INFEWS/T2: Cyber-Based Decision Support Strategies to Achieve Consensus for FEW System Sustainability using Incentive and Policy Structures

中西部与美国其他地区有很大的不同，因为农业几乎不需要灌溉。事实上，中西部的土壤和地形，特别是爱荷华州，倾向于潮湿的条件。农民施肥是为了最大限度地提高粮食和生物燃料生产的作物产量，但由于早春排水流量和氮素流动高的时期与夏季作物吸收的时间不匹配，导致过量的氮素通过水道输送到墨西哥湾，造成不利的环境、社会和经济影响。推动地方决策的很大一部分是在更高级别实施的政策和激励，反之亦然，对潜在的意外后果没有真正的了解。该项目旨在了解此类政策和激励措施对与食品、能源和水(LESS)部门相关的不同利益攸关方以及联邦政府等总体系统利益攸关方的影响。更重要的是，这项研究有可能影响在少数几个系统内作出决策的方式，以确保复原力和可持续性。该项目侧重于以下方面的研究问题：了解少数几个利益攸关方之间的相互依存关系；对每个少数利益攸关方的价值陈述进行建模；开发新的多属性效用模型以在少数利益攸关方之间建立共识；通过旨在在少数几个系统一级实现所需行为的激励措施和政策，使决策能够协调一致；以及开发可视化和模拟决策支持工具，以利用开发的方法支持利益攸关方建立共识。

The Midwest is quite different from other parts of the country in that little to no irrigation is required for farming. In fact, soils and topography in the Midwest, and particularly Iowa, trend toward waterlogged conditions. Farmers fertilize fields to maximize crop yield for both food and biofuel production, but a mismatch in timing between periods of high drainage water flux and nitrogen movement in early spring and crop uptake in the summer, results in excess nitrogen being transported through waterways to the Gulf of Mexico, causing detrimental environmental, societal and economic impacts. Driving much of the decision-making at local levels are policies and incentives implemented at higher levels, and vice versa, with no real understanding of the potential unintended consequences. This project aims to enable understanding of the impact of such policies and incentives on separate stakeholders associated with Food, Energy, and Water (FEW) sectors, as well as overarching system stakeholders, such as the federal government. More importantly, the research has the potential to impact the ways in which decisions are made in and about FEW system so as to ensure resilience and sustainability. The project focuses on research questions pertaining to understanding the FEW inter-dependencies, modeling the value statements of each FEW stakeholder, developing new multi-attribute utility models to enable consensus building among FEW stakeholders, enabling coordinated decision making through incentives and policies designed to achieve the desired behaviors at the FEW system level, and developing visualization and simulation-based decision support tools to support consensus building of stakeholders using the methods developed.