Progress 09/01/23 to 08/31/24
Outputs
Target Audience:Livestock producers, extension personnel, land managers, graduate and undergraduate students, conservation agents and professionals, veterinary medicine professionals, research community, elementary, middle, and high school teachers and students. This project is helping generate meetings, workshops and demonstrations that provide transformative information about the design of pasturelands and landscapes that enhance animal production and efficiency while enhancing wildlife and pollinator habitat and soil health. This project is contributing to create more sustainable beef production systems while engaging and educating current and future land stewards. This project is contributing to create curricula for schools. Through our website, videos and newsletters the public is learning about sustainability of livestock production systems. Changes/Problems:There were no major changes, delays, or significant deviations from the research goals or the rate of expenditure in the third year of the project. Multiple challenges and delays were encountered with establishment of plant species in Years 1 & 2 which affected work on Objectives 1 and 2, testing prospective plant species for smart foodscapes in small plots and deployment of Smart Foodscapes to the range. Due to these delays, in Year 3, Dr. Batistel employed a 5 × 5 Latin square design for her study instead of originally planned 8 × 8 Latin square design. Because one of the plant species, Birdsfoot trefoil has not established USU Richmond plots, Dr. Villalba replaced it by seeding an annual, Chicory, based on advice of the advisory board members at the SFS Annual Meeting. Increases in the cost of materials due to inflation affected multiple components of the project. To address these challenges and test new ideas emerging from the project, Dr. Villalba, in collaboration with Kari Veblen, and Stephan Van Vliet, developed proposals to garner additional funding. Dr. Koontz and the Education team experience challenges in recruiting students for completing the work. Ridgeline High School withdrew from the project in March 2024 because the project did not align well with their program goals. The Education team tried recruiting another high school to partner with them, but were unsuccessful in doing so. Since our middle school partner schools include students in the high school grades, the team is adding upper grade teachers from Wahlquist Jr. HS (includes 9th grade) and Pinnacle Canyon Academy (includes grades 9-12) to the high school team. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Project Co-PIs organized monthly meetings for graduate students across education, extension and research areas where they exchanged ideas and made presentations on their work. Research Component Project PI conducted a 2 h lecture for students that included knowledge gained from the project (Animal welfare and foraging behavior) for the Graduate Course in Animal Welfare, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay. Working on Objective 1a, Dr. MacAdam's master's student Surbhi has developed proficiency in aspects of UPLC-MS, and has learned to isolate tannins from plant material, to analyze plant material for hydrolysable tannins, and to carry out the analysis for neutral detergent fiber (NDF). Surbhi, and undergraduate student Kyle Bernstein learned how to perform plant counts at various sites. Surbhi completed her thesis and defended it in November 2024. Dr. Batistel's master's student Taylor Jackson received training in techniques related to rumen fermentation and ruminant nutrition, learned how to run SCFA, ammoniacal-N, NDF analysis, and DNA extractions. Dr. Ramsey trained PhD student Iddy Muzzo to develop a methodology to estimate cattle distribution and movement across grazed paddocks in USU farm and analyze GPS collar data. Dr. Villalba trained and mentored one master and two PhD students, one undergraduate research technician, two high school interns, two international student interns, and mentored one visiting scientist. PhD student Iddy Muzzo was trained in field and lab techniques, data analysis and presentation, and technical writing. PhD student Sebastian Shreiber Pan (Co-advised with Eric Thacker) was trained in field and lab techniques, technical writing, and proposal development. Master's student Horacio Blanchard was trained on sample processing and proposal and abstract development. USU undergraduate student Logan Davis, was trained on grazing techniques, animal and pasture sampling. High school interns Alex Bodrero and Colton Cann learned about grazing and pasture management techniques. International student interns Manuel Varela and Tiago Retorto learned about pasture sampling, as well as methane, urine, fecal, rumen and blood collection techniques. Sebastian Lagrange, a scientist from the National Institute of Agriculture and Technology, Argentina collaborated on field and animal sampling techniques, as well as to craft a Memorandum of Understanding between Institutions. Dr. Dillon's PhD student Andrea Loudenback was trained in developing soil sampling protocols and the administrative elements of managing laboratory analyses and payment. Dr. Koontz' master student has tailored some of her chapters to address SFS project objectives. Another student will join the project in January. Extension Component Dr. Schad's PhD student Zubair Barkat has been gaining additional training in analyzing interview data, writing up qualitative findings, and applying sociological theories to rangeland contexts. Dr. Eric Thacker mentored PhD student Sebastian Schreiber as they worked with a group of livestock producers across the state of Utah to establish a series of "demonstration plots". Education Component The team included two undergraduate research assistants as STEAM Ambassadors in year 3. Four doctoral students and one teacher partner participated in conference presentations and publications. Doctoral and undergraduate students met with the Education Research Team and teacher partners in alternating biweekly meetings. Drs. Trundle and Vela continued meeting weekly with two undergraduate research assistants working as STEAM Ambassadors. Drs. Trundle, Vela, and Hagevik met weekly with doctoral students and teachers in an academic writing group. Dr. Trundle gave 5 guest lectures during September, 2024 originated from the project at Palembang, South Sumatra, Indonesia. Team members presented 13 workshops from March to September 2024 at the practitioner conferences for educators: A) Seven workshops at the National Science Teacher Association, Denver, CO, United States. B) National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Annual Conference, Chicago, IL, United States. C) Two workshops at the Utah Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Provo, UT, United States. D) Edith Bowen Laboratory School, Utah State University, Logan, UT. E) Arts Are Core Arts Integration Conference, Logan, UT. F) National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Annual Conference, Chicago, IL, United States. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?In addition to published papers, conference presentations and workshops for practicing educators, the project produced two newsletters (February & September 2024) to disseminate information inside and outside of the project team. -The project website to disseminate information was transitioned to Utah State University, Quinney College of Natural Resources and is being updated on a daily basis: https://qcnr.usu.edu/smart-foodscapes/ It includes information about project activities, project news, short introductory video about the project and fact sheets for the general public; as well as lesson plans for teachers, and scientific and popular publications. -Annual project meeting included approximately 20 project staff and approximately 20 Advisory Board participants. May 21-23, 2024; the materials are posted here: https://qcnr.usu.edu//smart-foodscapes/files/SFSDailyAgenda2024-Final.pdf Research Component Master's student Taylor Jackson presented the rationale, materials, and methods of this project at the University of Florida Animal Science Graduate Student Symposium last fall, where she secured third place in the poster competition. Taylor will also present the preliminary data from this project at the Annual Meeting of the American Dairy Science Association. Dr. MacAdam made a presentation to elementary students as part of Bee Camp at Edith Bowen Lab School in summer of 2024. Extension Component Extension team disseminated information to rangers through Extension Program conferences, schools, and events as described below. Dr. Ulrich-Schad and her PhD student Zubair Barkat have submitted two abstracts to present at the 2025 Rangelands conference (https://rangelands.org/annual-meeting-2025/). They have also been working on preparing our interview and survey data to upload it to the shared website. Education Component Education maintains an education website: https://smartfoodscapes.com/education/ed-home.html Stemming from their collaborative project work, the team submitted three proposals, focused