Nebraska Agricultural Water Management Demonstration Network (NAWMDN): Integrating Research and Extension/Outreach

Maximizing the net benefits of irrigated plant production through appropriately designed agricultural water management programs is of growing importance in Nebraska, and other western and Midwestern states, because many areas are involved in management and policy changes to conserve irrigation water. In Nebraska, farmers are being challenged to practice conservation methods and use water resources more efficiently while meeting plant water requirements and maintaining high yields. Another challenge Nebraska experiences in it\u27s approximately 3.5‐million‐ha irrigated lands is limited adoption of newer technologies/tools to help farmers better manage irrigation, conserve water and energy, and increase plant water use efficiency. In 2005, the Nebraska Agricultural Water Management Demonstration Network (NAWMDN or Network) was formed from an interdisciplinary team of partners including the Natural Resources Districts (NRD); USDA‐NRCS; farmers from south central, northeast, west central, and western Nebraska; crop consultants; and University of Nebraska‐Lincoln faculty. The main goal of the Network is to enable the transfer of high quality research‐based information to Nebraskans through a series of demonstration projects established in farmers\u27 fields and implement newer tools and technologies to address and enhance plant water use efficiency, water conservation, and reduce energy consumption for irrigation. The demonstration projects are supported by the scientifically‐based field research and evaluation projects conducted at the University of Nebraska‐Lincoln, South Central Agricultural Laboratory located near Clay Center, Nebraska. The Network was formed with only 15 farmers as collaborators in only one of the 23 NRDs in 2005. As of late 2009, the number of active collaborators has increased to over 300 in 12 NRDs and 35 of 93 counties. The Network is impacting both water and energy conservation due to farmers adopting information and newer technologies for irrigation management. The NAWMDN is helping participants to improve irrigation management and efficiency by monitoring plant growth stages and development, soil moisture, and crop evapotranspiration. As a result, they are reducing irrigation water application amounts and associated energy savings is leading to greater profitability to participating farmers. This article describes the goals and objectives of the Network, technical and educational components, operational functions, and procedures used in the NAWMDN. The quantitative impacts in terms of water and energy conservation are reported

NEBRASKA AGRICULTURAL WATER MANAGEMENT DEMONSTRATION NETWORK (NAWMDN): INTEGRATING RESEARCH AND EXTENSION/OUTREACH

Maximizing the net benefits of irrigated plant production through appropriately designed agricultural water management programs is of growing importance in Nebraska, and other western and Midwestern states, because many areas are involved in management and policy changes to conserve irrigation water. In Nebraska, farmers are being challenged to practice conservation methods and use water resources more efficiently while meeting plant water requirements and maintaining high yields. Another challenge Nebraska experiences in it\u27s approximately 3.5‐million‐ha irrigated lands is limited adoption of newer technologies/tools to help farmers better manage irrigation, conserve water and energy, and increase plant water use efficiency. In 2005, the Nebraska Agricultural Water Management Demonstration Network (NAWMDN or Network) was formed from an interdisciplinary team of partners including the Natural Resources Districts (NRD); USDA‐NRCS; farmers from south central, northeast, west central, and western Nebraska; crop consultants; and University of Nebraska‐Lincoln faculty. The main goal of the Network is to enable the transfer of high quality research‐based information to Nebraskans through a series of demonstration projects established in farmers\u27 fields and implement newer tools and technologies to address and enhance plant water use efficiency, water conservation, and reduce energy consumption for irrigation. The demonstration projects are supported by the scientifically‐based field research and evaluation projects conducted at the University of Nebraska‐Lincoln, South Central Agricultural Laboratory located near Clay Center, Nebraska. The Network was formed with only 15 farmers as collaborators in only one of the 23 NRDs in 2005. As of late 2009, the number of active collaborators has increased to over 300 in 12 NRDs and 35 of 93 counties. The Network is impacting both water and energy conservation due to farmers adopting information and newer technologies for irrigation management. The NAWMDN is helping participants to improve irrigation management and efficiency by monitoring plant growth stages and development, soil moisture, and crop evapotranspiration. As a result, they are reducing irrigation water application amounts and associated energy savings is leading to greater profitability to participating farmers. This article describes the goals and objectives of the Network, technical and educational components, operational functions, and procedures used in the NAWMDN. The quantitative impacts in terms of water and energy conservation are reported

Dispensaries and Medical Marijuana Certifications and Indications: Unveiling the Geographic Connections in Pennsylvania, USA

