Predicting and Reducing Agricultural Contaminants in Soil, Water, and Air

The overarching goal of this 5-year research plan is improving the understanding of the soil and environmental factors and agricultural practices that influence the fate, transport and emissions of pesticides in agricultural systems. This will be accomplished by developing new information related to soil mechanisms and their interactions, quantifying environmental factors that significantly affect fate and transport, and in developing a more accurate predictive model. Two objectives have been assigned to this project. Objective 1: Quantify mechanisms and processes that affect exchange of agricultural contaminants between soil, water, and air. Objective 1A. Obtain transport, transformation and partitioning coefficients for 1,3-dichloropropene (1,3-D) that can be used in predicting fate and transport. Objective 1B. Obtain information on initial chloropicrin concentration and soil degradation rate and develop a mathematical relationship to describe this process. Objective 1C. Test and verify the concentration-dependent soil degradation relationship using a radial-diffusion laboratory experiment. Objective 2: Develop and test a comprehensive contaminant fate and transport model that focuses on improved prediction of off-site movement (with an emphasis on volatilization).