2012 Graduate Student Projects
GW12-004: "Multiple Forms of Uncertainty as a Barrier to the Adoption of Sustainable Farming Practices," Principal Investigator: Patrick Lawrence, Graduate Student, Montana State University, 334 Leon Johnson Hall, Bozeman, MT, 59717, 406-209-5311, patrick.lawrence@msu.montana.edu; Major Professor: Bruce Maxwell, Montana State University, 406-994-5717, bmax@montana.edu, $24,830.
Advocates of sustainable farming practices often criticize conventional producers for resisting the use of more diverse cropping systems, for applying high levels of inputs and for being reliant on industrial food distribution systems. While some of these criticisms may be warranted, they fall short in their understanding of the sociological and economic barriers to the adoption of more ecologically balanced farming practices. Producers respond to perceived risk by seeking to reduce economic and environmental variability. If large-scale farming systems are to truly achieve greater ecological and economic sustainability, then it will be imperative to understand why many farmers' decision-making processes favor the suppression of ecological dynamics. In particular, it is necessary to identify the specific decision points and socioeconomic incentives that lead farmers to avoid diversification. This project will develop a detailed account of these decision points and will pinpoint specific barriers to the adoption of sustainable agriculture that will form the basis of subsequent policies and advocacy efforts. This study will directly identify such barriers within the dryland wheat farming systems of the Northern Great Plains of Montana. This project will first initiate a set of case studies to build a foundation for understanding farmer risk perception and management. As the case studies progress, a series of producer surveys will be designed that target a wider assortment of farmers and chronicle their various response mechanisms. Using the forum of producer workshops and field days, this first series of anonymous surveys will then be distributed to a broad group of producers. Finally, the results of the anonymous surveys will be interactively disseminated through a second series of workshops and through various media outlets.
GW12-022: "Late Season and Overwintering Management of the Large Raspberry Aphid," Principal Investigator: Danielle Lightle, Graduate Student, Oregon State University, 4017 Ag & Life Science Building, Corvallis, OR, 97331, 541-220-0692, danielle.lightle@gmail.com; Major Professor: Jana Lee, ARS-USDA, 541-738-4110, jana.lee@ars.usda.gov; $19,193.
In the Pacific Northwest region, an emerging complex of virus diseases in raspberry has caused symptoms of crumbly fruit, resulting in lowered fruit quality, crop loss and shortened life of the field. One of the viruses implicated in these symptoms is raspberry leaf mottle virus (RLMV), a closterovirus that is transmitted by the large raspberry aphid, Amphorophora agathonica. RLMV is widespread in the top raspberry producing counties of Washington which produce 95% of the processed red raspberries in the U.S. To improve current management of this aphid vector, this study will: 1) determine if control of the fall flight period of A. agathonica is required for control of virus spread and 2) evaluate organic fungicides and oils for their efficacy in suppressing egg hatch. Currently, raspberry growers utilize multiple applications of insecticides to control aphids. Defining a point at which raspberries are not susceptible to RLMV would potentially eliminate an end of season insecticide application. Decreasing the overwintering success of the aphid would lead to lower spring aphid populations and a reduction in early season control measures. Results will be disseminated through fact sheets, meetings and field days in order to inform growers how targeted control of aphid populations could reduce insecticide inputs while maintaining the health and increasing the longevity of their raspberry plantings.
GW12-024: "Ecosystem Services in Hedgerow Restorations: Pollination Function and Nesting Habitat," Principal Investigator: Hillary Sardinas, Graduate Student, UC Berkeley, 538 43rd Street, Oakland, CA, 94609, 760-271-2111, hsardinas@berkeley.edu; Major Professor: Claire Kremen, UC Berkeley, 510-643-6339, ckremen@berkeley.edu; $25,000.
