An experiment in combining agriculture with energy efficiency, agrivoltaics involves growing plants beneath photovoltaic solar panels. The project is led by Greg Barron-Gafford in the UA School of Geography and Development.
New, dynamic food system strategies are necessary in the 21st century to help reduce hunger, ensure agricultural stability and livelihoods, and prevent environmental degradation. As a land-grant university, the UA has spent years equipping students, local Arizonans, and partners around the world with agricultural and resource management tools and the insights into food security that will help solve the food challenges of the future.
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Tucson, UNESCO's first City of Gastronomy in the U.S., relies on its built-in biodiversity and a wide network of food justice organizations to feed its most marginalized residents. "We didn't get the City of Gastronomy designation because we have 40 gourmet restaurants with James Beard Award winners," said Gary Nabhan, the W.K. Kellogg Endowed Chair in Sustainable Food Systems at the Southwest Center at the UA. "We got it because we're trying to deal with the basic food security and food justice needs that any community in America is really dealing with."
Sustainable agriculture is quickly becoming the wave of the future as global leaders grapple with the question of how to feed a world population approaching 10 billion. At the UA, researchers are looking up for answers, in the form of vertical farming.
Mark Nelson, one of the eight crew members locked in Biosphere 2 during its first closure experiment, offers an insider's view of the story behind the mini-world in his forthcoming book "Pushing Our Limits: Insights from Biosphere 2." The UA currently operates Biosphere 2.
Starting in September 1845, a potato disease ravaged fields in Ireland and left behind shriveled, inedible tubers. Scientists have since attributed the potato blight to a quick-spreading strain of a soil fungus. "A single infected potato plant could infect thousands more in just a few days," said Jean E. McLain, a research scientist with the UA's Water Resources Research Center.
Events
Biosphere 2 Food-Water-Energy Tour
This presentation will highlight results of an input-output (I-O) modeling exercise measuring the contribution of Arizona’s agribusiness system to the state’s economy. The agribusiness system includes crop and livestock industries as well as industries that supply and support on-farm production, food and fiber processing industries, and companies that market and distribute agricultural products. Through a combination of direct and multiplier effects, the agribusiness system contributed $23.3 billion in sales and more than 138,000 jobs to Arizona’s economy.
Yuma agriculture is in the top 0.5% of U.S. Counties in agricultural crop production, producing nearly 90% of North America’s winter leafy greens, but it is always striving to overcome challenges and be even more productive.What makes it such a top producer? And how does the Yuma Center of Excellence for Desert Agriculture (YCEDA) support this amazing industry?