panels on agricultural lands. They are able to see reasons that solar PV technologies can be used in conjunction with agricultural plant production. Many counties and regions are currently developing such policy and are thus a target for outcomes of this research. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project has drawn considerable media attention and visitors come from all over the world to learn about our approach to use soilless plant production in greenhouse, nursery and in-door urban agriculture. Our site has become a unique training facility to demonstrate various powerful new technologies, particularly the combination of in-door agriculture (hydorponics and LED lighting technologies). It has become clear that a lot of training is needed to operate such systems. As such we are currently developing a curriculum which can be offered globally to teach interested persons how to grow agricultural plants in such high-tech systems. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The project attracted significant attention of both agricultural and non-agricultural clients which resulted in numerous requests for tours of the facilities where the research was being conducted. In addition to dissemination through public news channels we provided many interested clients with on-site demonstrations of the technology. In addition to one-on-one site visits for clients, we have also conducted workshops. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
One part of the research centered around the concept of dual-use of solar radiation in agriculture where one use consists of plant/crop production (photosyntheically active radiation) while the second use is the creation of electricity using photovoltaic (PV) electricity production. Activities in this project focused on experimentation to screen many plant species and varieties to identify for each the degree of suitability for production in a shade house where shade is made with PV systems. We learned that by using technologies that allow some light to penetrate through the PV panel, it is possible to grow some economically-important plants. Using technology that allowed roughly 30-35% light penetration to the plants (~70% shade), we were able to grow some plants (e.g. citrus) without any loss of biomass production. Many of the tested plants showed a significant decline in biomass production. This decline was much less, and generally nearly insignficant, for half as much shading. As such production of plants/crops involves a compromise between light interception by the PV vs the plants. Plants which are already commonly grown under shade and those where a slight loss is acceptable, are good candidates for the use of PV technologies as shading system. We also found that it is important to screen plants as to whether production losses are likely to occur due to shading since plants in some experiments did show significant losses when grown under shaded conditions regardless of whether the shade was produced by conventional shading technologies or the PV systems. Considerable number of clients asked whether the technology might also be applicable in in-ground field production of agricultural crops (which was not the scope of this project). As such we conducted tests on some crop plants that are customarily grown in fields in northern California. We found that the tested technology had excellent potential for adoption in solar farms for certain crops for shade levels around 35%. We also noted that the technology could have application in citrus nurseries, particularly in combination with screen house technology. We modified the nursery to create screen compartments of which two had the two PV shading systems (35% and 70% shade). This work showed that citrus grew best within a screenhouse shaded with the highest level of shading of our photovoltaic shading system. We also found that such a screen house does not get nearly as hot as a screen house without shade. We investigated the use of a polyurethane foam product as a rooting medium for plant production. Activities involved experimentation so as to determine feasibility and best-management practices for horticultural production. The first version of the product was not ideal and caused damage to some plants, particularly in propagation, so the project was stopped and the firm reformulated the product. We conducted further testing which showed that the reformulated product was satisfactory with excellent potential for both plant propagation and soilless culture plant production. The work was concluded and the firm developing the product is marketing it to the industry globally. We began exploring the use of soilless culture methods to grow young citrus plants in container nursery production. While we showed that some of these methods can be used, there are still further issues to resolve before adoption by the industry, particularly in relation to nutrient management. We conducted a number of trials on floriculture greenhouse crops to attempt to model growth and development with the objective of developing tools which growers can use in production management. Our work with Phalaenopsis orchids showed that we could predict flower spike elongation subject to temperature and growth regulator concentration. We also found that lighting the plants with blue light had an inhibitory effect of spike elongation in comparison with red light. Our work with hydroponically grown chrysanthemum plants showed that we could develop decision support systems based on models to grow the plants to very precise heights. With both the orchid and chrysanthemum we were able to use a modified Richard Function as a model into which we could incorporate eternal horticultural effects such as growth regulator effects. We also noted in several of the above project areas that we could manipulate plant growth through intermittent lighting as well as through providing particular parts of the spectrum of the visible radiation spectrum. This lead to doing extensive work with applications of LED lighting technology in controlled-environment agriculture (both greenhouse and in-door production). We have noted that both intermittency and spectral quality can affect quantity and quality of produced plant biomass in floricultural and vegetable crops. We have begun to work extensively with urban agriculture tools and towards the end of the project began combining all the above outcomes into a project where we have a plant factory (using LED lighting and advanced soilless culture tools) directly coupled to the photovoltaic nursery. The results is a powerful statement of what the future of urban agriculture can be.
