New research will explore renewable energy, water treatment, ammonia production to bolster rural resilience
Farming communities across the U.S. are struggling. They face challenges such as low prices for agricultural products, high prices for energy and fertilizer, pollution from runoff and waste, and depleting water supplies. They also have opportunities such as the ability to produce large amounts of energy locally using new technologies and to harvest renewable energy like wind and solar. To maintain local economic vitality and food security for a growing population, and to build a resilient society, pathways to resilient agricultural communities are critical. Yet delayed action is reducing possible alternatives and increasing the eventual cost of adaptation.
To craft solutions to this challenge, Mary Hill, University of Kansas professor of geology, and a team of researchers have been awarded a $2.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation. NSF’s Innovations at the Food, Energy, Water Nexus program and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research are funding the project “FEWtures: Innovation Analysis Framework for Resilient Futures, with Application to the Central Arkansas River Basin.”