on science teaching and science teacher education, to educator conferences. Journal Publications (9 total) in: A) Rangeland Ecology & Management, B) Journal of Agricultural Science (2 papers), C) Animal, Cadernos de Agroecologia, D) Research in Science Education, E) Science Scope, F) The Science Teacher. G) International Grassland Congress Proceedings (2 papers). Invited and voluntary presentations for the extension, research and education teams at scientific meetings at the national and international levels (12 total), in: A) ASAS-CSAS-WSASAS Annual Meeting, Calgary, Canada; B) Rural Sociological Society Annual Meeting: Madison, WI. C) Entomological Society of America, National Harbor, MD. (2 presentations), D) Association for Science Teacher Education, New Orleans, LA, E) ASA, CSSA, SSSA International Annual Meeting. San Antonio, TX, F) AERA, Philadelphia, PA, G) NARST, Denver, CO (2 presentations), H) 6th Sriwijaya University Learning and Education International Conference (SULE-IC). Palembang, South Sumatra, Indonesia, I) International Rangeland Congress, Adelaide, Australia (accepted)., J) 4th Pan-American Meeting on Agroecological Pasture Management.Florianópolis, Brazil (invited presentation). What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Research Component For Objective 1, Dr. MacAdam's team will analyze data from the three years worth of plant material. Dr. MacAdam has been cultivating eight species of native shrubs in containers in the greenhouse for transplanting. They are alderleaf mountain mahogany, antelope bitterbrush, black sagebrush, curlleaf mountain mahogany, fourwing saltbush, Gardiner's saltbush, shadscale saltbush, and Stansbury cliffrose. She will transplant four replications, each containing five individuals of each species, to the Godfrey Farm in Clarkston in October, once there is some fall precipitation. A ninth species, skunkbush sumac, will be added to the study in the spring. The shrubs are currently hardening to prepare them for transplanting. Dr. Batistel will finalize the analyses of the microbiome data from the study of continuous fermenters and write the manuscript describing her study. For Objective 2, Dr.Villalba will: -Conduct a study testing the effects of smart foodscapes on cattle performance and environmental impact; -Write synthesis manuscript on the project; -Recruit new interns; -Advise students on proposals, meetings, presentations; -Develop manuscripts; -Prepare MS thesis defense for Horacio Blanchard; -Develop proposals to requested funding from a company (Silva Team) which will be funding metabolomic work on the grazing study; and proposal to the Pleiades Foundation to fund graduate students. Dr. Dillon will re-sample the soils at the conclusion of the project. Baseline will be the grazed pastures and MAOM and POM C will be compared between baseline and the island treatments. Differences in SOC between the baseline and the islands will be considered carbon accrual over the experiment time period. For Objective 3, Dr. Dillon will do planning for the biodiversity assessment for the LCA. Dr. Dahlgren deployed motion camera monitoring of plots during the fall 2024 and the monitoring will continue through the winter and into the spring of 2025. Pollinator monitoring will begin during the 2025 growing season. For Objective 4, work will be performed for the following aspects of the project: -Creating the multi-year budget, a capital budget, for adopting a SFS production system; -Collecting data from producers on costs and changes to cattle production from partial or actual adoption of SFS. Collection of this information from interviews or surveys will result in additional questions and needs to incorporate modifications to the single year, partial, and capital budgets; -Developing questions and interview approaches to understanding producer innovation and willingness to adopt SFS outside of purely profit motives for the cattle portion of the ranch enterprise. Topics have been outlined and detailed development are needed. Extension Component For Objective 5, the extension team will be planning the grazing school and grazing workshops for 2025 year. For Objective 6, Dr.Schad's team plans to prepare interview and survey data to upload it to the shared website. They will also continue working on a number of papers with existing data and continue to refine the questionnaire that will be used to survey producers in the region next summer. For Objective 7, the extension team will meet with land owners and assess the progress of the plots this winter to forge management plans for spring and summer 2025 to ensure plots are meeting producer needs and identify issues they have identified. Education Component In the fourth year of the project, Education Component team plans to conduct the following activities: -Support middle and high school teachers in the implementation and testing of the curriculum. -Complete lesson development for secondary school. -Continue secondary lesson reviews and revisions with middle school (implementing) and high school teachers (piloting). -Continue the curriculum mapping and unit organization work with the Curriculum Leaders Team. -Plan for project researcher review of lessons. -Continue development of professional development modules. -Plan, coordinate, and continue videotaping additional researcher interviews for STEM career documentaries. -Complete purchases for middle and high school garden and classroom materials and complete garden installations. -Develop draft of children's book for outreach. -Complete and publish resource sheets for sustainable school and home gardens. -Identify and purchase materials for 2 camps to be held during summer 2025. -Plan and research 2 camps for middle and high students in Logan and Wellington during summer 2025. -Evaluate and revise the elementary bee camp handbook for middle and high school camps in 2025. -Begin analyzing education data for elementary students and teachers.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Research Component The long-term goal of this project is to improve the economic and environmental sustainability of beef production systems in the western U.S. through the establishment of islands of multifunctional diversity in the landscape. For Objective 1a, plant samples of five species collected in 2023 were scanned using near-infrared spectroscopy to quantify nutritive value characteristics, including condensed tannin concentrations and hydrolyzable tannins. Plant counts were conducted in four different sites with 1 - 3 years of establishment. Eight species of native shrubs in containers have been cultivating in the greenhouse for transplanting. For Objective 1b, a paper reporting on the study described in Year 2 report, was accepted for publication. For Objective 1c, a continuous culture fermenter system, designed to replicate the rumen environment in vitro, was utilized to assess the impact of various combinations of forages on rumen fermentation, microbial growth, and nutrient digestibility. The treatments comprised six combinations of 75% of Crested wheatgrass with four experimental plants in different proportions. The experimental treatments were arranged in four 10-day experimental periods, each consisting of 6 days of adaptation and 4 days of sampling. The treatments were fed in two equal portions twice daily. On day 4 of each period, ammonium sulfate was added to the buffer and into each fermenter to serve as a bacterial growth marker. Diet samples were collected on days 7, 8, 9, and 10 for analyses. This study was completed and the data is being analyzed. For Objective 2a, which focused on spatial design and visualization of smart foodscapes, cattle distribution and movement across grazed paddocks in USU farm were analyzed. Variations in greenness in each pasture were explored using the Sentinel-2 space craft for 2023 and 2024, thus extending the phenological analysis to two years. In 2024, two additional, high resolution, orthoimages were collected. Comparison of forbs establishment within biodiversity islands are clearly visible. For Objective 2b, which focused on deployment of Smart Foodscapes (SFS) to the range, a 55-acre pasture at the Utah State University (USU) farm is being prepared for the central study of this project, which will test the effects of smart foodscapes on cattle performance and environmental impact. As described in Year 2 report, six paddocks are randomly selected into treatment and control, and treatment paddocks have plots seeded with five forbs and legumes. The growth of these plants is being monitored with plant counts. While the legumes in experimental plots are under establishment, researchers tested the effects of some of the legume bioactives by adding these chemicals to a supplement in a grazing study. The goal of this 2-year replication study was to determine, in cows grazing meadow bromegrass, the effects of addition of condensed and hydrolizable tannins on cattle performance and environmental impact. Data were collected from twenty-four treatment and control Black Angus cow-calf pairs as described in Year 2 report. Chemical analyses of urine and fecal samples and