Technologically Innovative Organic Sustainable Farming

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Technologically Innovative Organic / Sustainable
Farming

• Past and Future Research
• By Hala Chaoui

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OUTLINEWaste management research driven by the
search for a sustainable form of processed
waste, and a paradigm shift

• Past research
• Masters in Plant and Soil Sc. Earthworm casts
• RA. Disease suppression in earthworm casts
• PhD in Agricultural and Biological Engineering.
  Modeling the effect of electric fields on
  earthworms
• Postdoc projects
• Odor setback distance models
• Instrumentation and programming (in yield
  monitors)
• Compost biofilters for dairy manure
• Effect of mixing on biodigester yield
• Ammonia emission modeling
• Advising undergraduate thesis
• Managing lab
• Outreach and innovation

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OUTLINEWaste management research driven by the
search for a sustainable form of processed
waste, and a paradigm shift

• Planned future research
• Goal, develop technologically advanced organic
  farming
• Principles and ideas for future research
• Ideas on funding sources
• Principles in guiding graduate students
• Vision of paradigm shift in organic production
• Conclusion

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Past Research
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Past Research gt Masters

• Masters thesis, U Maine
• comparing earthworms casts, compost and synthetic
  fertilizer
• soil respiration BOD, biomass-C
• plant nutrient uptake, mineralization rate,
  salinity
• slow release, higher yields in earthworm casts
• new topic, cited 13 times, 8th in Soil Biol. and
  Biochem., 2003.
• Chaoui et al. 2003. Effects of earthworm casts
  and compost on soil microbial activity and plant
  nutrient availability. Soil Biology
  Biochemistry 35. 295-302
• Research Assistant, OSU
• suppression of damping off diseases in earthworm
  casts
• Chaoui et al. 2002. Suppression of the plant
  parasitic diseases Pythium (damping off),
  Rhizoctonia (root rot) and Verticillium (wilt) by
  vermicompost. Proceedings Brighton Crop
  Protection

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Past Research gt PhD

• PhD
• Shift to engineering
• Thesis
• goal more efficient earthworms separation in
  vermicomposting
• design model for effectiveness of electric fields
  on separating earthworms from organic media
• in second review in Biosystems Engineering
  Journal

• Classes on molecular biology techniques, waste
  management, FE certificate, Autocad, microchip
  programming, ArcGIS
• Biological and Agricultural Engineers work at the
  interface of science and engineering
• Chaoui et al. 2006. Testing a model of the
  effectiveness of an electric field at repelling
  earthworms. ASABE Paper No. 067010
• Chaoui et al. 2005. Modeling the effectiveness of
  an electric field at repelling earthworms. ASAE
  Paper No. 054153

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Modeling the Effectiveness of an Electric Field
at Repelling Earthworms Advisor Dr. Harold
Keener
Past Research gt PhD gt PhD thesis gt Theory

• V f(i, D, R, d, s) f(current, diameter and
  resistivity, electrode depth and spacing)
• Dimensional analysis
• Length unit cm, i in amps, R in Ohms
• Electric field efficiency is a function of V
• Electric field efficiency is measured as

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Past Research gt PhD gt PhD thesis gt Methods
Experimental design
Other treatments 2, 12, 24, 35 mA, e. foetida,
7.5 cm depth, 2.8 cm spacing
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An electric field
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An electric fieldin the soil
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_


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An electric fieldin the soil repels earthworms
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_


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Past Research gt PhD gt PhD thesis gt Methods
E. hortensis
E. foetida
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Past Research gt PhD gt PhD thesis gt Methods

• Develop model for the electric fields
  effectiveness
• Test model (soil porosity, moisture, salinity)
• Find t100 , mortality, test AC vs. DC

• Experimental set up soil slabs made of soil and
  earthworms
• Reproducible systematic method

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Past Research gt PhD gt PhD thesis gt Results
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Past Research gt PhD gt PhD thesis gt Results

• Verifying treatment effect (of inputs in model)

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Past Research gt PhD gt PhD thesis gt
Results Experimental model

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Past Research gt PhD gt PhD thesis gt Results
Relevance of soil properties (test the model)

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Past Research gt Postdocs gt Penn State gt cost /
benefit analysis template
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Past Research gt Postdocs

• OSU, on air quality (3 months)
• Models for setback distance from animal
  facilities, review and sensitivity analysis.
• Study published in ASABE air quality symposium,
  Colorado Sept 2007
• Chaoui Brugger. 2007. A review and sensitivity
  analysis of odor setback distance models.
  International Symposium on Air Quality and Waste
  Management for Agriculture. September 15-19, 2007
  in Broomfield, Colorado

• Univ. of Florida (3 months)
• Algorithm to process GPS and load cells data from
  a citrus yield monitor
• Derive spatial yield map from GPS data, using arc
  GIS
• Ehsani , R., Chaoui, H., Grejner-Brzezinska, D
  and Sullivan, M. A method of evaluating the
  performance of RTK GPS receivers used in
  Agriculture. 2006. Proceedings of the World
  Congress on Agricultural Engineering, 2006 and
  Proceedings of the Automation Technology for Off
  Road Equipment Conference.

