Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
While feed, fiber and fuel produced from agricultural resources contribute over $325 billion to the U.S. economy and reduce dependence on fossil fuels, there is significant room for growth. However, numerous logistical barriers along the biomass supply chain limit this growth. Farmers are limited by the need to purchase costly, crop-specific harvest equipment, which increases production costs. The high cost and long-term investment (20-40 years) for this equipment hinders farmers' ability to diversify crops and creates an entry barrier for new growers. It also affects equipment manufacturer's profitability. The biomass processing industry faces challenges due to different harvest formats, storage requirements, and processing methods required for different crops.The goal of this project is to test the viability, sustainability, and adoption potential of a universal feedstock supply (UNIFY) chain logistics system that will transform the harvest and post-harvest logistics and preprocessing methods for major U.S. crops, resulting in increased production of sustainable feed, fiber, and biofuels. New equipment and methods will be developed for harvest and post-harvest operations and integrates those with more efficient preprocessing methods to reduce costs and environmental impacts. Our research team will collaborate with stakeholders, to design, optimize, and demonstrate a pilot UNIFY system for six crops (corn, soybean, cotton, hemp, camelina, switchgrass) that have different physiologies and cover almost half of the U.S. cropland. This work will demonstrate the UNIFY system's viability for other crops with similar physiologies, laying the groundwork needed for its adoption. In addition to testing and demonstrating the effectiveness of the UNIFY system for sustainable crop production and processing, we will design and deliver extension and education curricula that shift stakeholders' perspectives and understanding of new cost-effective and efficient methods for improving biomass production. This programming will also create a pathway for increasing the bioeconomy workforce.By the end of this project, we will have evaluated the agronomic, environmental, and technical performance of the UNIFY system and determined the factors affecting its sustainability. We will also have assessed the needs of stakeholders from multiple sectors, documented shifts in their knowledge and behavior regarding conventional systems versus UNIFY and determined the adoption potential of the UNIFY system. Demonstration of the UNIFY system at scale is expected to catalyze adoption of it, enabling producers and industries to tap into burgeoning biobased markets and improve the resilience of the bioeconomy via increased sustainable, climate-smart production of feed, fiber and biofuels. Implementation of the bioeconomy curricula will provide a trained workforce that will further enable adoption of UNIFY.
Animal Health Component
50%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
15%
Applied
50%
Developmental
35%
Goals / Objectives
The overall goal of this project is to test the viability, sustainability, and adoption potential of the UNIFY system in six selected crops (corn, soybean, cotton, camelina, hemp and switchgrass) for climate-smart production of feed, fiber, and biofuels across different climatic conditions and geographies (Ohio, Mississippi and Iowa), and create a pathway for training the bioeconomy workforce. The overall goal will be achieved through seven specific objectives: 1) Assess needs and attitudes of multi-sector stakeholders toward UNIFY system adoption. 2) Optimize versatility and performance of the UNIFY harvester for diverse crops. 3) Evaluate agronomic, environmental, and technical performance of the UNIFY harvest and postharvest logistics system for diverse crops. 4) Evaluate storage and preprocessing performance of UNIFY bales for feed, fiber, and biofuels. 5) Assess UNIFY system's sustainability along economic, environmental, and social dimensions. 6) Design and deliver extension curricula to shift from the conventional biomass supply chain to a sustainable, climate-smart alternative. 7) Create a pathway for a diverse and inclusive bioeconomy workforce by developing, piloting, and implementing industry-relevant curricula to train middle school through college students.
Project Methods
UNIFY will integrate research, extension, and education tasks. To determine the criteria for maximum UNIFY adoption, the needs of stakeholders will be assessed through focus groups, sequential questionnaires, and in-depth interviews. End user UNIFY adoption potential will be assessed through surveys (Objective 1). The agronomic, environmental, and technical performance of the UNIFY harvest and post-harvest logistics system will be evaluated through field testing in three different states (Objectives 2 & 3). For field testing, corn and soybean will be rotated in Ohio; hemp will be grown as a continuous crop in Ohio; cotton and camelina will be double-cropped in Mississippi; and, established switchgrass fields will be used in Iowa. UNIFY harvester prototypes, instrumented to collect yield and equipment performance data, will be optimized to harvest all the crops. UNIFY harvest and post-harvest logistics system performance will be evaluated and compared to the conventional system. Machine learning models will be developed using remotely sensed data to determine soil properties, crop emergence, height, crop yield, and residue cover. The UNIFY bales will be stored and preprocessed for feed (corn), fiber (cotton and hemp), and biofuels (soybean, camelina, switchgrass, and residues from diverse crops) (Objective 4). The data generated from field and processing tests will be used to assess the economic, environmental, and social sustainability of the UNIFY system at farm- and landscape-scales, with comparison to conventional harvest and post-harvest logistics and processing practices for the selected crops (Objective 5). We will develop our extension curricula beginning with bioeconomy fundamentals and build on this foundation to educate stakeholders about recommended practices and features of the UNIFY system (Objective 6). We will deliver the curricula through in-person and virtual events, and program participant evaluations will measure changes in knowledge and behavior related to shifting from conventional biomass supply chain systems to alternative ones such as UNIFY. We will develop and deliver state-certified industry-relevant middle to high school 'Biosystems and Bioeconomy' curricula that are aligned to Core STEM Standards and use UNIFY as the testbed (Objective 7). We will also implement a novel "A Broad Study" domestic student exchange program aimed at increasing the inclusion of underrepresented minorities and underserved communities in STEM. An external evaluation firm will work closely with the project team to oversee the implementation of the project tasks, including attending all meetings, and will assess the team's progress in meeting objectives as demonstrated through proposed project metrics. The evaluation firm will provide monthly status reports and recommendations and will document them in interim reports. Project evaluators will use an approach that reflects a mixed-methods evaluation that will gather both quantitative and qualitative data. Findings will be summarized in interim reports and recommendations will be made in time to aid in strategic decision-making.