metabolomic analyses of plasma were conducted to determine total nitrogen (N), urea-N, creatinine, and fiber; and to evaluate cows' health status. Also were measured: CP and fiber content of grass and supplement and herbage availability in each paddock before and post-grazing in 2024. Behavior displayed by cows during grazing was measured through accelerometers and GPS collars. The results show that NDF and ADF increased, whereas CP declined from Baseline in July to September. No differences between treatments were observed on motion index, number of steps taken per day, and the proportional percentage of time cows spent standing, suggesting that cows in Tannin Treatment (TT) paddocks did not invest extra time in searching activities or resting relative to Control. Values for blood urea nitrogen declined from Baseline to September by 28 % in TT and by 2.6 % in Control. These results suggest that the addition of low levels of tannins in cows grazing a low-quality grass diet reduces ruminal proteolysis without adversely influencing biomass removal or animals' levels of activity. Additionally, the baseline soil samples at various depths were collected from the plots and mailed for analyses. As bulk densities precluded soil C separation by OM pool in order to compare changes in MAOM and POM, a new plan for soil C sampling was devised using a "space for time" approach. Soils will be re-sampled at the conclusion of the project to compare with the island treatments. Objective 2c, explores the effects of SFS plots on pollinators and wildlife, the monitoring of plots by motion camera to detect wildlife started in the fall of 2024 and will continue through the winter and into the spring of 2025. For Objective 4, the short- and long-term cost-benefit analysis of transitioning to SFS for ranchers, a specific budget template for growing legumes and forbs in native pasture was developed. The budget tool makes use of the general template EPIC (Enterprise Profitability and Input Control). EPIC is a single year budget development tool that tracks all inputs and equipment requirements. Costs associated with equipment and other durable inputs have been gathered. Economic optimization model of rotational grazing that incorporates SFS forages was developed, which informs timing of rotation and paddock size. The model also incorporates an element of carbon capture that has the ability to create a revenue/credit stream to supplement the income from cattle, haying, and nontraditional goods and services. This aspect is new for the SFS adoption project. Extension Component For Objective 5, a two-day grazing school was conducted in Kaysville Utah, which included hands on grazing experiential learning with presentations on the science of grazing and pasture management. For Objective 6, aimed to assess adoption and perceptions of smart foodscapes, Dr. Schad, and her student analyzed interview data collected in 2023 with ranchers across the state and described these results in five peer-reviewed manuscripts. The focus of Objective 7 was on working with producers on smart foodscapes and demonstration sites. To this end, researchers seeded a series of "demonstration plots" with the greatest potential benefit in locations that represented some of the varied range types throughout the state. The data were and will continue to be collected on establishment of each species as well as weed type and abundance within those plots via the frequency grid method to determine how sites establish and persist under the typical grazing regime of that operation. Producers' perceptions of the primary costs and benefits of this intervention will be gathered. Education Component For Objective 8, focused on integrating smart foodscapes into sustainable school gardens, the Education team implemented two summer camps for elementary students in two schools. The team gathered pre- and post-camp data. School gardens were installed in 2 elementary, 1 middle, and 2 high schools. For Objective 9, focused on integration of citizen science projects and garden-based learning into K-12 school curricula with supporting teacher professional development, the Education team developed and reviewed 64 middle school and 66 high school lessons. Pre-and mid-intervention data were collected from high school students and teachers. For Objective 10, focused on the outreach, the Education team completed STEM Career Videos for elementary and secondary students with six project scientists, and interviewed five more scientists.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/22 to 08/31/23
Outputs
Target Audience:Livestock producers, extension personnel, land managers, graduate and undergraduate students, conservation agents and professionals, veterinary medicine professionals, research community, elementary and middle school teachers and students. Changes/Problems:Supply chain issues and material availability have presented delays and challenges for securing materials and supplies. Inflation has been quite significant and problematic. For instance, greenhouses cost was $4900 in 2021 and $5900 in 2022. With regard to Objectives 1 and 2, testing prospective plant species for smart foodscapes in small plots and deployment of Smart Foodscapes to the range, multiple challenges were encountered with establishment of plant species. Heavy December snows prevented establishment of some demonstration sites. Lingering snows may prevent spring seeding therefore some plots maybe seeded in Fall 2023. Specifically, alfalfa and birdsfoot trefoil have not established in our Richmond plots. They were reseeded twice and researchers looked for advise from different forage specialists and advisory board members. The plots at Millville failed and will probably need to be reseeded. Dr. Konagh Garret, a post-doctoral student of Dr. Gregorini, left in the middle of the modelling exercise. Dr. Villalba is recruiting new collaborators in the project: -Kari Veblen (USU Wildland Resources). We plan to better assess vegetation at the USU Richmond facility through her expertise. A student was supported on presenting a proposal to Fulbright for an internship. I presented a proposal in collaboration with Kari Veblen to the Public Lands Initiative to purchase more GPS collars. Stephan Van Vliet (USU Nutrition and Food Sciences). We plan to better assess the health state of the animals grazing smart foodscapes through his expertise and analytical resources. With regard to Objectives 6, Dr. Schad was able to interview about 15 ranchers over the summer, but would like to interview more and works on adding more participants. Education team experienced troubles hiring and keeping graduate research assistants (GRAs) in full time positions with the grant. Doctoral students in the School of Teacher Education and Leadership are part-time students. The science education GRA returned to full-time teaching. The mathematics education GRA will continue in a part-time position with the grant as he currently is a full-time classroom teacher. Wu and Hamilton each worked for 1 year on the project as GRAs. The team does not intend to hire another science education GRA. Rather, they will focus on working with undergraduate research assistants. The team worked with elementary teachers/schools only in year 1, and with elementary and middle school teachers/schools in year 2. They added high school teachers/schools in October 2023 (beginning of year 3), which means they are working with teachers/schools/students at all three levels (elementary, middle, high). As the number of schools/teachers/students has increased, Dr. Trundle's administrative responsibilities have also increased, with the next three years including the heaviest responsibilities. To meet the increased administrative demands associated with the high level of productivity within the education team, she worked with PI Dr. Villalba and her department chair to arrange a course release. The time commitment change was reviewed and approved by USDA-NIFA. The team experienced challenges in recruiting parents to consent to their children's participation in the research. Co-PIs attended and presented at open house events at the schools and are coordinating with the school administration to identify strategies to increase participation. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Project Co-PIs organized monthly meetings for graduate students across education, extension and research areas where they exchanged ideas and made presentations on their work. Research Component Project PI conducted a lecture for students that included knowledge gained from the project, referenced below. Villalba, J.J. 2023. Animal welfare and foraging behavior. 