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Past Research gt Postdocs gt Penn State

• Postdoc at Penn State University
• Evaluating compost biofilters to mitigate ammonia
  and greenhouse gases
• ASABE AIM proceedings, June 2007
• Exploratory experiment on the effect of mixing on
  biogas yield in biodigesters
• Progress in Biogas conference in Stuttgart,
  September 2007
• Evaluating models for ammonia emissions from
  animal waste
• In progress planned, Transactions of ASABE
• Managed bio-processing lab
• Co-developed wiki website online
• Co-advisor in undergraduate thesis
• Effect of biofilters on manure stack temperatures
• Mentored in data collection, processing
• Data analysis, organized writing

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Past Research gt Postdocs gt Penn State

• Pooling ideas for technologically advanced
  organic farming
• organized a conference session on Innovative
  Technologies for Organic Farming, 2005 to 2007,
  ASABE
• vice-president of ecological engineering
  committee at ASABE, officer for past 2 years
• Bio Ag Engineering.net website

Adrian Bowyer Bath University, UK
Claus Sorensen Research Centre Bygholm, Denmark
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Past Research gt Postdocs gt Penn State

• Outreach through professional website and lab
  wiki site
• Lit review on vermicomposting
• Excel programs for optimized feed mix composition
• Excel program for separation of means in
  statistics
• Template for cost / benefit analysis
• Excel macro and programs for filtering and
  processing sensors data

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Past Research gt Postdocs gt Penn State gt Biofilters

• Postdoc at Penn State University
• Evaluating compost biofilters to mitigate ammonia
  and greenhouse gases
• ASABE AIM proceedings, June 2007
• Exploratory experiment on the effect of mixing on
  biogas yield in biodigesters
• Progress in Biogas conference in Stuttgart,
  September 2007
• Evaluating models for ammonia emissions from
  animal waste
• In progress planned, Transactions of ASABE
• Managed bio-processing lab
• Co-developed wiki website online
• Co-advisor in undergraduate thesis
• Effect of biofilters on manure stack temperatures
• Mentored in efficient data processing
• data analysis, organized writing

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Past Research gt Postdocs gt Penn State gt Biofilters

• Rationale for evaluating the effect of biofilters
  of gaseous emissions from stacked dairy manure
• Stacked manure emits NH3 , N2O , CO2, and CH4,
  H2O
• GWP methane 23, nitrous oxide 296.
• NH3 causes acidification and eutrophication
• Chaoui et al. 2007. The effect of compost and
  earthworms casts biofilters on dairy manure stack
  emissions. ASABE Annual International Meeting.
  Minneapolis, Minnesota.

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Past Research gt Postdocs gt Penn State gt
Biofilters gt Methods
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Past Research gt Postdocs gt Penn State gt
Biofilters gt Experimental design
Are emission rates of NH3 , N2O , CO2, and CH4,
H2O affected by Biofilters? Biofilter filling,
thickness, moisture content, respiration
levels? By time, ambient and manure
temperatures? Random Complete Blocked Design -
Pseudo-replication in time (weekly) 3 seasons
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Past Research gt Postdocs gt Penn State gt
Biofilters gt Experimental design
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Past Research gt Postdocs gt Penn State gt
Biofilters gt Experimental design

• Weekly NH3, N2O, CH4, CO2, water vapor

Temperature at 3 depths Data recorded and logged
hourly
Biofilter respiration levels, BOD assay Moisture
content of biofilter
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Past Research gt Postdocs gt Penn State gt
Biofilters gt Methods
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Past Research gt Postdocs gt Penn State gt
Biofilters gt Methods
Photoacoustic sensor / Flux Chamber Excel program
to extract relevant data continuous data
emissions Pedersen (2001) equation to derive gas
flux rates from gas build up rate
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Past Research gt Postdocs gt Penn State gt
Biofilters gt Results
No significant effect of time, a significant
effect of treatment (p0.00) and a treatment x
time effect (p0.04)
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Past Research gt Postdocs gt Penn State gt
Biofilters gt Results
NH3 emissions differed significantly due to
filler type, p 0.03 N2O, CH4, CO2, H2O filler
type had no significant effect
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Past Research gt Postdocs gt Penn State gt
Biofilters gt Results
Only N2O (p0.02) and NH3 (p0.01) emission rates
were significantly affected by biofilter thickness
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Past Research gt Postdocs gt Penn State gt
Biodigestion

