Collaborative Research: RII FEC: Harnessing Controlled Environment Agriculture to Secure Sustainability and Economic Growth

Extreme climate events are increasing in frequency and have had significant, negative impacts on crop production not only for industrial but also for smallholder farms. Food security, food nutritional quality, and the viability of disadvantaged communities are especially threatened by climate change. An educated application of Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) provides one avenue to mitigate climate pressure on tribal communities and meet future food demand in a sustainable manner. Advances in and widespread adoption of CEA are, however, limited by several factors. Significant knowledge gaps exist in the science underpinning CEA. Additionally, there has been limited investment in relevant research, community engagement, and workforce development. This project is a collaboration among community colleges, universities, tribal nations, and community organizations located in three NSF EPSCoR jurisdictions: University of New Mexico, New Mexico State University, and Santa Fe Community College (New Mexico); University of Wyoming (Wyoming); and University of South Dakota and Sicangu Community Development Corporation (South Dakota). The three collaborating jurisdictions are home to 36 federal reservations. The project team brings together community members and researchers from diverse fields (e.g., economists, engineers, biologists, and plant physiologists) and consists of early-career, mid-career, and established researchers. This project provides opportunities for learning among universities, community colleges, industry, and tribal communities to allow for the development of tailored CEA systems and a climate-smart and community-based workforce. The human and information infrastructure developed under this project is anticipated to attract and retain talent, stimulate economic development, and confer climate resilience in tribal communities within and across jurisdictions. The overarching goal of this project is to empirically determine best practices for secure CEA food production and to quantify the socio-economic impacts of CEA on tribal communities across the collaborating EPSCoR jurisdictions. The project proposes to take a convergence science approach to tackling food security under climate change, drawing upon diverse expertise with researchers ranging from basic (plant physiology and plant-microbe interactions) and applied biology (CEA and horticulture), environmental and natural resource economics, engineering, sustainability science, and applied knowledge of tribal community members. The research project leverages each institution's unique and complementary research expertise and resources to accomplish the following three objectives: (1) characterize how the environment, plants, and microbes interact in hydroponic systems and affect crop yield and nutritional quality; (2) identify environmental, nutritional, and socio-economic drivers and impacts of CEA on tribal communities to enhance climate resilience strategies via CEA; and (3) empower tribal communities through interdisciplinary training aimed at long-term retention of a highly-skilled climate-smart CEA workforce. The project includes training and mentoring activities for undergraduate and graduate students, post-doctoral scholars, early career faculty, and various tribal communities, including farmers, students K-12, and industry personnel. This project is funded by the EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Improvement-Focused EPSCoR Collaborations (RII-FEC) program. The RII-FEC program builds inter-jurisdictional collaborative teams of EPSCoR investigators in focus areas consistent with the NSF Strategic Plan. RII-FEC projects include researchers from at least two EPSCoR jurisdictions with complementary expertise and resources necessary to address challenges, which neither party could address as well or as rapidly independently. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.