3 h lecture for the international MS course "Animal Welfare" Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain. October 24, 2023. One graduate and two undergraduate students participated in various activities on Objective 1a and have been trained to carry out condensed tannin assays. Two PhD students, Iddy Muzzo (Fall 2022) and Sebastian Shreiber (Fall 2023; Co-advised with Eric Thacker), and a MS student, Horacio Blanchard (Summer 2023) were recruited for the project, in addition to four research technicians (USU undergrads Tyler Black, Logan Davis, Ethan Rassmusen, and Abby Riley) and two High School interns (Alex Bodrero, and Clair Turpin), who learned grazing and pasture management techniques, soil sampling, as well as methane, urine, fecal, rumen and blood collection techniques. Andrea Loudenback, a PhD student working with Dr. Dillon, received training in the development of soil sampling protocols for organic matter evaluation. Dr. Konagh Garret, a post-doctoral student of Dr. Gregorini, received training for the modelling exercise. Extension Component Extension Co-PIs introduced the concept of Smart Foodscapes as part of four Extension program events with attendance between 25 and 200 practitioners. Sebastian Schreiber-Pan has scheduled time with Deseret Land and Livestock to gain experience on a working ranch that has used approaches similar to Smart Foodscapes. PhD student Zubair Barkat was further trained in conducting an online survey using Qualtrics, cleaning and analyzing the data, writing up findings, and presentation of survey findings. He was also trained in conducting in-depth interviews with ranchers, analysis of qualitative data, and presentation of qualitative findings. Dr. Schad also wrote a grant ($4,000) to hire an additional research assistant over the summer to help with conducting interviews and transcribing. This master's degree student was also trained in conducting in-depth interviews with ranchers. The Education Component team included five doctoral students and six teacher partners in their conference presentations and publications. Doctoral and undergraduate students met with the Education Research Team and teacher partners in alternating biweekly meetings. Drs. Trundle and Vela continued meeting weekly with two undergraduate research assistants working as STEAM Ambassadors. Drs. Trundle, Vela, and Hagevik met weekly with doctoral students and teachers in an academic writing group. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The project produced two newsletters (February & August 2023) to disseminate information inside and outside of the project team. The project maintains a website to disseminate information: https://www.usu.edu/smart-foodscapes/index, which includes information about project activities, project news, and a short introductory video about the project for the general public. Research Component Dr. Villalba hosted a group of producers and extension specialist from the National Institute of Agriculture (INIA), Chile, who visited the project's experimental site and assessed legumes in Richmond, Utah and met producers in the valley and Co-PIs from our project, August 11 and 12, 2023. Invited and voluntary presentations for the extension, research and education teams at scientific meetings at the national and international levels (23 total), and scientific publications (6 and 1 book chapter) are reported under Presentations and Posters and Publication/Intellectual Contributions. Extension Component Extension team disseminated information to rangers through Extension Program conferences, schools, and events as described below. 01/11/2023 Weber River Confluence conference (100 attendees)1/21/2023 Duchesne County Cattleman's (200 attendees)2/8/2023 Carbon County Crop School (40 attendees)2/9/2023 San Juan Crop School (25 attendees)Results from the online producer survey were shared at the student meeting on March 14th. Video: https://youtu.be/-nV5kWSeRwg Education Component Education team identified a publisher for children's book and drafted 20 fact sheetsto submit to USU Extension for formatting and publication. It maintains an education website: https://smartfoodscapes.com/education/ed-home.html; the team also implemented Summer camps for elementary students which were featured in the USU Newsletter article: Richmond, A. (July 20, 2023). Summer bee camp at Edith Bowen provides garden-based STEAM learning for 3rd, 4th graders. Utah State TODAY. https://www.usu.edu/today/story/summer-bee-camp-at-edith-bowen-provides-garden-based-steam-learning-for-3rd-4th-graders Two videos featuring elementary summer camps in Edith Bowen Laboratory School, Logan, UT and Wellington Elementary School, Wellington, UT. Five project scientists for STEM Career Videos for elementary and secondary students. One resource sheet to submit to USU Extension for formatting and publication. Stemming from their collaborative project work, the team submitted four proposals, focused on science teaching and science teacher education, to research conferences: AERA, Philadelphia, PA, NARST, Denver, CO, National Association for Research in Science, Minneapolis, MN, and The Association for Science Teacher Education, New Orleans, LA. Additionally, the Education Component team submitted 13 workshop proposals to conferences attended by science teachers and school leaders: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Annual Conference, Chicago, IL (3 proposals), National Science Teacher Association, Denver, CO (8 proposals), and Utah Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Provo, UT (2 proposals). Events: (conferences, demonstration sites, field days, symposia, workshops, and trainings.) Annual project meeting included approximately 20 project staff and approximately 20 Advisory Board participants. December 12-14, 2022. Krissek, L. A., Trundle, K. C., & Hagevik, R. (2023, January). The geoscience perspective on climate change in Utah: Evidence from lakes and glaciers.Field trip provided at the annual meeting of ASTE, Salt Lake City, UT (pre-meeting). What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The project will convene in the next SFS Annual meeting on May 21-23, 2024. Dr.Villalba (PI) will recruit the SFS Communications Specialist and write a synthesis manuscript on the project. Research Component For Objective 1, Dr. MacAdam's student will be analyzing collected data and organizing it into her thesis and collaborating on at least one journal article. Dr. Batistel will proceed with the experiment with the fermenters. Dr. Gregorini will finish scientific article describing the results of his virtual model and evaluate a metamodeling exercise. For Objective 2, Dr.Villalba will continue to recruit interns, advise students on proposals, meetings, and presentations. Dr. Dillon expects to receive the soil analysis data to be returned during the next quarter and analyze the data for MAOM, POM, C, and N in each sample segment. For Objective 3, Dr. Dillon will do planning for the biodiversity assessment for the LCA. Research Objective 4 is scheduled to be implemented later in the project. Extension Component For Objective 5, the extension team will continue presenting the results obtained through the research component at the Annual Grazing Schools and will conduct the Central Utah Grazing Expo. For Objective 6, after receiving feedback on the draft paper from the co-author Dr. Thacker, Dr.Schad plans to revise and submit their paper titled "Ranchers' Views of Smart Foodscapes: Applied and Methodological Insights" to Rangeland Ecology & Management. PhD student Zubair Barkat is working on analyzing the data collected in the interviews over the summer and plans to submit an abstract in January to present results at the annual meeting for the International Association for Society & Natural Resources in June 2024. The team will subsequently work on a manuscript presenting analyses of these data. For Objective 7, Millvile, Dog Valley and Mt Pleasant plots will be seeded the week of November 14th barring complications with weather. Two graduate students will begin working on a fact sheet as part of their program of study by reviewing literature on smart food scape principles. Education Component In the third year of the project, Education Component team plans to conduct the following activities: In October through December 2023, the team will meet biweekly with middle school teachers and monthly with elementary and high school teachers. January through May 2024, the team plans to meet biweekly with high school teachers and monthly with elementary and middle school teachers. Some teachers drafted lessons for review. Support elementary school teachers in the implementation and testing of the curriculum. Complete lesson development for secondary students. Continue secondary lesson reviews and revisions with middle school and high school teachers. Begin piloting the curriculum with middle school teachers. Plan for project researcher review of lessons. Begin development of professional development modules for secondary lessons. Plan, coordinate, and begin videotaping additional researcher interviews for STEM career documentaries. Purchase middle and high school garden and classroom materials and begin garden installations. Develop draft of children's book for outreach. Complete and publish fact sheets for garden materials. Coordinate with Thacker and Extension to format and publish fact sheets. Identify and purchase materials for 2 camps to be held during summer 2024.Plan and research 2 camps for elementary students in Logan and Wellington. Evaluate and revise the elementary bee camp handbook. Begin to analyze education pilot data.