Study aims to develop biodegradable sensors for farmer’s fields

By Pat Melgares, K-State Research and Extension news service

Can an electronic circuit — not much larger than a postage stamp — help to speed up U.S. farmers’ goal to feed a hungry world?

It might, says Raj Khosla, if it’s taught to measure soil properties of a farm field so that in a matter of seconds, farmers can adjust water, nitrogen and other inputs to abundantly grow crops.

Think of it as farming in bits and bytes, in real time.

which are the two biggest drivers of crop production systems,” Khosla added. “This means we have to account for everything that goes into the water and nitrogen budget. We can’t leave room for error.”

For the past 10 years, Khosla has been methodically reducing the chance of error in several projects to develop biodegradable sensors that measure soil moisture and nitrogen content.

“Ten years ago, I was hypothesizing that someday we would have soil moisture sensors that we could literally throw out in a field, then‘ping’ them with a computer to get a measure of that soil’s moisture content,” Khosla said.

One truck with DD13 8L 470 hp, 10 speed, 1,234,179 miles, overhauled at 791,531. New clutch and transmission at 1,212,487 miles

$25,000

Other truck with DD15 14.8L, 475 hp, Ultrashift, 1,548,366 miles. New crate engine at 786,091. New transmission and brakes at 1,310,101 miles

Older single axle 28-ft. flatbed trailer

$35,000

$2800 Phone Randy at (406) 855-5994

“The United States has constructed an agriculture innovation agenda that in the next 28 crop cycles — which gets us to the year 2050 — we want to grow 40% more food than what is currently grown,” said Khosla, a precision agriculture specialist, professor and head of the Kansas State University agronomy department in the College of Agriculture.

“But here is the caveat: We need to achieve this goal by using 50% less water and 50% less nitrogen applied to the crops,

JIM NIELSEN TRUCK & PARTS, INC.

P.O. Box 3072

Inventory Available

2006 Sterling SA tractor, green.

1997 Kenworth T800 day cab tractor, 14,000 miles on complete out of frame overhaul, C12 Cat, 430 HP, 13 spd transmission, 404 rear ends, East aluminum closet cab guard, Herd front bumper, all new rubber on aluminum. Exceptionally clean.

1982 International SA dump, yellow.

(12) school bus bodies for storage, good glass, no seats, shelves inside. Cheap. 1977 Utility 46-ft, tri-axle straight flatbed, 80% 11-24.5 rubber on steel budds, new brakes, 20 winches & straps

Special Equipment

(3) Underbody hoist assemblies.

Aluminum cab guards. 80 gallon fuel and tool slip combo. Omaha 16-ft. flat beds & hoists. Sturdy-Weld 16-ft. aluminum dump box and hoist. Wausau 10-ft. reversible snow plow assembly.

TRANSPORTATION AVAILABLE!

Trucks All shapes & sizes!

Khosla began conducting field experiments in 2012 in collaboration with private partners that provided sensors mounted on a post and connected to cables that measured soil moisture at five depths. In that setup, Khosla determined that to cover a 22-acre

Reduce ice dam and icicle damage

CONTINUED FROM PAGE B3 the roof, which leads to the melting snow. Any openings where plumbing, heating or electrical components protrude into the attic that are not sealed properly can allow heat leaks. Recessed or “can” lights and attic access doors or ladders can be other areas where heat leaks into the attic. A lack of ventilation near the eaves enhances the melting. The key is to minimize the heat loss into the attic.

“The ability of insulation to slow heat loss depends on the type and thickness of the insulation, but attics in northern climates need a minimum of roughly 15 inches of blow-in insulation, or an insulation value of R-50, to be properly insulated,” Hellevang says.

Another cause of ice dams is improper attic ventilation. Keeping all the heat out of the attic space is impossible, so allowing that heat to leave the attic through vents is important. This can be done through soffit and ridge vents or vents on the gable ends of the home. Make sure the attic’s insulation does not block the airflow from the soffits or eaves. Use baffles to create a channel to hold insulation back from the soffit vents to allow airflow.

Removing snow is another way to reduce the likelihood of ice dams forming on the lower portion of the roof. Typically, ice dams tend to form on the lower portion of the roof, where there are colder temperatures at the intersection with the wall and roof overhang. Solar heating on the exposed roof can warm the roof, allowing the water to run off the roof rather than freezing on the colder portion of the roof.

Solar heating also will warm the gutter and edge of the soffit, raising the temperature enough to melt snow. This will create icicles and ice dams near the edge of the roof. Removing the snow on the lower portion of the roof should reduce the icicles and ice dams near the gutter because the source of the water has been removed.

