Teaching & Outreach
Most Recent
Climate Resilience in Agriculture
As part of a grant awarded from the Colorado Water Center, the AWQP and CO Climate Center partnered to create brief factsheets designed to be given to producers and give them helpful strategies for handling drought and other climatic challenges. It culminated with an in-person presentation in Pueblo, CO to a group of producers and other water stakeholders.
Click on the images below to learn more!
Cropping Systems
Grazing Systems
Contents
Crop and Water Monitoring Networks with Low-Cost Technology
Presented at the 2023 Soil and Water Conservation Society Annual Conference. Video recording embedded below.
Abstract:
Making meaningful changes in agroecosystems often requires the ability to monitor many environmental parameters to accurately identify potential areas for improvement in water quality and crop production. Increasingly, research questions are requiring larger and larger monitoring networks to draw applicable insights for both researchers and producers. However, acquiring enough sensors to address a particular research question is often cost-prohibitive, making it harder to draw meaningful conclusions from data collection. Even if enough sensors can be acquired, often data cannot flow freely between sensor manufacturer data platforms, adding to the time and labor costs associated with data analysis and delivery. This can also prohibit real-time data access, which is critical to subsequent decision making (e.g., deciding whether to apply fungicide to a sugarbeet crop). To help address these concerns, the Colorado State University Agricultural Water Quality Program (AWQP) has developed low-cost, edge-of-field (EoF) and crop health monitoring systems with Internet of Things (IoT) technology for scalable, near-real-time research. For EoF monitoring, the AWQP developed an automated water sampler that could detect flow depth and sample water remotely for approximately 1/10th of the cost of an equivalent commercial model. The sampler was deployed in 5 research locations across Colorado in 2022. For crop health monitoring purposes, the AWQP worked with Western Sugar agronomists to develop a temperature and humidity sensor capable of calculating daily infection values of Cercospora leaf spot for optimized fungicide applications. After harvest, this device can interchange sensors to become a sugarbeet storage pile temperature monitor. All developed sensors have been compared to commercial/existing methods for monitoring, and the results will be discussed.
Click on the image or the link below to view the recording:
https://www.loom.com/share/9357f9d4e0114a01879ac609b3ef9bcb?sid=d49f22bb-f4b8-47ab-90fd-5c8c9c39d192
Soil Salinity: An Old Problem with Modern Solutions
In fall, 2021, I presented on soil salinity to the Irrigation Association as part of the Ag Faculty Academy event. This event is designed to educate teachers and other consultants on topics relevant to irrigation and related issues, so my audience was primarily educators and private irrigation consultants.
A.J. Brown M.Sc. Oral Defense
October 2021
Below is a recording of my final defense for my Master's Degree in the department of Soil and Crop Sciences at Colorado State University. The research was titled, "Improving the assessment of salinity hazard in irrigated fields affected by environmental gypsum", where I discussed the issues that gypsum cause in estimating salinity hazard in soils, and how we might go about correcting for that in practical application. For the record, I passed!
2021 Rocky Mountain Agribusiness Association Conference
January 2021
RMAA invited me to present on soil salinity management and current technologies for their 69th annual conference. The conference was held virtually, so I was able to pre-record my session and showcase it here as well:
IIC HQ Virtual Field Day
Summer 2020
At the end of the first ever growing season for IIC HQ, we wanted to showcase the research projects performed on site. Unfortunately, because of the global pandemic caused by COVID-19, we were unable to host something in person. Instead, we were able to film and create a "Virtual Field Day" and host it on YouTube for all to share. Enjoy!
CSU Soil Moisture Sensors
Summer 2020
I had two CSU Extension Summer Interns work with the Irrigation Innovation Consortium and Dr. Jay Ham to assemble, install, and collect data for low-cost soil moisture sensors that can be used in agronomic and landscape applications. A result of this project was a helpful sensor installation video (shown below).
Pakistan Pt. 2
August 2019
I had the chance to go to Pakistan again during the final year of our USAID funded grant for the U.S-Pakistan Center for Advanced Studies in Water. The purpose of this trip was to demonstrate research techniques and collect data with students that I had previously mentored in the United States on soil salinity impact quantification. The research I perform here in the U.S. is duplicated in a field near Tando Jam in Pakistan. It was an incredible experience, and I am grateful to be a part of such amazing project where I can meet such incredible people.