Pollination services have been substantially degraded due to agricultural intensification. As a result, there are increasing calls for on-farm management actions that can enhance agroecological resilience by restoring ecosystem services that support and regulate crop production. Re-diversification of agricultural areas at both field and landscape scales has been proposed as a means of bolstering key ecosystem services. This project will study the provision of pollination services and subsequent economic benefits associated with hedgerow restoration, a common habitat enhancement technique. Farmers are concerned that hedgerows attract bees away from their crops, therefore this project will examine whether native bees pollinating crops also utilized hedgerow resources using a novel protein mark-recapture technique. The study will also link the abundance and diversity of native bees directly to delivery of services by calculating rates of seed set. Seed set data will be used to create an economic model of ecosystem service provisioning. In addition, nesting habitat is critical to conserving native bee populations, and thus sustaining pollination services. This project will determine whether hedgerows provide adequate nesting habitat. Results will provide a comprehensive economic valuation of pollination services provided by hedgerows that can be used in farmer decision-making. Outreach and education include fact sheets, blog articles, journal articles and presentations.
GW12-030: "The Contribution of Predator Phenology and Diversity to Secondary Pest Suppression in Alfalfa," Principal Investigator: Erica Stephens, Graduate Student, Utah State University, 5305 Old Main Hill, Logan, UT, 84322, 435-881-8651, erica.stephens@aggiemail.usu.edu; Major Professor: Ricardo Ramirez, Utah State University, 435-797-8088, ricardo.ramirez@usu.edu; $13,095.
Alfalfa is an important crop to Utah agriculture with nearly 50% of farms in Utah producing alfalfa hay. Insecticides are a major component of pest management in alfalfa, particularly for the control of alfalfa weevil. However, broad-spectrum pesticides used to combat alfalfa weevil eliminate beneficial insect populations. The resulting lack of predation by beneficial insects allows secondary pests to multiply into outbreak status. Despite their relevance, beneficial insects are largely ignored in sampling and monitoring protocols utilized in integrated pest management (IPM) strategies. Alfalfa harbors a diverse community of predatory insect species, yet little is known about their phenology (seasonal timing of life-cycle events), feeding capacity and how dynamic communities of adult and juvenile predators interact to suppress pests throughout a growing season. The goal of this project is to understand how predator phenology and diversity can work to suppress pest populations. In the future, IPM monitoring protocols can utilize information obtained from the collection of beneficial insects to lead to more informed decisions about pesticide application. Results from this study will provide information about the beneficial insect communities that favor optimal pest suppression during the growing season. Ultimately, these studies will enhance understanding of predatory insect phenology and diversity and their role in pest suppression. Furthermore, these studies will provide a foundation to initiate the integration of beneficial insect monitoring and sampling into IPM strategies. Outreach methods include journal articles and presentations at conferences.
GW12-064: "Enhancing the Potential for Sustainability through Participatory Environmental Assessment," Principal Investigator: Anahi Ocampo Melgar, Graduate Student, University of Arizona, 1955 East Sixth Street, Tucson, AZ, 85719, 520-272-0380, anahiom@email.arizona.edu; Major Professor: Barron Orr, University of Arizona, 520-626-8063, barron@email.arizona.edu; $25,000.
One of the greatest challenges to agricultural sustainability on western rangelands is the risk of land degradation. A combination of scientific discovery and good mitigation and restoration practices provide the means to reduce this risk. Effective implementation of these requires environmental assessment, which traditionally is conducted by a team of technical experts who make recommendations to land managers and producers. Unfortunately, the adoption track record of traditional assessments, unless mandated by law or regulations, is poor, largely because local perspectives, interests, needs and knowledge are rarely considered. A potential solution is to begin with the assumption that all stakeholders have knowledge essential to a useful environmental assessment and then make each a member of the evaluation team. This project will help develop and then test a participatory approach to environmental evaluation, based on integrating local and expert knowledge in a formative and collaborative manner, where local perspectives and priorities drive a process that encourages social learning, setting up the opportunity for collective action. The study will focus on the San Simon Watershed. Interests range from public land management, ranching, farming, tourism, small municipalities and the San Carlos Apache tribe. Members of the Gila Watershed Partnership have agreed to work with the research team to develop and test the participatory assessment approach used in this study. The process will result in a collaborative evaluation of the mitigation and restoration actions in support of decision making in the San Simon watershed. Expected outcomes include raised public awareness, social learning and knowledge transfer among all the stakeholders, and the inclusion of all the actors' voices in environmental assessment. The social learning and collaboration has longer term potential to increase participation and reduce conflict.