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Research Component The long-term goal of this project is to improve the economic and environmental sustainability of beef production systems in the western U.S. through the establishment of islands of multifunctional diversity in the landscape. During the second year of the project, significant progress was achieved on Research Objectives 1 & 2 For Objective 1a, in order to test prospective plant species for smart foodscapes in small plots, various legumes and non-legume forbs and crested wheatgrass were counted at four small plots. In Ephraim, students harvested about 55 kg fresh weight of crested wheatgrass (CWG) from the stand planted the previous August. At a different site, students harvested forbs (alfalfa, birdsfoot trefoil, sainfoin and small burnet) totaling about 30 kg fresh weight. The grass and forbs were freeze dried, milled, and shipped to Dr. Batistel at the University of Florida for use in in vitro rumen fermentation studies. The same four forbs were sampled in all 5 replication studies at Clarkston. Planted four replications of 23 species for a final small-plot plant species study. A graduate student conducted a germination study of seeds of 18 shrub species. Dr. MacAdam successfully cultivated specimens of a number of these species in containers in the greenhouse and transplanted them to a farm. Objective 1b was to simulate the effect of different grazing managements by contrasting frequency (once a: week, two weeks, and month) and dietary proportions (5, 10, 15 and 20%) of either sainfoin or bird foot trefoil allocation to beef cattle -cows- grazing grass dominated rangelands on performance and environmental impact in in terms of methane production and urinary N excretion, at the same resource allocation. To this end, Dr. Gregorini conducted a virtual experiment which consisted of 25 simulation scenarios (treatments) to model these various conditions of grazing managements (Model MINDY). Each simulation or treatment was run for 70 days, which included 10 days of 'model adaptation/stabilization', and the last days of data collection. The outputs requested from MINDY were: Liveweight gain, methane production, milk solids production, N intake, N in milk, N retained in lean tissue, urinary volume (UV), and N discharged onto pasture (NP). MINDY's performance under these treatments was compared to a Control scenario (only grass). For Objective 2a, which focused on spatial design and visualization of smart foodscapes, Dr. Ramsey's team collected and processed natural color and color infra-red drone imagery to begin monitoring the status of each of the three established islands of diversity. For Objective 2b, which focused on deployment of Smart Foodscapes to the range, the team of Dr. Villalba conducted the following activities. Three randomly selected 9-acre paddocks from a 55-acre pasture, dominated by meadow bromegrass, had just grass (Control) and each of the three remaining paddocks (Treatment) had three 40x30 m plots (islands) seeded in fall of 2022 and spring-summer of 2023 with strips (8x30 m each) of 1-Alfalfa-ALF, 2-Birdsfoot trefoil-BFT, 3-Sainfoin-SF, 4-Small burnet-SB, and 5- Forage kochia-FK. Plant counts in the island plots in August yielded: ALF: 3.1±0.2; BFT: 2.0±0.2; SF: 295±2.5; SB: 113±2.5; FK: 20±1.1 plants/m2. As island plots are being established and protected from grazing with electric fence, a preliminary grazing trial was conducted adding to a supplement some of the bioactives that will be present in the islands (natural extracts of condensed and hydrolizable tannins). Twenty-four Black Angus cow-calf pairs were allotted to the six 9-acre paddocks (4 pairs/paddock). Animals in the Control (Ctrl) paddocks (n=3) grazed meadow brome grass supplemented at 8 am with 0.75 Kg of corn DDGS/cow/day. Animals in the Tannin Treatment (TT) paddocks (n=3) grazed under the same conditions but with the addition of the natural extracts at 0.4% in the diet. The team determined cow and calf weights, spatial distribution, and activity, methane emissions, blood, rumen fluid, fecal and urine outputs. Representative samples of grass and supplement from each grazing period and paddock are being analyzed for N and fiber. Herbage dry matter (DM) availability per unit area in each paddock was assessed before and post-grazing during each period using a rising plate pasture meter (Control= 5,048±691-initial; 1,766±367-final Kg DM/ha; Treatment= 4,104±264-initial; 1,424±103-final Kg DM/ha. Dr. Dillon developed a soil sampling protocol and Dr. Villalba used it to collect baseline soil samples by identifying paired areas within each paddock (island and grass-3 plots; or just grass-3 plots) of similar size and on similar soil type. Within each area, 30-m transects were used to take 5 random samples using a Giddings probe. Each core was sampled by depth at 0-10, 10-20, 20-40, 40-60, and 60-80 cm. Samples are being analyzed for soil organic carbon fractionation and soil health based on the Colorado STAR program. Extension Component For Objective 5, Mr. Palmer conducted a grazing school in Box Elder County over the summer. For Objective 6, aimed to assess adoption and perceptions of smart foodscapes, Dr. Schad has focused on three primary activities. The first was to analyze the survey data collected during the winter of 2023 with ranchers in Utah about their initial perceptions of smart foodscapes after watching the short video we created. The second was to conduct interviews with ranchers about smart foodscapes to gather further insights into what might influence them to try them, what they perceive barriers to be, their sense of place, etc. The third was to mentor PhD student Zubair Barkat in crafting the first draft of a survey to be sent out via mail to ranchers in the region during the summer of 2025. The focus of Objective 7 was on working with producers on smart foodscapes and demonstration sites. To this end, in April through July, three plots in different areas were seeded with various plant species with varied success in plant establishment. In September, in meetings with landowners, two additional plots were identified totaling 1 acre in Dog Valley and a .5 acre plot in Mt Pleasant Utah. Education Component For Objective 8, focused on integrating smart foodscapes into sustainable school gardens, the Education team planned and implemented two summer camps for elementary students in Logan (n=25) and Price (n=22). The team developed and finalized a camp schedule and camp handbook and gathered data pre and post camp. Co-PI Dr. MacAdam participated in the Bee Camp at Edith Bowen Lab School by showing a group of elementary students how islands of diverse, high-protein plants in large areas of grass could make the diets of mother cows more interesting and healthier. For Objective 9, focused on integration of citizen science projects and garden-based learning (GBL) into K-12 school curricula with supporting teacher professional development, the Education team collaboratively developed 43 secondary lessons which were reviewed by middle school teachers. Review by high school teachers began in October 2023. The team began elementary curriculum implementation and revisions for pilot studies and continued drafting content for professional development modules. For Objective 10, focused on the outreach, the Education team filmed five project scientists for STEM Career Videos for elementary and secondary students, and completed two of these videos. They also drafted one additional resource sheets to submit to USU Extension for formatting and publication.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Presentations
Villalba, J., 2022 NCCC31 Ecophysiological Aspects of Forage Management, "Project Discussion: Smart Foodscapes to Enhance the Sustainability of Western Rangelands," NCCC31 Group, Laramie, WY. (June 15, 2022 - June 17, 2022)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Presentations
Villalba, J., The Sustainable Grazing Institute: Merging the Art and Science of Management Intensive Grazing, "Using Smart Foodscapes to Enhance the Sustainability of Western Rangelands.," USU, Kaysville, Utah. (June 7, 2022 - June 8, 2022)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Presentations
Villalba, J., USDA-NIFA SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE SYSTEMS PROJECT DIRECTORS MEETING, "Smart Foodscapes to Enhance the Sustainability of Western Rangelands," USDA-NIFA, Washington, DC. (April 18, 2022 - April 20, 2022)
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
MacAdam, J. W., Pitcher, L. R., Bolleta, A. I., Guevara, R., Beauchemin, K., Dai, X., & Villalba, J. (2022, January 25). Increased Nitrogen Retention and Reduced Methane Emissions of Beef Cattle Grazing Legume vs. Grass Irrigated Pastures in the Mountain West USA. Agronomy, 12(2),
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
Provenza, F. D., Villalba, J., & Kleppel, G. (2023, January). Editorial: Livestock Production and the Functioning of Agricultural Ecosystems, Volume II. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems., 6(Agroecology and Ecosystem Services).