• Postdoc at Penn State University
• Evaluating compost biofilters to mitigate ammonia
  and greenhouse gases
• ASABE AIM proceedings, June 2007
• Exploratory experiment on the effect of mixing on
  biogas yield in biodigesters
• Progress in Biogas conference in Stuttgart,
  September 2007
• Evaluating models for ammonia emissions from
  animal waste
• In progress planned, Transactions of ASABE
• Managed bio-processing lab
• Co-developed wiki website online
• Co-advisor in undergraduate thesis
• Effect of biofilters on manure stack temperatures
• Mentored in data collection, processing
• Data analysis, organized writing

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Past Research gt Postdocs gt Penn State gt
Biodigestion

• Rationale for evaluating the effect of mixing on
  biodigesters
• Less frequent mixing to prevent de-anchoring
  anaerobic bacteria (Aldrich, 1993)
• Less operational costs
• Mixing distribute microorganisms and heat,
  reduces particle size, help release biogas
• Is it optimal at intermediate (Smith et al, 1996)
  or minimal levels (Stroot et al., 2001)
• Does it have no effect (Karim et al., 2005)
• A positive effect (model by Banister (1998))
• A negative one (Stroot et al. (2001)

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Past Research gt Postdocs gt Penn State gt
Biodigestion gt Methods

• Experiment for evaluating the effect of mixing on
  biodigesters
• 3 replicates mixed for 1, 2, 3 minutes / day, 17
  days, at 30oC
• Stir bar, peripheral stirring plate, 1.04 m/s
  velocity
• Pressure sensors measure gas build up
• Gas composition (GC)
• Stabilization volatile solids and BOD

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Past Research gt Postdocs gt Penn State gt
Biodigestion gt Results
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Past Research gt Postdocs gt Penn State gt
Biodigestion gt Results
Chaoui Richard. 2007. Effect of mixing
frequency on biogas yield in biodigesters.
International conference on progress in biogas.
September 19, 2007 in Stuttgart, Germany.
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Past Research gt Postdocs gt Penn State

• Postdoc at Penn State University
• Evaluating compost biofilters to mitigate ammonia
  and greenhouse gases
• ASABE AIM proceedings, June 2007
• Exploratory experiment on the effect of mixing on
  biogas yield in biodigesters
• Progress in Biogas conference in Stuttgart,
  September 2007
• Evaluating models for ammonia emissions from
  animal waste
• In progress planned, Transactions of ASABE
• Managed bio-processing lab
• Co-developed wiki website online
• Co-advisor in undergraduate thesis
• Effect of biofilters on manure stack temperatures
• Mentored in data collection processing
• Data analysis, organized writing

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Past Research gt Postdocs gt Penn State gt
Evaluating ammonia emission models

• Models predict ammonia speciation and
  volatilization
• Estimating pollution form animal facilities
• Rationale empirically evaluate models, verify
  missing inputs
• Models for dissociation fraction of ammonia(l)
  from ammonium(l)
• Elzing and Monteny, 1997, Hashimoto, 1972.
• Henrys law predict ammonia(g) based on
  ammonia(l)
• Henrys constant P(ammonia gas) / ammonia(l)
  ammonia(g) / ammonia(l)

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Past Research gt Postdocs gt Penn State gt
Evaluating ammonia emission models

• f x H ammonia(l) / ammonium(l) x ammonia(g)
  / ammonia(l)
• ammonia(g) / ammonium(l)

Incubate samples at prescribed temperature for 1
hour, measure for 10 minutes
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Past Research gt Postdocs gt Penn State gt
Evaluating ammonia emission models

• Evaluating mass transfer models, with wind
  velocity as an input

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Future Research
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Future Research gt Develop technologically
advanced organic / sustainable farming

• Background
• Trained in precision ag
• Teaching assistant for precision ag class
• ArcGIS work as a graduate assistant, analyzing
  spatial data
• Developing program to filter data from citrus
  yield monitor data logger
• Literature review on Zigbee routers for wireless
  signals
• Workshop on using sensors in the Zigbee system
• Develop online networking tool (2005) for
  innovative technologyie on organic farming
• Using background for future research
• Draw on network to co-author proposal for
  wireless sensing / precision ag use in organic
  animal production
• Develop online database for exchange of weeding
  robots protocols

