PRECISION IRRIGATION TO OPTIMIZE NITROGEN EFFICIENCY IN HUMID REGIONS: MODELING AGRONOMIC IMPACTS AND GROWER ADOPTION IN A CHANGING CLIMATE

The long-term goal of our work is to quantify the agronomic, environmental, and economic benefits of integrated water and nutrient management for humid-region farms in a changing climate. As a contribution to this long-term goal, this project will develop a suite of models to monitor, simulate, and predict agronomic and economic benefits of precision irrigation and high-efficiency nitrogen products in humid regions under climate change. This goal will be achieved through three specific objectives:1. Develop machine learning models that use in-situ electronic conductivity sensors to identify and predict nitrate leaching under precision irrigation and high-efficiency nitrogen products.2. Simulate crop production and nitrogen use efficiency with standard and precision irrigation strategies under multiple climate change scenarios using a calibrated agrohydrological model.3. Assess how grower objectives and risk preferences influence adoption of precision water and nitrogen management using an economic model under multiple climate change and market scenarios.