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Villalba, J. (2022, September). Smart Foodscapes: Developing Functional Landscapes to Enhance the Sustainability Livestock Production Systems. Journal of Animal Science, 100(Supplement_3),
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
Presentations
V�zquez Palacios, S. (Presenter & Author), Aguirre, V. (Author Only), V�zquez, R. (Author Only), Villalba, J. (Author Only), Pedernera, M. (Author Only), 3rd International Congress on Veterinary Sciences and Animal Production, "Productive parameters of lambs fed free selection during the fattening stage," Universidad Aut�noma del Estado de M�xico,, Mexico City, Mexico. (October 26, 2023 - October 27, 2023)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
Presentations
Villalba, J., Workshop on Improvements in Forage Legume Systems for Semiarid Regions, "Chemical and taxonomic diversity to improve animal production systems," National Institute of Agricultural Technology, Argentina, Bahia Blanca, Argentina. (June 16, 2023)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
Presentations
Villalba, J., International Symposium on the Nutrition of Herbivores, "Herbivory and the power on nourishing for health," Florianopolis, Brazil. (June 4, 2023 - June 8, 2023)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
Presentations
Terra Braga, M., Poli, C., Villalba, J., Tontini, J. F., International Symposium on the Nutrition of Herbivores, "Trade-offs between selection of nutrients and tannins in growing lambs.," Florianopolis, Brazil. (June 4, 2023 - June 8, 2023)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
Presentations
Villalba, J., MacAdam, J. W., Van Vliet, S., Provenza, F. D., International Grassland Congress, "Integrating plant secondary metabolites and foraging behavior to enhance animal health in ruminant production systems," International Grassland Congress, Covington, Kentucky, USA. (May 14, 2023 - May 19, 2023)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
Presentations
Villalba, J., Seminar, University of North Carolina, Pembroke, "Smart Foodscapes: Developing Functional Landscapes to Enhance the Sustainability of Livestock Production Systems," University of North Carolina, Pembroke, Pembroke, NC. (January 24, 2023)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Presentations
Villalba, J., SMART FOODSCAPES ANNUAL MEETING, "Introduction and Research Overview - Establishing Islands in the Landscape," USDA-NIFA, Logan, Utah. (December 12, 2022 - December 14, 2022)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Presentations
Villalba, J., ANIMAL WELFARE MASTERS PROGRAM - AUTONOMOUS UNIVERSITY OF BARCELONA, "Animal welfare in grazing systems.," USDA-NIFA, Logan, Utah. (October 13, 2022)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Presentations
Villalba, J., The American Society of Animal Science (ASAS) and the Canadian Society of Animal Science (CSAS) Joint Annual Meeting, "Platform Speaker: Smart Foodscapes: Developing Functional Landscapes to Enhance the Sustainability Livestock Production Systems." (June 26, 2022 - June 30, 2022)
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Progress 09/01/21 to 08/31/22
Outputs
Target Audience:Livestock producers, extension personnel, land managers, graduate and undergraduate students, conservation agents and professionals, veterinary medicine professionals, research community, elementary and middle school teachers and students. Changes/Problems:Supply chain issues and material availability have presented delays and challenges for securing materials and supplies. Inflation has been quite significant and problematic. For instance, greenhouses cost was $4900 in 2021 and $5900 in 2022. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Project PI conducted three lectures for students that included knowledge gained from the project, listed below. Villalba, J.J. 2021. Animal welfare in grazing systems. Virtual Workshop for the "MS in Animal Welfare 2021-2022," Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain, November 3, 2021, and FTF, November 2022. Villalba, J.J. 2022. Grazing and learning in Ruminants. The lecture was given in the context of the graduate-level course: Pasture Systems. Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina, August 26, 2022. Villalba, J.J. 2022. Foraging Behavior in Ruminants. Lecture in the context of the graduate-level course: Ruminant Production Systems. Universidad de la República, Uruguay, October 6, 2022. Research Component A master's student, who started in August of 2022, helps with the study of seed germination, establishment, and productivity for Objective 1. She will also investigate the type and quantity of plant secondary metabolites present in plant species that become established at the four sites across Utah, and publications from her thesis will provide information on the potential value of several forbs among the 24 candidate species identified for use in rangeland resource islands. During the summer, two undergraduate research assistants were trained to carry out assays for tannins, neutral detergent fiber, and non-fiber carbohydrate concentrations. A Ph.D. student started work on Objective 2 in August 2022. A technician was trained in pasture research and establishment and watering systems for cows. A Ph.D. student, who will work on Objective 3, started her program in August 2022. She is enrolled in training for the software which will be used to complete the LCA for Objective 3. Extension Component Over the summer of 2022, an incoming master's degree (of sociology) student was hired to start compiling the information for the literature review. During the fall of 2021, Dr. Schad hired a Ph.D. student who is now picking this up and looking into the feasibility of completing a systematic literature review that could be published and would be very informative for the overall project. Also, students and staff were trained in conducting high-quality literature reviews and interviewing rural ranching populations. The Education Component team included 2 funded doctoral students, 3 collaborating doctoral students, and 7 teachers in their conference presentations, and 2 doctoral students, 3 undergraduate students, and 1 teacher in their publications. Doctoral students met with the Education Research Team and teacher partners in alternating biweekly meetings. Drs. Trundle and Vela began meeting weekly with 2 GRAs and 3 undergraduate research assistants as STEAM Ambassadors at the end of year 1. Drs. Trundle, Vela, and Hagevik met weekly with 2 doctoral students and 1 teacher in an academic writing group. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The project created a website https://www.usu.edu/smart-foodscapes/index and a newsletter "The Pulse" to disseminate information: The Education team established an education website shell and began populating it with content: https://smartfoodscapes.com/education/ed-home.html; the team also drafted five fact sheetsto submit to USU Extension for formatting and publication. The project leadership team worked on a short video about the project for the general public, currently in production phase. This video will be placed on the project website, shared on social media, provided to USDA leaders, and shared using other means. Information about the project was shared with the general public through local media: Steve Kent, Logan Herald Journal. Green beef: USU researcher leads $7 million project to improve cattle nutrition, reduce emissions. Nov 26, 2021 https://www.postregister.com/news/regional/green-beef-usu-researcher-leads-7-million-project-to-improve-cattle-nutrition-reduce-emissions/article_f28c57db-1c68-5486-af14-1e40c307eead.html Mike Anderson, KSL-TV. USU studies how better diets and less gassy cows can help with climate change. Posted - Jan. 19, 2022. https://www.ksl.com/article/50330766/usu-studies-how-better-diets-and-less-gassy-cows-can-help-with-climate-change Lael Gilbert, Utah State Magazine. Real Beef. Done Well. An Eco-Friendlier Meal Using 'Smart Foodscapes.' May 17, 2022. https://utahstatemagazine.usu.edu/environment/real-beef-done-well-an-eco-friendlier-meal-using-smart-foodscapes/ Additionally, information was shared with the research and practitioner communities through the presentations at the USU WILD Department and at The Sustainable Grazing Institute: D. Dahlgren J. Villalba, E. Thacker, & K. Trundle. USU WILD Department Seminar on February 16, 2022, updating the department, S.J. Quinney College of Natural Resources, and others within the USU community on the SFS project. We gave a broad overview of the project plans and objectives. Villalba, J.J. 2022. Using Smart Foodscapes to Enhance the Sustainability of Western Rangelands. Presentation at The Sustainable Grazing Institute: merging the art and science of management intensive grazing. June 7, 2022, Kaysville, UT. Education Component Stemming from their collaborative project work, the team submitted 13 proposals, focused on science teaching and science teacher education, to research conferences, as listed below. Campbell, K.U., Hagevik, R., Walline, C. (2022, November). Native bee houses are valuable tools for research, conservation, and education. Paper accepted to be presented at the annual meeting of the Entomological Society of America, Vancouver, B.C. Hagevik, R., Trundle, K. C., Campbell, K. U., Vela, K. N., *Wheeler, L., *Parslow, M., & **Joy, D. (2023, April). Examining secondary students' awareness