2020 Great Plains Soil Fertility Conference
March 2020
The Great Plains Soil Fertility Conference was hosted on March 10-11, 2020 at the Double Tree Hotel in Denver, CO to discuss and celebrate research and findings relevant to academia and producers in the Great Plains area. I presented a poster and conference paper titled, "Predicting Crop Yield Losses Due to Soil-Water Salinity: Comparison of Traditional and Alternative Approaches"
Water for Food Global Conference
April 2019
The Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute at the University of Nebraska (DWFI) hosted the 2019 Water for Food Global Conference, April 29-30, at Nebraska Innovation Campus in Lincoln, Nebraska, USA. The conference topic was, "Water for a Hungry World: Innovation in Water and Food Security" with the focus on the most current developments in technology, policy development, and best management practices for a growing planet where water scarcity is an ever growing issue.
I had the pleasure of attending as part of my position with the Innovation Irrigation Consortium, as well as a Ph. D. student. I competed in the on-site poster competition with my research in modelling corn yield with different predictors of soil salinity. I received 2nd place for my efforts, and I couldn't have done it without the support of my amazing lab group and advisers.
Below is the poster for reference:
Research in Colorado Water
The March/April 2019 issue of Colorado Water published an article written by our research group studying salts in the Arkansas Valley of Colorado using electromagnetic induction and remote sensing.
CSU Hydrology Days 2019
In 2018, I did a 25 minute presentation at CSU Hydrology Days on some of my research in modelling corn yield with different predictors of soil salinity.
I received a 2nd place award for oral presentation competition for students!
Below you can find my abstract, as well as the powerpoint:
Predicting Crop Yield Losses Due to Soil-Water Salinity: Comparison of Traditional and Alternative Approaches
Ansley J. Brown1, Allan A. Andales1,2, and Timothy K. Gates21 Colorado State University Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, 2 Colorado State University Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Abstract. It is estimated that 2,000 ha of cropland are taken out of production daily worldwide due to salinization and sodification. Salinity is estimated to result in economic losses of $27.3 billion U.S. dollars annually. A project funded through the US-Pakistan Center for Advanced Studies in Water aims to jointly develop techniques for quantifying the severity of soil-water salinity and impacts on crop production on surface-irrigated fields in Pakistan’s Indus River Valley and in the Lower Arkansas River Valley (LARV) in Colorado. The Fairmont Drainage District study site in the LARV is a furrow-irrigated, tile-drained area of about 200 ha that suffers from salt-affected (primarily gypsum) soils due to shallow water tables resulting from inefficient irrigation practices and inadequate drainage. One of the study objectives was to use electromagnetic induction (EMI) derived bulk apparent soil electrical conductivity data (ECa: 0 - 1.5m depth) and saturated-paste extract electrical conductivity (ECe), to model maize relative yield (RY) impact using four approaches and compare results. The first method is a traditional piecewise linear approach developed by Maas and Hoffman (1977) where ECe predicts RY using a salinity tolerance threshold, and a sensitivity to accrued salinity. The second involved a “modified discount function” that utilized a shape parameter to fit a sigmoidal function relating RY to ECe. The third and fourth methods were linear and sigmoidal four parameter logistic models using ECa or ECe to predict RY. Results showed that the sigmoidal 4pl model using ECa as the predictor yields the greatest accuracy for 80 field data points, with a root mean squared error (RMSE) of ± 8.87 percentage points RY and ± 1966 kg/ha absolute yield. This indicates that ECa is an effective predictor of RY in for this dataset, implying that it might not be necessary to collect and analyze soil samples for ECe when trying to map salinity impacts on maize yield, saving time, labor, and resources. The fitted RY-ECe regression relationship, however, indicates that the threshold ECe value at which significant maize yield loss commences for these gypsum soils is markedly higher than the value reported for halite soils by Maas and Hoffman (1977). Additional data will be collected in 2019 to confirm preliminary findings.
