Research

Climate mitigation targets set by the United Nations (UN) Paris Climate Agreement has stimulated a new research agenda to redefine land management strategies to limit global warming to 2°C above preindustrial levels. This target must be accomplished while meeting rising food and energy demands, enhancing the resilience of agricultural land to changes in climate, and optimizing our natural resources (nutrients, land, water).

The Gomez-Casanovas Lab contributes to solving the fundamental challenges of Food, Energy and Environmental Security using a combination of lab, field and modeling experiments with an integrative approach.

Current Projects

Adaptive Multipaddock grazing

With 70% of global agricultural area, grasslands can significantly contribute to climate mitigation while providing a myriad of additional ecological and environmental benefits. Over the last decades, human activities have switched grasslands feedback on climate from a net cooling effect to a net warming effect, indicating an urgent need for sustainable management strategies in grasslands directed to mitigate climate warming.

This project evaluates how adaptive multi-paddock (AMP) grazing, a novel type of rotational grazing that mimics how ancient herds grazed the Earth, could enhance the delivery of provisioning services−forage production−and regulating ecosystem services− greenhouse gas regulation and water use efficiency−from subtropical grasslands over conventional continuous grazing management. We use an array of methods including eddy covariance and soil chamber methods as well as biogeochemical modeling and artificial intelligence approaches. This is a collaborative effort between multiple universities and stakeholders.

Pasture cropping with Adaptive Multipaddock grazing

Degradation and loss of ecosystem services threatens the sustainability of U.S. agriculture. Future food production requires a shift in current paradigms to production that fosters ecosystem services while increasing the efficiency of the productive process. Pasture cropping is an innovative land strategy that integrates direct seeding of annual crops into dormant perennial grasses, and it is gaining increased attention as an approach to build soil function and enhance the productive capacity of grasslands.

Using field experiments, and environmental and economic modeling, we are investigating soil health benefits and profitability of pasture cropping with Adaptive Multipaddock grazing. We measure an array of ecosystem processes including C sequestration, biodiversity, nutrient retention, water runoff, forage and crop productivity. These data is used for predicting how this strategy could affect long-term ecosystem and soil health and evaluate economic profits. This research is being conducted in semi-arid and subtropical grasslands, and it is a collaborative effort between AgriLife faculty at Vernon (Drs. Srinivasulu Ale, Richard W. Teague, Paul DeLaune) and other universities.

Bioenergy

Despite a currently modest contribution to national bioethanol production (~6.4%), the Southern US has the capacity to produce more than 10 billion Ga. of advanced biofuels annually, nearly a third of the 36 billion Ga. target established by the Energy Independence and Security Act.

In this project, we are evaluating the environmental sustainability of canes (i.e. sugarcane, energy and oil canes), which are high-yielding bioenergy crops with critical coproducts and a range of hybrids for optimal growth and energy production. We are measuring key ecosystem processes reflecting the ability of canes and replaced ecosystems to store C, lower the emission of greenhouse gases, enhance N and P retention, and improve water use and quality. We use an array of approaches including eddy covariance, chamber, lysimeters, groundwater sampling and stable isotopes methods. This project is a collaboration between 22 partner institutions within the Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI).

Agrivoltaics

One of the most promising techniques for meeting current energy challenges is harvesting solar energy to renewably produce electricity. Utility-scale photovoltaic (PV), however, also has intensive land requirements, potentially aggravating indirect land use change and competing with food production. Agrivoltaics (AV) is a novel strategy that combines solar PV panels and food systems. AV reduces the competition for land resources, bypassing the food vs energy dichotomy, and with smart-decision making, it could minimize or even avoid the unintended negative consequences of conventional solar energy deployment while enhancing the climate resilience of our food and energy systems.

In this project, we are investigating the consequences and benefits of AV deployment in agroecosystems that include cropping and grazing lands located in semi-arid and temperate regions across the US. We are using an array of methods that include synthesis, field and modeling approaches. This is a collaborative effort between several universities and multiple stakeholders.