of bee conservation in the U.S. Paper accepted to be presented at the annual meeting of NARST, Chicago. *Parslow, M., Vela, K. N., Trundle K. C., Hagevik, R., *Wheeler, L., & **Joy, D. (2023, April). How do students' science, mathematics, and nature identities impact students' interest in STEAM careers? Paper accepted to be presented at the annual meeting of NARST, Chicago. *Wheeler, L., Trundle, K. C., Vela, K. N., Hagevik, R., **Joy, D., & *Parslow, M. (2023, April). Nature capital effects on middle school nature identities. Paper accepted to be presented at the annual meeting of NARST, Chicago. Hagevik, R., Trundle, K. C., Campbell, K. U., Vela, K. N., *Wheeler, L., *Parslow, M., & **Joy, D. (2023, April). Secondary students' knowledge of bees and attitudes toward pollinator conservation. Paper under review to be presented at the annual meeting of the AERA, Chicago. Vela, K. N., *Parslow, M., Trundle, K. C., Hagevik, R., **Joy, D., & *Wheeler, L. (2023, April). Science and mathematics identities and connection to nature--impact on students' interest in STEAM careers. Paper under review to be presented at the annual meeting of the AERA, Chicago. *Wheeler, L., Trundle, K. C., Vela, K. N., Hagevik, R., **Joy, D., & *Parslow, M. (2023, April). Middle school students' connection to nature, gardening experiences, and STEM capital. Paper under review to be presented at the annual meeting of the AERA, Chicago. Campbell, K. U., Vela, K. N., Villa, A., **Curtis, T., **Feichko, D., **Hall, C., **Larsen. L., **Rhodes, S., **Saunderson, L., & *Weber, D. (2023, January). Native bee conservation: Bee a citizen scientist. Workshop accepted to be presented at the annual meeting of the ASTE, Salt Lake City, Utah. Hagevik, R., Trundle, K. C., Campbell, K. U., Vela, K. N., *Wheeler, L., *Parslow, M., & **Joy, D. (2023, January). Measuring secondary students' perceptions of bee conservation. Paper accepted to be presented at the annual meeting of the ASTE, Salt Lake City, Utah. Krissek, L. A., (2023, January). Training teachers to think like a geologist: An example using seafloor sediments to reconstruct Antarctic climate history. Workshop accepted to be presented at the annual meeting of the ASTE, Salt Lake City, Utah. Trundle, K. C., Hagevik, R., Campbell, K. U., *Wheeler, L., *Parslow, M., Vela, K. N., Krissek, L. A., **Rhodes, S., & *Hamilton, A. (2023, January). The buzz about bees! Workshop accepted to be presented at the annual meeting of the ASTE, Salt Lake City, Utah. Vela, K. N., *Parslow, M., Trundle, K. C., *Wheeler, L., **Joy, D., & Hagevik, R. (2023, January). How do students' science and mathematics identities and their connection to nature impact their desire to pursue STEAM careers? Paper accepted to be presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Science Teacher Education, Salt Lake City. *Wheeler, L., Trundle, K. C., Vela, K. N., **Joy, D., *Parslow, M., & Hagevik, R. (2023, January). Gardening connects me to nature: Middle school students' STEM capital. Paper accepted to be presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Science Teacher Education, Salt Lake City. Additionally, the Education Component team submitted 9 proposals to conferences attended by science teachers and school leaders, as listed below. **Curtis, T. & **Feichko, D. (2023, March). A teacher's perspective: Success and potential pitfalls in planning a school garden. The proposal under review is to be presented at the annual meeting of NSTA, Atlanta. Hagevik, R., Trundle, K. C., & Vela, K. N. (2023, March). Garden-based STEAM learning and smart foodscapes: Protecting rangelands and pollinators. The proposal under review is to be presented at the annual meeting of NSTA, Atlanta. **Larsen, L., **Rhodes, S., & Trundle, K. C. (2023, March). Cultivating social and emotional learning through school gardening. Proposal under review to be presented at the annual meeting of NSTA, Atlanta. *Parslow, M., *Miles, S., *Weber, D., & Vela, K. N. (2023, March). "The math I used, I learned that it really is used in most of your everyday activities you do." - An integrated math activity. Proposal under review to be presented at the annual meeting of NSTA, Atlanta. *Parslow, M. & Hagevik, R. (2023, March).Growing students' interest in STEAM through a school garden project. The proposal under review is to be presented at the annual meeting of NSTA, Atlanta. Villa, A.H, & **Sauderson, L., (2023, March). The Elementary School Garden: Arts-based Learning. The proposal under review is to be presented at the annual meeting of NSTA, Atlanta. Villa, A.H, & **Sauderson, L., (2023, March). The Elementary School Garden: Engaging K-6 Learners Through Arts Integration. The proposal under review is to be presented at the annual meeting of NSTA, Atlanta. Villa, A.H, & **Sauderson, L., (2023, March). Learning from the Garden: Arts-based Learning. Proposal under review to be presented at the annual meeting of NSTA, Atlanta. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Research Component For Objective 1, Dr. MacAdam will collect, mill, and ship plant material, cultivated in the USU Research Greenhouses under supplemental lighting, to Dr. Batistel, the ruminant nutritionist at the University of Florida, a collaborator on this study, to use in preliminary in vitro studies. Once Dr. Batistel receives these forage samples, she will proceed with the experiment with the fermenters. For Objective 2, Dr.Villalba will seed the plots in November 2022 and spray the plots with herbicides in the spring. Dr.Dahlgren will continue to coordinate with Co-PIs in research, extension, and education components to understand plot seeding and establishment to get the timing for the monitoring to begin. Research Objectives 3 and 4 are scheduled to be implemented later in the project. Extension Component For Objective 5, the extension team will continue presenting the results obtained through the research component at the Annual Grazing Schools. For Objective 6, Dr.Schad will continue to work on a literature review, will interview stakeholder advisory board members who are ranchers, and prepare the introductory video for the project. This video will be used to introduce producers to the project and get their feedback during this initial stage. In the spring 2023, Dr.Schad plans to conduct interviews with ranchers outside of the project to get their perceptions of the project and the practices being proposed and developed. To find them, Dr.Schad plans to attend other ranching workshops and introduce producers to SFS project and get their feedback. She will follow up with producers via email after the workshops, set up a time to do an interview/focus group, record the interview, transcribe it, and analyze the data for emergent themes. The findings will be shared with the team in a report. Objective 7 is planned to be starting in the spring of 2024. To prepare for its implementation, the Extension team plans to coordinate with stakeholders to spray and prepare plots for seeding in fall 2022. Extension Component In the second year of the project, Education Component Co-PIs plan to conduct the following activities: Research recruitment and data gathering in the elementary schools; Curriculum implementation and revisions for pilot studies in elementary schools; Establish reliance agreements with Ohio State (Dr. Krissek) and Miami University (DR. Boone) IRBs. Prepare and present conference papers and workshops at practitioner and research conferences in 2023.Complete lesson development for the elementary curriculum and begin middle school curriculum development. Plan for project researcher review of lessons. Plan, coordinate, and begin videotaping researcher interviews for STEM career documentaries. Purchase middle school garden and classroom materials and begin garden installations. Complete draft of children's book for outreach. Complete fact sheets for garden materials (e.g., bee houses, rain barrels, compost bins, drones, trail cameras, bioacoustics).Coordinate with Dr. Thacker and Extension Component researchers to format and publish fact sheets. Recruit a middle school or junior high partner near Price, UT. If a school cannot be identified in Price, alternatively recruit a school in Logan. Identify and purchase materials for summer camps for elementary school students Plan and implement a camp for elementary students in Logan and Price. Begin recruiting high school partners near Logan and Price, UT. Recruited undergraduate STEAM Ambassadors/Researchers. Planning and coordinating project researcher interviews for STEM career documentaries.