APRC 2025 Session V скачать в хорошем качестве

APRC 2025 Session V

Session V: Closing the Loop on Mulch: Engineering Recovery and Biodegradable Advances Moderator: Jazmine Mejia-Muñoz, M.S., Research, Education and Outreach Associate, California Marine Sanctuary Foundation Row Mulch System Designed for Post Season Retrieval Chris Wagner, Vice President of Engineering, and Kevin Boehm, Business Development Manager, Viaflex Abstract: Retrieving row mulch film from fields is often cumbersome due to frequent splitting and breaking, leading to increased labor and time. To address this issue, Andros Engineering and Viaflex collaborated on field trials to find a solution. Soil-Biodegradable Mulches: An Outlook of its Use in California Alena Anousinh, Water Quality Program Associate, California Marine Sanctuary Foundation, Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary and Oluwatunmise Israel Dada Graduate Assistant, Bioprocessing & Bioproducts Engineering Laboratory Department of Biological Systems Engineering, Washington State University Abstract: Soil-biodegradable plastic mulches (BDMs) are a commercial alternative to non-biodegradable polyethylene (PE) plastic mulch films. Plastic mulch films derived from PE are a staple tool in agriculture, with 7.9 million pounds of plastic mulch and fumigation film estimated to be used annually in Monterey County, CA alone. To help combat plastic waste generation and pollution, BDMs have been introduced and are engineered to be tilled into soil after use and broken down over time by soil microorganisms. Internationally, BDMs have been utilized by growers for decades; within California, BDMs have not been widely adopted due to concerns regarding slow degradation, incompatibility with fumigation, food safety, and inability to be used in certified organic farms. This presentation will evaluate the use of BDMs as an alternative to PE mulch in conventional strawberry operations, with a focus on their application in California’s co-rotational agricultural system and trials nationwide (USDA Specialty Crop Research Initiative Award #2022-51181-38325). We will cover scenarios to help overcome the key challenges to increase adoption of BDMs and clarify situations where other alternatives should be considered such as PE mulch recycling. This presentation will also provide a perspective on the environmental impacts of BDMs, economic factors to consider, and beneficial field practices that are compatible with BDM application.