I-Corps: Customer discovery to explore Wildflower Turf's rapid meadow technology for the US market

这个I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是使以野花草皮形式的可持续草坪替代品更有效地商业化。在美国大陆，草坪无处不在，占地约4000万英亩，是玉米、大豆和小麦等其他作物面积的三倍多。虽然草坪深受美国土地所有者的喜爱，但它们价格昂贵，比任何其他作物都需要更多的水、农药和化肥投入。这些输入使水道退化，造成生物沙漠。作为回应，越来越多的人呼吁可持续的草坪替代品，重点是原生野花草地。尽管对草甸景观有需求，但草皮仍然是美国景观的主流，部分原因是美国没有可靠、有效的草甸建设工具。将野花草皮/草皮产品引入美国市场将有助于实现预期的社会结果；例如，达到州和联邦水质政策和倡议规定的目标，增加生物多样性，并帮助确保授粉昆虫群落的健康，这些昆虫群落通过野生和栽培作物的授粉提供粮食安全。这个I-Corps项目将提高团队对广泛采用野花草地的潜在障碍的了解。虽然野花草甸的生态效益已经得到了很好的理解，但很少有研究从土地管理者、景观专业人员和社区的角度来调查草甸的实施。了解用可持续开花草甸取代高投入草坪的市场障碍是找到可行解决方案的第一步。正在研究的技术是一种由原生草和野花组成的生物多样性草甸。从概念上讲，它类似于传统的草皮，草皮是可移动的，易于安装。美国团队与一家英国公司合作，该公司开发了以新技术为基础的生产系统，自2003年以来一直是英国野花草皮的主要供应商。新的知识产权将包括调整英国的种植系统，以适应1)与美国植物物种和气候的合作，以及2)开发在生产系统中生长良好的本地种子混合物，并为城市环境提供所需的美学。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is to enable more effective commercialization of a sustainable lawn alternative in the form of wildflower sod. Grass lawns are ubiquitous in the continental US covering an estimated 40 million acres of land, an area more than three times that of any other crop, including corn, soy and wheat. While grass lawns are beloved by American landowners, they are expensive, requiring more water, pesticide and fertilizer inputs than any other crop. These inputs degrade waterways and create biological deserts. In response, there is a growing call for sustainable lawn alternatives with an emphasis on native wildflower meadows. Despite the demand for meadowscapes, grass only turf continues to dominate the US landscape, in part, because the United States (US) does not have dependable, effective tools for meadow establishment. Introduction of wildflower sod/turf products to the US market will contribute to desired societal outcomes; such as meeting objectives mandated by state and federal water quality policies and initiatives, increasing biodiversity and helping ensure the health of pollinating insect communities, which provide food security through the pollination of wild and cultivated crops. This I-Corps project will advance the teams knowledge of potential barriers to widespread adoption of wildflower meadows. While the ecological benefits of wildflower meadows are fairly well understood, few studies have investigated meadow implementation from the perspective of land managers, landscape professionals and communities. Understanding the market obstacles of replacing high input lawns with sustainable flowering meadows is the first step in finding viable solutions. The technology being pursued is a biodiverse meadow sod comprised of native grasses and wildflowers. Conceptually, it is similar to traditional sod in that the turf is moveable and easy to install. The US team has partnered with a UK company which developed the production system on which the new technology is based, and has been the leading supplier of wildflower turf in Great Britain since 2003. The new IP will include adapting the UK growing system to 1) work with US plant species and climates, and 2) development of native seed mixes that grow well in the production system and that will provide the desired aesthetics for an urban settingThis award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.