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DOE OSTI2025

Scientific frontiers of agrivoltaic cropping systems

Agrivoltaic (AV) systems integrate agriculture with electricity conversion through photovoltaic (PV) modules. Compared with conventional ground-mounted PV systems, AV systems can reduce land-use competition and offer agronomic and economic advantages, such as more stable crop production and additional farm income. However, AV systems can decrease agricultural performance and are typically 20-90% costlier to install than conventional PV systems. Here, in this Review, we analyse the implementation of AV cropping systems to preserve agricultural activities and highlight challenges and barriers. The global electricity potential of AV systems is ~66-385 PWh annually, depending on PV technology and installation density, if deployed in the most suitable areas, without accounting for grid availability. Scaling up has been hindered by crop selection for shading conditions, decreased energy conversion per unit of land area and issues with social acceptance, landscape impact and environmental sustainability. These issues can be addressed by developments such as wavelength-selective PV; system configurations, such as optimizing module spacing to reduce shading; and operational methods, such as optimizing tracking strategies and integrating agricultural infrastructure. Cross-sector policies can support AV systems by addressing the needs of diverse stakeholders over shared land resources. Further development will require collaboration among the design, performance, deployment and systems research communities.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2026

Alkaline mineral residues from pulp mills as a sustainable and economical alternative to lime fertilizers

Lime is typically comprised of calcium carbonate (CaCO 3 ) or calcium magnesium carbonate (CaMg(CO 3 ) 2 ) and is needed to maintain a proper pH in agriculture and forestry soils, but it represents a major cost to growers and results in significant greenhouse gas emissions due to the mining, crushing, and transport required. There is a need to identify existing sources of alkaline mineral wastes and assess their potential as sustainable and cost-effective alternatives to lime. Dregs and grits (DGs) are highly alkaline mineral residues from biomass pulp mills that form during the recovery of pulping chemicals and are mostly comprised of CaCO 3 . For the first time, we assess the efficacy of industrially sourced DGs on 22 acidic soils across the Southeastern United States that are currently used in either agriculture or forestry operations. The application of DGs was found on average to result in the same soil pH response as calcite over multiple soil incubations (0 day to 120 days). An analysis of the carbon content of the soils after the incubation revealed that soils incubated with DGs experienced a statistically significant increase in soil carbon relative to control soils and those incubated with CaCO 3 . The generation and application of DGs emits 0.35 tonnes of CO 2 for every tonne of DGs, which compares favorably to the 0.86 tonnes of CO 2 for every tonne of agricultural lime generated and $85 per tonne lime reported in the literature. DGs prove to be a sustainable and economical substitute for agricultural lime in the acidic soils of the Southeastern United States.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2023

Local, regional, and global adaptations to a compound pandemic-weather stress event

Global food security can be threatened by short-term extreme events that negatively impact food production, food purchasing power, and agricultural economic activity. At the same time, environmental pollutants like greenhouse gases (GHGs) can be reduced due to the same short-term extreme stressors. Stress events include pandemics like COVID-19 and widespread droughts like those experienced in 2015. Here we consider the question: what if COVID-19 had co-occurred with a 2015-like drought year? Using a coupled biophysical-economic modeling framework, we evaluate how this compound stress would alter both agricultural sector GHG emissions and change the number of undernourished people worldwide. We further consider three interdependent adaptation options: local water use for crop production, regional shifts in cropland area, and global trade of agricultural products. We find that GHG emissions decline due to reduced economic activity in the agricultural sector, but this is paired with large increases in undernourished populations in developing nations. Local and regional adaptations that make use of natural resources enable global-scale reductions in impacted populations via increased global trade.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2021

Long-term variability of root production in bioenergy crops from ingrowth core measurements

Long-term determination of root biomass production upon land-use conversion to biofuel crops is rare. To assess land-use legacy influences on belowground biomass accumulation, we converted 22-year-old Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) grasslands and 50+-year-old agricultural (AGR) lands to corn (C), switchgrass (Sw) and restored prairie (Pr) biofuel crops. We maintained one CRP grassland as a reference (Ref). We hypothesized that land-use history and crop type have significant effects on root density, with perennial crops on CRP grasslands having a higher root biomass productivity, while corn grown on former agricultural lands produce the lowest root biomass. Methods The ingrowth core method was used to determine in situ ingrowth root biomass, alongside measurements of aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP). Ancillary measurements, including air temperature, growing season length and precipitation were used to examine their influences on root biomass production. Important Findings Root biomass productivity was the highest in unconverted CRP grassland (1716 g m-2 yr-1) and lowest in corn fields (526 g m-2 yr-1). All perennial sites converted from CRP and AGR lands had lower root biomass and ANPP in the first year of planting but peaked in 2011 for switchgrass and a year later for restored prairies. Ecosystem stability was higher in restored prairies (AGR-Pr: 4.3 ± 0.11; CRP-Pr: 4.1 ± 0.10), with all monocultures exhibiting a lower stability. Root biomass production was positively related to ANPP (R2 = 0.40). Overall, attention should be given to root biomass accumulation in large-scale biofuel production as it is a major source of carbon sequestration.

Environmental Sciences & Ecology↗

DOE OSTI2022

Soil resistance and recovery during neotropical forest succession

The recovery of soil conditions is crucial for successful ecosystem restoration and, hence, for achieving the goals of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. Here, we assess how soils resist forest conversion and agricultural land use, and how soils recover during subsequent tropical forest succession on abandoned agricultural fields. Our overarching question is how soil resistance and recovery depend on local conditions such as climate, soil type and land-use history. For 300 plots in 21 sites across the Neotropics, we used a chronosequence approach in which we sampled soils from two depths in old-growth forests, agricultural fields (i.e. crop fields and pastures), and secondary forests that differ in age (1–95 years) since abandonment. We measured six soil properties using a standardized sampling design and laboratory analyses. Soil resistance strongly depended on local conditions. Croplands and sites on high-activity clay (i.e. high fertility) show strong increases in bulk density and decreases in pH, carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) during deforestation and subsequent agricultural use. Resistance is lower in such sites probably because of a sharp decline in fine root biomass in croplands in the upper soil layers, and a decline in litter input from formerly productive old-growth forest (on high-activity clays). Soil recovery also strongly depended on local conditions. During forest succession, high-activity clays and croplands decreased most strongly in bulk density and increased in C and N, possibly because of strongly compacted soils with low C and N after cropland abandonment, and because of rapid vegetation recovery in high-activity clays leading to greater fine root growth and litter input. Furthermore, sites at low precipitation decreased in pH, whereas sites at high precipitation increased in N and decreased in C : N ratio. Extractable phosphorus (P) did not recover during succession, suggesting increased P limitation as forests age. These results indicate that no single solution exists for effective soil restoration and that local site conditions should determine the restoration strategies.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2020

Isolation of potential plant growth-promoting bacteria from nodules of legumes grown in arid Botswana soil

As the world population increases, improvements in crop growth and yield will be needed to meet rising food demands, especially in countries that have not developed agricultural practices optimized for their own soils and crops. In many African countries, farmers improve agricultural productivity by applying synthetic fertilizers and pesticides to crops, but their continued use over the years has had serious environmental consequences including air and water pollution as well as loss of soil fertility. To reduce the overuse of synthetic amendments, we are developing inocula for crops that are based on indigenous soil microbes, especially those that enhance plant growth and improve agricultural productivity in a sustainable manner. We first isolated environmental DNA from soil samples collected from an agricultural region to study the composition of the soil microbiomes and then used Vigna unguiculata (cowpea), an important legume crop in Botswana and other legumes as “trap” plants using the collected soil to induce nitrogen-fixing nodule formation. We have identified drought-tolerant bacteria from Botswana soils that stimulate plant growth; many are species of Bacillus and Paenibacillus . In contrast, the cowpea nodule microbiomes from plants grown in these soils house mainly rhizobia particularly Bradyrhizobium , but also Methylobacterium spp. Hence, the nodule microbiome is much more limited in non-rhizobial diversity compared to the soil microbiome, but also contains a number of potential pathogenic bacteria.

Kosty, Melissa↗

DOE OSTI2026

Data for The Value of Reversible Carbon Storage in a Zero-Emissions World

Atmospheric carbon dioxide removal (CDR) is required to stabilize global temperature. CDR can be achieved via ecosystem-based approaches that are cost-effective but reversible (e.g., soil and forest management) or by more durable but expensive approaches (e.g., direct air capture coupled with geologic storage). Here, we examine trade-offs between these approaches, focusing on timing, climate impacts, and cost. We simulated reversible carbon accrual for a range of CDR contract structures using a general minimalist model of ecosystem carbon cycling, and parameterized it to simulate US agricultural soil management─specifically cover cropping─as a case study. We then quantified the resulting impact on atmospheric carbon and global temperature using a climate model emulator. We find that maintaining a patchwork of reversible CDR projects by replacing lapsed projects with new projects can reduce warming by 22–195 μ°C in 2100 and that the magnitude of this cooling effect depends on how effectively the patchwork is maintained. Long-term maintenance of reversible CDR projects requires institutional stability that cannot be guaranteed over multiple decades. Consequently, effective CDR ultimately requires replacing reversible projects with durable projects. To address this problem, we modeled the cost of replacing reversible agricultural soil CDR with geologic CDR. We found that using reversible CDR as a bridge to durable CDR is potentially more cost-effective as a global cooling strategy (0.20–0.81 billion USD per μ°C avoided) than perpetual maintenance of reversible CDR (0.32–1.31 billion USD per μ°C avoided) or an immediate transition to durable CDR (1.37–2.19 billion USD per μ°C avoided). However, we emphasize that institutional commitments to maintain reversible CDR projects cannot be guaranteed. Reliance on reversible CDR as a bridge to durable CDR therefore carries an unknown amount of risk and will only function if efforts to maintain reversible CDR are robust.

Carbon↗

DOE OSTI2026

Data for Genetic Variation in Zea mays Influences Microbial Nitrification and DeNitrification in Conventional Agroecosystems

Nitrogenous fertilizers provide a short-lived benefit to crops in agroecosystems, but stimulate nitrification and denitrification, processes that result in nitrate pollution, N2O production, and reduced soil fertility. Recent advances in plant microbiome science suggest that genetic variation in plants can modulate the composition and activity of rhizosphere N-cycling microorganisms. Here we attempted to determine whether genetic variation exists in Zea mays for the ability to influence the rhizosphere nitrifier and denitrifier microbiome under “real-world” conventional agricultural conditions. To capture an extensive amount of genetic diversity within maize we grew and sampled the rhizosphere microbiome of a diversity panel of germplasm that included ex-PVP inbreds ( Z. mays ssp. mays ), ex-PVP hybrids ( Z. mays ssp. may s), and teosinte ( Z. mays ssp. mexicana and Z. mays ssp. parviglumis ). From these samples, we characterized the microbiome, a suite of microbial genes involved in nitrification and denitrification and carried out N-cycling potential assays. Here we are showing that populations/genotypes of a single species can vary in their ecological interaction with denitrifers and nitrifers. Some hybrid and teosinte genotypes supported microbial communities with lower potential nitrification and potential denitrification activity in the rhizosphere, while inbred genotypes stimulated/did not inhibit these N-cycling activities. These potential differences translated to functional differences in N2O fluxes, with teosinte plots producing less GHG than maize plots. Taken together, these results suggest that Zea genetic variation can lead to changes in N-cycling processes that result in N leaching and N2O production, and thereby are selectable targets for crop improvement. Understanding the underlying genetic variation contributing to belowground microbiome N-cycling into our conventional agricultural system could be useful for sustainability.

Nitrogen↗

DOE OSTI2021

Rheological Characterization of Biomass Feedstock for Alternative Energy Applications

With the increased necessity of alternative energy resources, bulk feedstock biomass materials were characterized with the purpose of replacing depleting energy supplies such as fossil fuels and other nonrenewable energy sources. Residual organic waste material (biomass) left over from agricultural processing and handling systems was recycled, and further investigated for renewable energy use. Understanding the scope of flowability for biomass material yielded more efficient, and economical crop harvesting, transporting, and storing method design for the agricultural industry. The effects of moisture on bulk solid flowability was investigated using a variety of parametric testing methods that measure basic flowability energy, and other properties such as compressibility and material resistance. In an industry where organic material is a wasteful byproduct, converting this biomass material into a new energy source and streamlining efficiently for innovative agricultural development supports a clean, renewable energy approach to everyday nonrenewable energy uses, such as oil, propane, and coal. As observed from the repeatable results from the investigated rheological material properties, biomass is an incredibly diverse material that requires modern engineering solutions to revolutionize biomass into a renewable energy source. Biomass will decarbonize petroleum (nonrenewable) derived fuels and chemicals, yielding recyclable carbon. This push to replace fossil fuels with recycled carbon is ideal because of the abundant, renewable, and otherwise agricultural waste of corn stover material. Decarburization, and reduction of C0 2 emissions reduces the effects of global warming.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗

DOE OSTI2021

Deeply Rooted: Evaluating Plant Rooting Depth as a Means for Enhanced Soil Carbon Sequestration (Full Technical Report)

Soils store three times as much carbon (C) as the atmosphere, but are not at capacity, and enhanced soil C storage is considered an essential strategy to mitigate rising atmospheric CO 2 levels. Agricultural soils have experienced substantial C loss in the past century due to poor agricultural practices and erosion. A shift towards deep-rooting crops and low-impact soil management could potentially increase long-term sequestration of C fixed by plants and stored in their root tissues, particularly for crops that have naturally deep root systems (>1 meter). A substantial amount of the CO 2 taken up by plants is allocated to their root systems, and because C deposited in deep soil layers has a longer residence time (up to millennia, in contrast to C deposited in topsoils), C increases at depth may have better long-term C sequestration potential than topsoils. However, the accrual, turnover, and stabilization of C in subsoils is a critical knowledge gap. We investigated a deeply rooted plant, switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), as a means of increasing carbon stocks in marginal and agricultural soils. We hypothesized that deep (>30 cm) SOC stocks would be greater under bioenergy crops relative to stocks under shallow-rooted conventional crop cover. To test this hypothesis, we compared soil depth profiles beneath deeply rooted switchgrass (cultivated for 4-30 years) and paired shallowrooted annual controls. We studied 12 field sites, 3 that were collected in 2018 before the start of the project as part a Department of Energy (DOE) Sustainable Biofuels study, and 9 that we collected in 2019 on a national field sampling campaign across the eastern US. In our publication from the 2018 study, which was written in collaboration with the LLNL Soil Microbiome Scientific Focus Area (SFA), we found that C stocks increased under switchgrass, but that the increases were dependent on soil texture. In the 2019 study, we found that carbon accrual tended to occur most consistently in low C soil in the southern US, which could indicate that perennial grasses may be a viable strategy to increase SOC in marginals soils in this region. We have published two studies from the 2019 sampling campaign thus far, we measured microbial growth parameters that will aid in modeling subsoil carbon cycling, and we found that switchgrass appears to move water upward in the soil profile and could promote drought tolerance, which a phenomenon commonly performed by trees known as ‘hydraulic redistribution;’ our study is the first to show this can occur in deep-rooted grasses. Finally, we published a modeling paper in collaboration with the LLNL Soil Microbiome SFA, where we found that poorly crystalline minerals are abundant and strongly correlated with organic C in geographically limited zones with enhanced weathering rates. Our results will inform technological development in the agricultural carbon sequestration sector as well as future negative emissions policies.

38 RADIATION CHEMISTRY, RADIOCHEMISTRY, AND NUCLEA↗

DOE OSTI2024

Adapting Agrivoltaics for Solar Mini-Grids in Haiti

With less than 2% of the rural population with access to electricity and almost half the population facing acute hunger, Haiti faces interconnected challenges of energy poverty and food insecurity. One solution to help address energy poverty in Haiti has been the development of distributed solar, particularly solar mini-grids. However, often the land best suited for deploying solar generation is also best suited for agriculture by smallholder farmers, thereby creating a potentially complicated tension between energy access and food security. To address this tension, solar developers, agricultural specialists, and researchers are jointly examining a novel solution called "agrivoltaics." Agrivoltaics is a shared land-use solution that is rapidly expanding in established solar markets like the United States, Europe, and Asia that pairs solar with agriculture, producing electricity and providing space for crops and animal grazing under and between panels. As part of the Energy Access Partnership for Haiti with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) performed an initial feasibility analysis and stakeholder engagement project to evaluate the potential for agrivoltaics in mini-grid contexts in Haiti. The analysis considered typical 100-kW and larger 1-MW mini-grids in towns across Haiti and developed two example agrivoltaic archetypes based on key local inputs, including solar irradiance, production data from the agricultural census, market prices, stakeholder interviews, and existing agrivoltaic research. See NREL/TP-7A40-89399 for the Haitian Creole translation of this document.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2021

Sensing Technology Survey for Obstacle Detection in Vegetation

This study reviews obstacle detection technologies in vegetation for autonomous vehicles or robots. Autonomous vehicles used in agriculture and as lawn mowers face many environmental obstacles that are difficult to recognize for the vehicle sensor. This review provides information on choosing appropriate sensors to detect obstacles through vegetation, based on experiments carried out in different agricultural fields. The experimental setup from the literature consists of sensors placed in front of obstacles, including a thermal camera; red, green, blue (RGB) camera; 360° camera; light detection and ranging (LiDAR); and radar. These sensors were used either in combination or single-handedly on agricultural vehicles to detect objects hidden inside the agricultural field. The thermal camera successfully detected hidden objects, such as barrels, human mannequins, and humans, as did LiDAR in one experiment. The RGB camera and stereo camera were less efficient at detecting hidden objects compared with protruding objects. Radar detects hidden objects easily but lacks resolution. Hyperspectral sensing systems can identify and classify objects, but they consume a lot of storage. To obtain clearer and more robust data of hidden objects in vegetation and extreme weather conditions, further experiments should be performed for various climatic conditions combining active and passive sensors.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗

DOE OSTI2020

Policy-Driven Sustainable Saline Drainage Disposal and Forage Production in the Western San Joaquin Valley of California

Environmental policies to address water quality impairments in the San Joaquin River of California have focused on the reduction of salinity and selenium-contaminated subsurface agricultural drainage loads from westside sources. On 31 December 2019, all of the agricultural drainage from a 44,000 ha subarea on the western side of the San Joaquin River basin was curtailed. This policy requires the on-site disposal of all of the agricultural drainage water in perpetuity, except during flooding events, when emergency drainage to the River is sanctioned. The reuse of this saline agricultural drainage water to irrigate forage crops, such as ‘Jose’ tall wheatgrass and alfalfa, in a 2428 ha reuse facility provides an economic return on this pollutant disposal option. Irrigation with brackish water requires careful management to prevent salt accumulation in the crop root zone, which can impact forage yields. The objective of this study was to optimize the sustainability of this reuse facility by maximizing the evaporation potential while achieving cost recovery. This was achieved by assessing the spatial and temporal distribution of the root zone salinity in selected fields of ‘Jose’ tall wheatgrass and alfalfa in the drainage reuse facility, some of which have been irrigated with brackish subsurface drainage water for over fifteen years. Electromagnetic soil surveys using an EM-38 instrument were used to measure the spatial variability of the salinity in the soil profile. The tall wheatgrass fields were irrigated with higher salinity water (1.2–9.3 dS m -1 ) compared to the fields of alfalfa (0.5–6.5 dS m -1 ). Correspondingly, the soil salinity in the tall wheatgrass fields was higher (12.5 dS m -1 –19.3 dS m -1 ) compared to the alfalfa fields (8.97 dS mm -1 –14.4 dS mm -1 ) for the years 2016 and 2017. Better leaching of salts was observed in the fields with a subsurface drainage system installed (13–1 and 13–2). The depth-averaged root zone salinity data sets are being used for the calibration of the transient hydro-salinity computer model CSUID-ID (a one-dimensional version of the Colorado State University Irrigation Drainage Model). This user-friendly decision support tool currently provides a useful framework for the data collection needed to make credible, field-scale salinity budgets. In time, it will provide guidance for appropriate leaching requirements and potential blending decisions for sustainable forage production. This paper shows the tie between environmental drainage policy and the role of local governance in the development of sustainable irrigation practices, and how well-directed collaborative field research can guide future resource management.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2022

Transforming the Future of Marine Aquaculture: A Circular Economy Approach

By mid-century, society will need to significantly intensify the output of its food production system while simultaneously reducing that system’s detrimental impacts on climate, land use, freshwater resources, and biodiversity. This will require finding alternatives to carbon emissions-intensive agriculture, which provides the backbone of today’s global food production system. Here, we explore the hypothesis that marine algae-based aquaculture can help close the projected gap in society’s future nutritional demands while simultaneously improving environmental sustainability. Food production from marine algae-based aquaculture has the potential to contribute more than the total global protein demand projected for 2050, which ranges from 263.8 Mt/yr to 286.5 Mt/yr. It also offers important nutritional and environmental sustainability advantages relative to terrestrial agriculture. Marine algae can provide a better source of high-quality nutritional protein, essential amino acids, and other micronutrients relative to terrestrial plants. In addition, because marine algae do not require soil, irrigation, and the open application of fertilizer, their cultivation does not need to compete with agriculture for arable land and freshwater nor does it lead to fertilizer runoff and downstream eutrophication. Furthermore, by reducing agriculture’s demand for arable land and freshwater, marine algae-based aquaculture can reduce the pressure for deforestation, potentially leading to globally significant reductions in carbon emissions and biodiversity loss.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2023

Geospatial Characterization of Low-Temperature Heating and Cooling Demand in the United States: Preprint

Geothermal resources at temperatures below 150 degrees C have great potential as energy sources for various direct-use applications including heating and cooling in residential and commercial buildings. This study geospatially quantifies U.S. heating and cooling demand in residential, commercial, and manufacturing sectors; heating demand in the agricultural sector; and cooling demand in data centers at the county level through end-use energy consumption, expenditure, and commissioned power analyses. Heating and cooling demand in the residential sector was estimated using energy consumption data obtained from the U.S. Energy Information Administration accounting for different U.S. climate zones. For commercial sector analysis, the end-use major fuel energy intensity at the census division level was disaggregated to the county level with respect to principal building activities. Heating and cooling demand analysis for the manufacturing sector was based on end-use energy consumption for direct-use total process categorized by the North America Industry Classification System. Fuel expenditures in the U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Production Expenditures were examined for heating demand analysis in the agricultural sector, particularly for the greenhouse, nursery, and floriculture production category. Lastly, commissioned power for data centers in the United States were explored for cooling demand analysis. Results indicated a significant fraction of U.S. primary energy consumption is used for low-temperature heating and cooling applications. Heating and cooling demand in residential and commercial sectors is significantly affected by the number of housing units and climate zone designations, while heating and cooling demand in manufacturing and agricultural sectors and data centers are mainly dependent on the number of facilities and their locations. Maps were generated visualizing where heating and cooling demand is high and, overlain with geothermal resource maps, can indicate locations where geothermal energy can supply this heating and cooling demand.

cooling demand↗

DOE OSTI2023

Geospatial Characterization of Low-Temperature Heating and Cooling Demand in the United States

cooling demand↗

DOE OSTI2023

2022 Project Commercialization and Market Development Awardee: Eocycle America Corporation

Annually, agriculture and related industries contribute approximately $1.2 trillion to the U.S. gross domestic product and 11% of the nation's output of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. At the same time, agribusiness operations account for about 30% of energy use worldwide. Distributed wind energy produced on site can power large-scale agricultural, industrial, and commercial operations in windy rural areas, offering cost savings, GHG emissions reductions, and the potential to supply excess electricity to the grid. Despite these benefits, agribusinesses have been slow to embrace the technology. Eocycle America Corporation (Eocycle) plans to develop partnerships with agriculture and related industries and implement a marketing strategy to educate corporate customers about the benefits of distributed wind. Through the CIP initiative, Eocycle will create a marketing plan to raise interest in distributed wind energy among large American and European corporations with operations in rural areas. Campaign goals are to encourage rapid deployment of distributed wind energy on a large scale, as well as to create high-paying energy sector jobs through increased manufacturing, sales, maintenance, and related services. Eocycle plans to identify 15 agriculture-related corporations with the potential for at least 25 turbine sales each.

Competitiveness Improvement Project↗

DOE OSTI2023

Changes in wild pig ( Sus scrofa ) relative abundance, crop damage, and environmental impacts in response to control efforts

BACKGROUND: As the population and range of wild pigs (Sus scrofa) continue to grow across North America, there has been an increase in environmental and economic damages caused by this invasive species, and control efforts to reduce damages have increased concomitantly. Despite the expanding impacts and costs associated with population control of wild pigs, the extent to which wild pig control reduces populations and diminishes environmental and agricultural damages are rarely quantified. The goal of this study is to quantify changes in wild pig relative abundance and subsequent changes in damages caused by invasive wild pigs in response to control. RESULTS: Using a combination of wild pig population surveys, agricultural damage assessments, and environmental rooting surveys across 19 mixed forest-agricultural properties in South Carolina, USA, we quantified changes in wild pig relative abundance and associated damages over a 3-year period following implementation of a professional control program. Following implementation of control efforts, both the number of wild pig detections and estimated abundance decreased markedly. Within 24 months relative abundance was reduced by an average of ~70%, which resulted in a corresponding decline in environmental rooting damage by ~99%. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that sustained wild pig control efforts can substantially reduce wild pig relative abundance, which in turn resulted in a reduction in environmental rooting damage by wild pigs. Ultimately this study will help fill critical knowledge gaps regarding the efficacy of wild pig control programs and the effort needed to reduce impacts to native ecosystems, livestock, and crops. © 2023 The Authors. Pest Management Science published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