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Research Component The long-term goal of this project is to improve the economic and environmental sustainability of beef production systems in the western U.S. through the establishment of islands of multifunctional diversity in the landscape. During the first year of the project, significant progress was achieved on Research Objectives 1 & 2, while the work on Objectives 3 & 4 will start later in the project. For Objective 1, in order to test prospective plant species, at least 24 legumes and non-legume forbs plus crested wheatgrass were planted from April to September 2022 at three small plots. All land used for small plot plant species studies was inoculated with a mycorrhizal inoculum formulated for Great Basin herbaceous forb establishment, any non-nitrogen soil nutrient deficiencies were addressed, and existing weeds were eliminated before planting. A study with four replications of 27 plots, that included both galleta grass and arrow leaf balsamroot, was planted by Dr. Violett on a USU field study site in Cedar City, UT. These plots were added to an already established study that includes warm-season grasses and native annual forbs. Because Dr. Violett was planting with a cone-type seeder that is calibrated for plot length, Dr. MacAdam's lab prepared seed packets of the recommended rate of pure live seed for 3- by 45-foot plots and shipped seed that had been scarified as needed and inoculated with rhizobium (legumes) to Dr. Violett for an early August seeding. Dr. MacAdam and two students traveled to Ephraim, UT on 18 August to flag and plant a small plot study on Snow College land in collaboration with Dr. Palmer of Extension Team, who identified the site, arranged the memorandum of understanding for the land with Snow College, and had the plot area plowed, pre-irrigated and prepared. A 6-foot Great Plains no-till drill was used to plant on the 18th and 19th of August. Dr. Palmer is applying irrigation through early fall to aid the establishment. A third study with 24 forbs and crested wheatgrass was established using the same equipment in September in North Logan, UT at the USU Greenville Farm. This study was irrigated as needed through mid-October to prevent soil crusting and aid in seed germination. The fourth small plot study site at Clarkston, UT, originally seeded on 19 November 2021, was weed-infested in the spring of 2022 so the plot area was treated with Roundup and re-planted on 7 May 2022. By the end of summer 2022, about half the seeded species were represented by established plants. No irrigation is available at this site, and precipitation recorded by the on-site weather station is about one-tenth that of other sites in Cache Valley, totaling 1.78 inches since 1 April 2022. The work on Objective 2 focused in two areas: spatial design and visualization of smart foodscapes and deployment of Smart Foodscapes to the range. For these areas, Drs. Villalba and Ramsey's team focused on developing and testing the islands of diversity location tool. This tool utilizes 6-years of satellite imagery to determine areas with consistently higher levels of photosynthetically active vegetation across a given landscape. The team conducted the following activities: -Developed and tested the islands of diversity location tool and applied it to the experimental pasture located near Richmond, Utah. Using GIS, greenness at this pasture was determined for the last 7 years using Landsat imagery, retrieving NDVI data. Greenness is a function of NDVI, and identified pixels with a 7-year average greenness above the average of the pasture served as candidate locations for establishing the islands of diversity -Developed protocol to identify potential water points to be as distant from islands of diversity as possible. -Mapped six sub-pastures of equal size of 9.4 acres and randomly identified three of them as test and the other three as control pastures. Within each test sub-pasture, located potential sites for 3 islands of diversity of approximately 0.31 acres. -Islands of diversity were sprayed with a general herbicide to eliminate all vegetation. Then the entire pasture was overflown with a DJI Mavic-Pro II drone to generate a natural color ortho-image and a digital surface model with a nominal ground resolution of 2.5cm. This will serve as a baseline image. The plots were seeded with legumes during early November. A watering system for the cows was developed during the period. Extension Component For Objective 5, Dr. Schad attended a Sustainable Grazing Institute in Kaysville in June put on by USU Extension where she organized a presentation on the project by Dr. Villalba and obtained emails from attendees. For Objective 6, Dr. Schad has focused on three primary activities. The first was to find and synthesize literature about ranchers' usage of conservation practices, particularly in the Intermountain West (IMW). Dr. Schad sought to answer these questions: 1) What are considered conservation or best management practices in ranching in the IMW? 2) What do we know about ranchers' usage of them? Second, Dr. Schad started interviewing stakeholder advisory board members who are ranchers themselves to get their input on the overall project ideas and the management practices being proposed or developed. These interviews will continue in the fall and the results will be shared with the team. Some of them will be interviewed later to better understand what kind of questions would be useful to ask to demonstrate to producers what the overall goals of the project are. Third, Dr. Schad was leading the development of a short introductory video for the project that outlined the overall goals of the project, and the primary components, and showed some images and footage related to the project to better help those interested in understanding what the project is seeking to do. Dr. Schad led the effort to develop the script and has been working with the videographer to determine appropriate footage to accompany the script. She recently arranged a visit to a local ranch in Paradise to capture footage of the type of interaction I will have with ranchers in conducting interviews throughout the project. Dr. MacAdam worked on Objective 7 with the Extension team as described above. Education Component For Objective 8, the Education team partnered with two elementary and one junior high school; planned for school gardens; established a materials use agreement between the grant project and the schools; purchased the materials; and began installation of gardens at elementary schools: 6 raised beds and shed completed; greenhouse under construction. The team developed a Teacher Participation Role Statement, which teachers signed as an agreement for their engagement as participants in the project for years 1 and 2. Theelementary teacher partner team includes four lead teachers, 2 garden managers, and three lead art teachers. The middle school partner team is being recruited, and another middle school partner is being identified. For Objective 9, the Education team developed templatesfor lesson plans and a review rubric; identified unifying concepts and related sub-concepts and developed acurriculum map; set up curriculum writing and review process; and collaboratively with teachers developed, reviewed, and revised 47 elementary lessons. Also, the team planned and began drafting content for professional development modules. The team identified, vetted, and revised possible research instruments that align with education goals. The team also identified an author and illustrator for a children's book and contracted with a project videographer for the introductory and career videos.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
MacAdam, J. W., Pitcher, L. R., Bolleta, A. I., Guevara, R., Beauchemin, K., Dai, X., & Villalba, J. (2022, January 25). Increased Nitrogen Retention and Reduced Methane Emissions of Beef Cattle Grazing Legume vs. Grass Irrigated Pastures in the Mountain West USA. Agronomy, 12(2), 304.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2021
Citation:
Provenza, F. D., Villalba, J., & Kleppel, G. (2021). Editorial: Livestock Production and the Functioning of Agricultural Ecosystems, Volume II. To appear in Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems..
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2021
Citation:
Villalba, J. (2022, September). Smart Foodscapes: Developing Functional Landscapes to Enhance the Sustainability Livestock Production Systems. Journal of Animal Science, 100(Supplement_3), 89-90.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Presentations:
Villalba, J., SMART FOODSCAPES ANNUAL MEETING, "Introduction and Research Overview - Establishing Islands in the Landscape," USDA-NIFA, Logan, Utah. (December 12, 2022 - December 14, 2022)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Presentations:
Villalba, J., ANIMAL WELFARE MASTERS PROGRAM - AUTONOMOUS UNIVERSITY OF BARCELONA, "Animal welfare in grazing systems.," USDA-NIFA, Logan, Utah. (October 13, 2022)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Presentations:
Villalba, J., The American Society of Animal Science (ASAS) and the Canadian Society of Animal Science (CSAS) Joint Annual Meeting, "Platform Speaker: Smart Foodscapes: Developing Functional Landscapes to Enhance the Sustainability Livestock Production Systems." (June 26, 2022 - June 30, 2022)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Presentations:
Villalba, J., 2022 NCCC31 Ecophysiological Aspects of Forage Management, "Project Discussion: Smart Foodscapes to Enhance the Sustainability of Western Rangelands," NCCC31 Group, Laramie, WY. (June 15, 2022 - June 17, 2022)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Presentations:
Villalba, J., The Sustainable Grazing Institute: Merging the Art and Science of Management Intensive Grazing, "Using Smart Foodscapes to Enhance the Sustainability of Western Rangelands.," USU, Kaysville, Utah. (June 7, 2022 - June 8, 2022)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Presentations:
Villalba, J., USDA-NIFA SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE SYSTEMS PROJECT DIRECTORS MEETING, "Smart Foodscapes to Enhance the Sustainability of Western Rangelands," USDA-NIFA, Washington, DC. (April 18, 2022 - April 20, 2022)
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