Publications
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Progress 10/01/13 to 09/30/14
Outputs
Target Audience: The target audience for this project are greenhouse and nursery growers as well as allied industries, particularly hydroponic firms as well as solar energy firms. During the reporting period there has been a dramatic rise in private urban firms involved in in-door plant growing and this is now also a target for this project. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? We are seeing very strong interest among students and interested parties in learning how to do hydroponic production, both in-doors and in greenhouses. We are providing such trainging; within the project we draw such persons into internships where they get hand-on training in the area. We are also at the leading edge of LED lighting technology application in the plant sciences and we are training individuals in that area as well. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? We are working directly with growers and allied industries in developing new methods and products. The dissemination methods include talks to these communities as well as written reports. We are also conducting nearly weekly tours of our testing facilities to show how these technologies can be used. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? We are currently constructing a demonstration/testing facility for in-door plant agriculture coupled to a photovoltaic array. Various tests will be conducted to discover various phenomena that are affected by various colors of light produced by LED lighting technologies, in concert with various modes of operation of particular soilless culture approaches (hydroponics).
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Further work was carried out to investigate whether various plants typically grown in-ground on California farms could be produced without loss of yield, under partial shade of a Solar PV energy systems. This stage of our work is now reaching the phase where we will be doing a demonstration project where farmers and county regulators can see how it works. Our work with hydroponic (soilless) cultivation is continuing, focusing particularly on new lighting technologies in combination with various indoor-hydroponic methods. Our research is helping firms that make such lighting systems with the development of their products.
Publications
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Progress 01/01/13 to 09/30/13
Outputs
Target Audience: The target audience for this project are greenhouse and nursery growers as well as allied industries, particularly hydroponic firms as well as solar photovoltaic energy firms. Changes/Problems: The project is seeing some expansion into related urban horticulture areas as it has become more economically feasible to carry out soilless culture horticulture in indoor situations. As such we are expanding our work in relation to production of leafy-green vegetables and to identify methods to control such production. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Numerous growers, individuals from related industries and policy makers have visited the research site to learn about the key outcomes and to learn how to make decisions in this area. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?
Nothing Reported
What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? We will continue to conduct the research as proposed with additional focus on indoor plant production. Various industry partners are collaborating with us on various facets of this project.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Prior to starting researching photovoltaic shade house technology, it was assumed that solar PV and plant production agriculture could not be used simultaneously on the same land area since plant need sunlight to grow and solar panels typically intercept all such sunlight. Our work demonstrated that that is not the case. By using technologies that allow some light to penetrate through the PV panel it is possible to grow some economically-important plants. Using technology that allowed roughly 30-35% light penetration to the plants, we were able to grow plants (e.g. citrus) without any loss of biomass production. Many of the tested nursery plants shows slight decline in biomass production so that production of these plants/crops involved a compromise between light interception by the PV vs the plants. In cases where plant production is already commonly done under shade, the use of PV technologies can be a good alternative as it allows the farmer to have additional income from light energy that is otherwise discarded. We also found that it was important to screen plants as to whether production losses are likely to occur due to shading since plants in some experiments did show significant losses when grown under shaded conditions regardless of whether the shade was produced by conventional shading technologies or the PV systems. The research on nutrient uptake is showing which nutrients vary with diurnal variations in light and temperature. The work is particularly relevant in relation to hydroponic lettuce production.
Publications
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Progress 01/01/12 to 12/31/12
Outputs
OUTPUTS: This project explored use of the following technologies for soilless crop production: (1) Shadehouse, sreenhouse and greenhouse technologies in conjunction with solar photovoltaic (PV) electricity production, (2) new rooting medium technology for soilless plant production, and (3) nutrient uptake in hydroponic production systems. The first of these areas focused the concept of dual-use of solar radiation in agriculture where one use consisting of plant/crop production while the second use is the creation of electricity using PV technologies. Activities in this project focused on experimentation to screen many container nursery plants to identify for each the degree of suitability for production in such a photovoltaic shade house. Frequent tours of the research projects in the facility to interested professionals and policy makers demonstrated the applicability of the technologies to related agricultural industries. (2) The second area involved adapting and testing a polyurethane foam product as a rooting medium for plant production; showing areas of horticulture where the use was limited and areas where this system provides a important tool for growers. Activities involved only experimentation so as to determine feasibility and best-management practices for horticultural production. (3) Activities related to research on diurnal uptake patterns of primary and secondary macronutrients in a system where water in the root zone is continuously recirculated. We have begun to build models and develop horticultural methods to capitalize on this. PARTICIPANTS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. TARGET AUDIENCES: Two target groups are the beneficiaries of the research: (1) Greenhouse and nursery growers, particularly production managers are being provided information through trade magazine articles as well as lectures at workshops or industry meetings. The work on nutrient management uses lettuce as the model system and the target audience for that work include field lettuce producers as well as greenhouse lettuce growers. (2) Policy makers involved in making decisions regarding using solar panels on agricultural lands have also been benefitting extensively from this work. They are able to see reasons that solar PV technologies can be used in conjunction with agricultural plant production. Many counties and regions are currently developing such policy and are thus a target for outcomes of this research. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