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Future Research gt Principles and ideas

• Build on existing advances in precision ag and
  wireless sensing
• Wireless animal guidance in free range pastures
• Creativity
• The best way to never have a good idea, is to
  never have a bad idea
• Incremental innovations to transformative ideas
• Sustainability ecological, social and economic
• cost / benefit analysis ?creative design can
  reduce cost of technology
• Teams
• Research specialists, students, faculty, for
  diverse perspectives
• Focus-groups to better select research
• Communication
• put results in accessible terms, stakeholder
• combine producers with academic inputs (ASABE
  session)

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Future Research gt Principles and ideas

• Combine biological and agricultural engineering
• Strong collaborations
• Grow into that area
• Training protein and enzymatic assays, SDS-Page
  method
• Engineering design
• Designing a system, not single process
• vermicomposting system
• Optimize a combination existing processes
• co-processes
• multi-waste streams
• excel program for optimized feedstock
• result complex but easy to operate system
• Organization in experiments
• Experimental design, hypothesis
• Streamlining data collection and processing
• Industry-like efficiency in labs
• Enhances career of graduates, increases
  credibility of lab

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Future Research gt Principles and ideas gt
designing systems
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Vision of whats next free range fitted with
technology Tools waste bioprocessing techniques,
instrumentation, electrical engineering,
precision ag and programming
A free-range fitted with engineering designs to
process waste Goal - social acceptability, no
odor - pro-pig environment -
ecologically sound, lucrative - not at
the expense of increased labor
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Vision of whats next free range fitted with
technology Tools waste bioprocessing techniques,
instrumentation, electrical engineering,
precision ag and programming
GPS or LPS receivers, RF modules and and Remote
controlled-locomotion will be used to input /
ouput locations
Control station computerized, feedback loops
based on wireless communication, prevents long
work hours
Wireless soil sensors indicate when soil reaches
its capacity in P nitrate
Mobile barn, guided by wireless input from
control station
Porous soil inoculated with earthworms processes
some of the pre-decomposed waste
Solar powered Feeder Ant - An autonomous mobile
unit feeding outdoor pigs (Jorgensen et al.
2007). Position output by control station
Automated mobile lids detect gaseous emissions
from, and cover waste. Theyre fitted with waste
degrading technologies, and powered by renewable
energy. They collect waste as well, into a
central waste processing station.
GPS and RF module - fitted pig collars.
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Paradigm shift in animal husbandry
Article by L. Hamilton in The New Farm, Jan 2003
on organic dairy milk. A mobile milking parlor
follows the cows as they rotate in the pasture.
Organic Pastures Dairy Company, Fresno CA
Eggmobile, such as used in Perry Winkle Farms -
Debbie Roos, North Carolina Cooperative
extension, Chatham county
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Future Research gt Funding Sources

• Ideas on funding source, grant proposals
• NRI and agstar at USDA
• Industry
• Co-authored grant proposal in PhD received 86
  approval rate
• Patent and royalties
• Cater to mainstream in RD, technologically
  advanced and convenient micro-gardens
• Envisioned grant proposal design model for
  optimizing a multi process / multi waste stream
  bio-processing system

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Future Research gt Graduate Students

• Principles in guiding graduate students
• Make room for creative thinking
• Identify a problem, be inspired, envision a
  solution, test it using scientific method
• Literature reviews and planning 80 of effort.
  Organized data collection and recording
• Demystify statistical analysis and experimental
  design
• Meticulous lab methods, not micro-manage
• Streamline data processing, replace tedious tasks
  with programs (for data filtering), leaves time
  for intelligent work
• Practical engineering skills. Autocad, machine
  shops. Design and print parts with a 3D printer

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Future Research gt Future Vision

• Paradigm shift in organic productions
• from inert technologies, to dynamic ones on which
  we can download new protocols (like weed
  recognition for a machine vision system)
• use of wireless sensors, feedback loops
• becoming more socially, ecologically sound
• more humane environment for animals, and less
  labor-dependent for plants and animal production
• Increased efficiency of small scale - organic
  swine productions
• modular technologies,
• the UN FAO report Organic Agriculture and Food
  Security (2007) organic agriculture can address
  local and global food security challenges.

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Conclusion

• Goal
• Transform organic plant and animal production
• Integrate innovative technologies in existing
  systems
• How I will work with others
• Communicate with stakeholders
• Collaborate with agricultural and biological
  engineers
• Tools
• Science engineering background
• Easily take on new subjects

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Thank You