Introduction: Pennsylvania opened its first medical marijuana (MMJ) dispensary in 2018. Qualifying conditions include six conditions determined to have no or insufficient evidence to support or refute MMJ effectiveness. We conducted a study to describe MMJ dispensary access in Pennsylvania and to determine whether dispensary proximity was associated with MMJ certifications and community demographics. Methods: Using data from the Pennsylvania Department of Health, we geocoded MMJ dispensary locations and linked them to US Census Bureau data. We created dispensary access measures from the population-weighted centroid of Zip Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs): distance to nearest dispensary and density of dispensaries within a 15-min drive. We evaluated associations between dispensary access and the proportion of adults who received MMJ certification and the proportion of certifications for low evidence conditions (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, epilepsy, glaucoma, Huntington’s disease, opioid use disorder, and Parkinson’s disease) using negative binomial modeling, adjusting for community features. To evaluate associations racial and ethnic composition of communities and distance to nearest dispensary, we used logistic regression to estimate the odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI), adjusting for median income. Results: Distance and density of MMJ dispensaries were associated with the proportion of the ZCTA population certified and the proportion of certifications for insufficient evidence conditions. Compared to ZCTAs with no dispensary within 15 min, the proportion of adults certified increased by up to 31% and the proportion of certifications for insufficient evidence decreased by up to 22% for ZCTAs with two dispensaries. From 2018 to 2021, the odds of being within five miles of a dispensary was up to 20 times higher in ZCTAs with the highest proportions of individuals who were not White (2019: OR: 20.14, CI: 10.7–37.8) and more than double in ZCTAs with the highest proportion of Hispanic individuals (2018: OR: 2.81, CI: 1.51–5.24), compared to ZCTAs with the lowest proportions. Conclusions: Greater dispensary access was associated with the proportions of certified residents and certifications for low evidence conditions. Whether these patterns are due to differences in accessibility or demand is unknown. Associations between community demographics and dispensary proximity may indicate MMJ access differences

Surface Energy Budgets of Arctic Tundra During Growing Season

This study analyzed summer observations of diurnal and seasonal surface energy budgets across several monitoring sites within the Arctic tundra underlain by permafrost. In these areas, latent and sensible heat fluxes have comparable magnitudes, and ground heat flux enters the subsurface during short summer intervals of the growing period, leading to seasonal thaw. The maximum entropy production (MEP) model was tested as an input and parameter parsimonious model of surface heat fluxes for the simulation of energy budgets of these permafrost‐underlain environments. Using net radiation, surface temperature, and a single parameter characterizing the thermal inertia of the heat exchanging surface, the MEP model estimates latent, sensible, and ground heat fluxes that agree closely with observations at five sites for which detailed flux data are available. The MEP potential evapotranspiration model reproduces estimates of the Penman‐Monteith potential evapotranspiration model that requires at least five input meteorological variables (net radiation, ground heat flux, air temperature, air humidity, and wind speed) and empirical parameters of surface resistance. The potential and challenges of MEP model application in sparsely monitored areas of the Arctic are discussed, highlighting the need for accurate measurements and constraints of ground heat flux.Plain Language SummaryGrowing season latent and sensible heat fluxes are nearly equal over the Arctic permafrost tundra regions. Persistent ground heat flux into the subsurface layer leads to seasonal thaw of the top permafrost layer. The maximum energy production model accurately estimates the latent, sensible, and ground heat flux of the surface energy budget of the Arctic permafrost regions.Key PointThe MEP model is parsimonious and well suited to modeling surface energy budget in data‐sparse permafrost environmentsPeer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/150560/1/jgrd55584.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/150560/2/jgrd55584_am.pd

Watershed use and Giardia cyst presence

The presence of Giardia in a heavily visited watershed in the Olympic Mountains was compared to that in an adjacent watershed having much lower human use. Also, statistical relationships between cyst presence and watershed use parameters were examined as indicators of potential causal relationships. The number of Giardia cysts found in water samples ranged from 0.2/1001 to 3/1001 and were highest in areas of high human use. A significantly higher prevalence of Giardia in selected animal species was observed in the heavily visited watershed. Statistically significant relationships were found between aqueous Giardia cyst concentrations and both the prevalence of Giardia in animals and the intensity of human use. Based on the water samples analyzed, a calculated median cyst concentration of 1 cyst per 201 (0.05 cysts/l) can be expected in relatively pristine rivers

Assessment of Physical and Chemical Attributes of Sub-Tropical Soil to Predict Long Term Effluent Treatment Potential

On-site wastewater treatment systems aim to assimilate domestic effluent into the environment. Unfortunately failure of such systems is common and inadequate effluent treatment can have serious environmental implications. A research project was undertaken to determine the role of physical and chemical soil properties in the treatment performance of subsurface effluent disposal areas. Monitoring changes in these properties permit improved prediction of the treatment potential of a soil. The changes within soil properties of the disposal area due to effluent application were found to be directly related to the subsurface drainage characteristics including permeability, clay content and clay type. The major controlling soil physical and chemical attributes were found to be moderate drainage, significant soil cation exchange capacity and dominance of exchangeable Ca or exchangeable Mg over exchangeable Na, low exchangeable Na, clay type and a minimum depth of 0.4m of potential unsaturated soil before encountering a restrictive horizon. The study confirmed that both the physical properties and chemistry of the soil can be valuable predictive tools for evaluating the long term operation of sewage effluent disposal systems