Prior to starting researching photovoltaic shade house technology, it was assumed that solar PV and plant production agriculture could not be used simultaneously on the same land area since plant need sunlight to grow and solar panels typically intercept all such sunlight. Our work demonstrated showed that that is not the case. By using technologies that allow some light to penetrate through the PV panel it is possible to grow some economically-important plants. Using technology that allowed roughly 30-35% light penetration to the plants, we were able to grow plants (e.g. citrus) without any loss of biomass production. Many of the tested nursery plants shows slight decline in biomass production so that production of these plants/crops involved a compromise between light interception by the PV vs the plants. In cases where plant production is already commonly done under shade, the use of PV technologies can be a good alternative as it allows the farmer to have additional income from light energy that is otherwise discarded. We also found that it is important to screen plants as to whether production losses are likely to occur due to shading since plants in some experiments did show significant losses when grown under shaded conditions regardless of whether the shade was produced by conventional shading technologies or the PV systems. Unfortunately the firm selling the specific solar panels ceased to do business and we began to work with an alternate system. Since this system did not behave in the same way, we are not looking at ways to use this in greenhouse and nursery production. In the second year of testing polyurethane foam growing medium we found that the product could be used as a replacement for certain soilless substrates in potted plant production and propagation. We are now reaching the phase were testing needs to be done in commercial production. The research on nutrient uptake is showing which nutrients vary with diurnal variations in light and temperature and will ultimately lead to development of systems where day and night optimization will be possible. The work is particularly relevant in relation to hydroponic lettuce production.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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Progress 01/01/11 to 12/31/11
Outputs
OUTPUTS: This project explores the use of new technologies for soilless crop production with particular focus on renewable energy as well as irrigation and fertigation technologies. Several such technologies and research areas have been the focus during the reporting period: (1) solar photovoltaic (PV) electricity production in container nursery production, (2) new rooting medium technology for soilless plant production, (3) utilization of new ion-specific monitoring technologies to assist in fertigation and recirculation management and (4) nutrient uptake in hydroponic production systems. Outputs in these four areas are as follows: (1) The first of these centers around the concept of dual-use of solar radiation in agriculture where one use consists of plant/crop production while the second use is the creation of electricity using PV technologies. Activities in this project focused on experimentation to screen many plant species and varieties to identify for each the degree of suitability for production in such a shade house. At least monthly we conducted tours of the facility to interested professionals and policy makers, showing research in action and applicability of the technologies to related agricultural industries. One industry article was written on the subject for a trade magazine. (2) The second area involved adapting and testing a polyurethane foam product as a rooting medium for plant production. Activities involved only experimentation so as to determine feasibility and best-management practices for horticultural production. Additional output consisted of the creation and submission of grant proposals to explore technologies that relate to the above, including screenhouse applications as well as feasibility of application of results to open-field agriculture. (3) Activities related to the ion-specific monitoring technology involved experimentation to identify best-management practices related to his tool with dissemination through informal communications and demonstrations. In area (4) we are as yet conducting basic research showing diurnal uptake patterns of all primary and secondary macronutrients in a system where water in the root zone is continuously recirculated. PARTICIPANTS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. TARGET AUDIENCES: Two target groups are the beneficiaries of the research: Greenhouse and nursery growers, particularly production managers are being provided information through trade magazine articles as well as lectures at workshops or industry meetings. The work on nutrient management uses lettuce as the model system and the target audience for that work include field lettuce producers as well as greenhouse lettuce growers. Another segment consists of policy makers involved in making decisions regarding using solar panels on agricultural lands. They are able to see reasons that solar PV technologies can be used in conjunction with agricultural plant production. Many counties and regions are currently developing such policy and are thus a target for outcomes of this research. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
Prior to starting this project, it was assumed that solar PV and plant production agriculture could not be used simultaneously on the same land area since plant need sunlight to grow and solar panels typically intercept all such sunlight. The project showed that that is not the case. By using technologies that allow some light to penetrate through the PV panel it is possible to grow some economically-important plants. Using technology that allowed roughly 30-35% light penetration to the plants, we were able to grow plants (e.g. citrus) without any loss of biomass production. Many of the tested plants shows slight decline in biomass production so that production of these plants/crops involved a compromise between light interception by the PV vs the plants. In cases where plant production is already commonly done under shade, the use of PV technologies can be a good alternative as it allows the farmer to have additional income from light energy that is otherwise discarded. We also found that it is important to screen plants as to whether production losses are likely to occur due to shading since plants in some experiments did show significant losses when grown under shaded conditions regardless of whether the shade was produced by conventional shading technologies or the PV systems. In relation to the polyurethane foam growing medium we found that initial formulation of the product resulted in negative reactions by some plants to the material or one of its constituents, resulting in reformulation of the product. We also found that new horticultural methods are needed when the material is used in potted plant production and propagation. The use of ion-specific technologies in nutrient management has been available for many years already, however the technology is generally inadequate for most hydroponic systems; the technology we have been working on is a significant improvement for growers and has the potential to save growers a lot of money and help the reduce pollution through improved run-off management. The research on nutrient uptake is showing which nutrients vary with diurnal variations in light and temperature and will ultimately lead to development of systems where day and night optimization will be possible.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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