The BioWRAP project’s primary aim is to reduce the use of plastics, herbicides and associated environmental impacts in agricultural production by creating an all-in-one bioplastic system that can better manage weeds, nutrients, soils, and water resources.
In this project, led by Dr. Sam Zipper at the University of Kansas Geological Survey and conducted in collaboration with Dr. Erin Seybold (KGS) and Dr. Vaishali Sharda (KSU BioAg Engineering), we aim to identify ways to protect water resources while maintaining rural livelihoods in the face of a changing climate with strong impacts on agriculture.
Paxico, Kansas is a rural small town with just over 200 residents. The majority of the town lies in a high flood risk zone, which has experienced limited economic development for over a generation.
Examining how we conceptualize and measure complex latent constructs like sustainability and related ideas of vulnerability, resilience, and adaptive capacity. Ongoing work includes:
A sensitivity analysis of a social vulnerability index for the US across resolutions and extents.
Critically examining how we define what is “rural” and the factors that are uniquely associated with sustainability in rural areas. Ongoing work includes:
Construction, sensitivity analysis, and validation of a measure of agricultural community adaptive capacity.
The Nurture Wildcat Creek initiative aims to promote community-engaged research and education in the Wildcat Creek Watershed in Riley County, Kansas.
Our goals are to:
Promote responsible and sustainable management of our local watershed resources.
Agriculture is undeniably the anthropogenic process that has had the greatest impact on what covers the earth’s surface. Advances in agricultural technology have revolutionized how we farm and have led to major increases in our ability to produce food and fibers to meet the needs of a growing the human population.
Recognizing the importance of strategic retreat policies and programs in building a sustainable future we examine the social, economic, and environmental dimensions of voluntary buyout programs in the United States.