Science Lecture Series 2024: From Dirt to Data: Insights for Sustainable Agricultural Systems

Water scarcity and environmental degradation associated with intensive agriculture are threatening the environmental, economic, and social sustainability of food production in water-scarce farmlands in the US and globally. Although limited, water resources in California and many other US farmlands are often used non-parsimoniously and inefficiently. Therefore, improvements to current irrigation practices must be made to help sustain agricultural systems in the long term. Short-scale changes in soil properties often result in remarkable within-field crop yield variability. Geophysical measurements and GIS-based models to characterize trends and drivers of soil variability are needed for informed agricultural and natural resource management. This talk will feature research on the use of field measurements, near-ground and remote sensing, and spatiotemporal multi-scale (field to the regional scale) data analysis for i) mapping and monitoring soil properties across scales, ii) understanding soil-plant interactions, and iii) enable precision agronomic management. Learn more about the UCR Science Lecture Series: https://sciencelectureseries.ucr.edu/