Extension in Pakistan
July 2018
Dr. Jose Chavez (Colorado State University) and I had the opportunity to travel our collaborating university, Mehran University of Engineering and Technology (MUET), in order to provide education in data collection and data analysis for remote sensing techniques in quantifying soil salinity and plant health.
The trip was an incredible experience for me, and so much was learned by everyone! It was amazing to experience and entirely new culture, as well as being able to directly help students, professors, and farmers with my knowledge of soil salinity, statistics, and remote sensing.
If you'd like to see my presentations that I gave there, feel free to scroll down, I have them embedded in this post.
Top Left: Picture of me working with two pakistani students on a GPS system
Bottom Left: Image of Dr. Jose Chavez explaining how to use the multi-spectral radiometer
Right: Image of me with students from Mehran University of Engineering and Technology on a field trip to a small farming village outside Jamesabad.
3 - Minute Thesis Challenge
As a result of performing well at the Graduate Student Showcase with my poster, I was invited to participate in the 3 - Minute Thesis Challenge put on by the Vice President of Research at CSU. Participants were asked to summarize the entirety of their research in 3 minutes or less in a way that a general audience could understand. Winners were chosen to be a part of the Vice President of Research Fellowship Program where they would be allowed to have $1500 in travel funds as well as $2500 in scholarship money.
With some hard work and good luck, I'm can fortunately say that I was selected as one of the winners! If you'd like to see my 3 - Minute Thesis presentation, you can find it below:
CSU Hydrology Days 2018
In 2018, I did a 25 minute presentation at CSU Hydrology Days on some of my research on locating salts in a field in the Fairmont District using electromagnetic induction (EMI) techniques, as well as performing a salt mass balance via flume conductivity measurements. Below you can find my abstract, as well as the powerpoint:
Distribution of Soil Water Salinity and Impacts on Maize Yield in Gypsiferous Irrigated Fields with Subsurface Drainage
A.J. Brown, A. A. Andales, T. K. Gates, J. L. Chavez, and B. D. CraigAbstract: About 20% of irrigated land worldwide is considered salt-affected, resulting in many billions of dollars of annual loss in global crop yields. A project funded through the US-Pakistan Center for Advanced Studies in Water aims to jointly develop techniques for quantifying severity of soil salinity and impacts on crop production on surface-irrigated fields in Pakistan’s Indus River Valley and in the Lower Arkansas River Valley (LARV) in Colorado. As part of this project, the objective of this preliminary study was to characterize the spatial variability of soil salinity and maize yield in a furrow-irrigated, tile-drained (1.2 m depth) field (14 ha) in the LARV during 2016. Electromagnetic induction was used to map apparent soil electrical conductivity (ECa; 0 – 1.5 m depth). The spatial ECa values were inputted into the Electromagnetic Sampling Analysis and Prediction (ESAP) program to identify soil sampling points for saturated paste soil extract conductivity (ECe). A calibration equation was used to convert ECa to ECe values that were used to create a spatial map of salinity. Applied irrigation water and salt loading (TDS) on the field was measured. At selected low (0 – 4 dS/m), medium (4 – 6 dS/m), and high (6 – 12 dS/m) ECe (dS/m) zones, volumetric water content (θv) at 10, 50, and 100 cm depths, maize growth, and yield were monitored over the growing season. Water table levels were monitored via monitoring wells installed at the perimeter of the field . The θv time series indicated that the high ECe zones had prolonged exposure to saturated root zone conditions. This indicated that high ECe zones were more severely affected by shallow water table depths (0.34 – 2.85 m). Average grain yields were 16000, 12000, and 8000 kg/ha at the low, medium, and high ECe zones, respectively. Maize yields varied spatially with severity of soil salinity and water logging, diminishing by as much as 50% in the high salinity zones. Future work will focus on characterization of salt species in the root zone, soil salinity effects on water potential and evapotranspiration, and calibrating remotely-sensed imagery with ground-based ECe measurements to develop algorithms for regional salinity mapping.
Graduate Student Showcase
This is my poster for the annual Graduate Student Showcase at CSU. I received an honorable mention for the Greatest Minds in Research award. You can find a copy of it on the CSU Repository Website, and also below:
