NCERA_OLD101: Controlled Environment Technology and Use
Statement of Issues and Justification
Statement of Issue and Justification:1. Nature / Significance of Issue: Agricultural issues related to production, the environment, and dietary health are, and will continue to be, important components of the nations well-being. Research activities in production agriculture, environmental science, plant physiology, genetics and ecology have begun to address these issues and require various forms of controlled environments to obtain objective results. Thus, providing sound scientific data upon which to base agricultural policy issues requires the ability to study various aspects of plant growth and development in controlled environments. The use of completely and/or partially controlled environments in commercial production of horticultural and ornamental crops is also steadily increasing and represents a significant portion of the U.S. economy. Controlled environment technology has improved as our understanding of plant growth has increased. However, the complexity of such systems has increased as demands for precision and accuracy by researchers and growers have heightened. Controlled environment facilities are expensive to operate and maintain, and require careful management to ensure desired conditions are sustained. Sustained dialogue among scientists, engineers, and industrial users of controlled environment technology is needed in order to ensure appropriate use and continued development of this vital technology. 2. Regional Considerations: Although not unique to the North Central Region, the NCR-101 Committee has taken the lead in developing information on controlled environment technology and disseminating this information to universities, commercial manufacturers and growers, and other government agencies. This region also stands to benefit from the development of this technology due to the relatively short growing season, low winter temperatures, and low light levels. A number of pioneering commercial ventures that have attempted to grow vegetable crops in completely controlled environments were located in this region but none have been able to operate profitably for long durations. Notable exceptions to this are Archer Daniels Midland and a number of specialty hydroponic tomato and lettuce growers who supply local gourmet restaurants directly. In addition, greenhouse ornamental and nursery crop production is a multi- million dollar industry that is very dependent on the technology developed by this committee. 3. Composition of the Committee: The committee is composed of official Agricultural Experiment Station representative from 8 states in the North Central Region (IA, IL, IN, KS, MI, MN, OH, and WI) and from 14 states (AK, AL, AZ, CA, CT, MD, MT, NJ, NY, NC, PA, SC, UT, and TX) outside the region. The USDA is represented by a member from the Sustainable Agricultural Systems Laboratory in Beltsville, MD and by a representative of CSREES in Washington D.C. Several representatives from each of three NASA facilities, Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX, and Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, FL are associated with the committee. The commercial sector is represented by private research consultants and private companies supporting NASA, (Lockheed-Martin Engineering & Sciences in TX and Dynamac Corp. in FL), and several members of major Growth Chamber manufacturing firms, Conviron, Environmental Growth Chambers, and Percival Scientific. Of these representatives, about one third are trained as Agricultural Engineers with the rest being Horticulturists or Plant Physiologists. Therefore, there is an excellent mix of "basic" and "applied" researchers, and the committee has, as a major objective, the integration of controlled environment research into classroom teaching, graduate research and Extension educational programs. This healthy interaction of different perspectives and interests assures results that benefit the agricultural community and society in general. 4. Involvement in National Programs. The use of controlled environments for research, education and production is increasing and the variety and complexity of applications is expanding. Thus, an appropriate emphasis requires a continuous updating of guidelines for the proper use of controlled environments, including proper reporting of parameters such as light quantity and quality, temperature, humidity, and atmospheric gas composition. These guidelines are published periodically by members of the committee in national scientific, engineering, and trade journals. The committee also maintains a collection of analytical instruments that are used to calibrate instruments in member laboratories, which can then be used to check instrumentation for other colleagues and researchers at the different stations. This instrumentation rotates between laboratories on approximately a monthly basis and is recalibrated at the Utah State University between each use.
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