“However, removing snow from the roof can be dangerous, so avoid getting on the roof by using a roof rake to remove the snow,” Hellevang advises. “You also need to take care when using a roof rake to avoid overhead power lines.”

An enduring legacy

During the course of producing consumer products such as plastic bottles, newspapers, disposable diapers, and aluminum soda cans, we created a veritable ocean of waste for future generations to contend with. The sheer amount of garbage being thrown away is mind-boggling: the average American family consumes more than 182 gallons of soda, 104 gallons of milk, and 26 gallons of bottled water, with most of the empty containers being tossed in landfills or the ocean. Onethird of the water Americans use is literally flushed down the toilet. Meanwhile, rainforests are being destroyed at a rate of 100 acres per minute, and 20 species of plants and wildlife are disappearing every week due to the impact of human waste on the environment. Nice legacy, huh?

the release and availability of ‘Vaquero’ forage barley. ‘Vaquero’ is a hooded, spring-planted barley developed specifically to produce forage for livestock.

Vaquero is a nutritious, palatable, and economical forage that can be grown alone or in blends with other species. It is generally harvested as hay or silage.

‘Vaquero’ yields more forage, stands better, and is taller than Stockford. ‘Vaquero’ also produces well when compared to other forage barley varieties.

UM Center helps Native children and communities overcome trauma

UM News Service

When asked about historic trauma among members of her Oklahoma tribe, University of Montana employee Kimee Wind-Hummingbird recalls an opportunity she had last summer to attend the first stop of the national Road to Healing tour.

Sponsored by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to collect stories from survivors of the federal boarding school system, these tour stops would be steeped in emotion, WindHummingbird said, and deeply impactful – never more so than for Native Americans of Oklahoma, which had more boarding schools than any other state in the nation.

“I asked my father if he wanted to go,” said Wind-Hummingbird, a citizen of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, “and he said ‘no.’ I didn’t ask why. I felt it. I knew.

“Some of our ancestors never made it home from the boarding schools, and those that did were forever changed,” she added. “They were no longer the same children they were when they left that community.”

Today, as a training and technical assistance specialist for the UM’s National Native Children’s Trauma Center, WindHummingbird helps tribal community leaders, educators and others identify and respond to trauma both historical and contemporary among the nation’s Native children.

“We have issues with housing, health care, getting to health care, some communities don’t have great roads … challenges that mainstream America doesn’t even know about,” Wind-Hummingbird said. “In our work at the center, we look at our practices, our way of life, our way of being that can help us feel whole.”

The center, housed in UM’s Phyllis J. Washington College of Education, is affiliated with the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, created by Congress in 2000 as part of the Children’s Health Act to raise awareness and services for children and families experiencing trauma.

NNCTC Executive Director Maegan Rides At The Door said the center at UM is one of only a few focused on Native children on a national level. Since its founding in 2007, staff has developed a catalog of trauma-focused interventions and trainings for tribes as far afield as Florida and Alaska.

Funding for much of the center’s work comes from federal grants, so the staff’s level of involvement with a tribe can vary, said Rides At the Door, an enrolled member of the Assiniboine-Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Reservation. While they don’t actively promote one-time trainings – “Trauma 101” as they call it – these initial introductions often lead to longer-term collaborations with the focus being on tribal members who know the community’s children best.

“We actually don’t train a lot of mental health professionals because there are typically only one to five clinicians working in most rural areas,” Rides At The Door said. “One to five can’t heal an entire community of traumatic experiences, so that has led us to expand support and trainings to other community-wide efforts while building systems of care that aren’t just focused specifically on mental health.”

This team approach comes to the fore in school systems where everyone from the principal to the bus driver is trained to view students with a “trauma lens,” said Amy Foster Wolferman, the center’s director of school-based training and technical assistance.

“We work with these teams to develop systemwide policies and procedures that focus on nonreactive discipline and

Sires

HOOK’S EAGLE 6E

PB Simmental. In his 4th year of siring an impeccable genetic pro le that adds value to every segment, this attractive combination of performance and carcass quality is proving consistent, measurable and versatile.

POSS RAWHIDE PB Angus. Standing out by progeny data and by popularity, he is siring consistency in growth, practical calving ease and carcass merit. Impressive phenotype and a powerfully stacked maternal heritage.

CDI TRUSTEE Wide and deep and powerful, he swings back toward the foundation of Simmental performance, exceptional maternal qualities and wonderful docility. Both sons and daughters are quiet and steady. Muscle in all the right places.

DEER VALLEY GROWTH FUND

A fresh pedigree for our program that springs from the legendary Basin Payweight. He brings a slight advantage in Calving Ease with extraordinary advantage in Weaning Weight and Carcass Value, and a unique physical style of length and smooth structure.