A Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Commercialized Hydroponics vs. Aquaponics for Vegetable Production in New Jersey

1946746（Mu）。该项目将进行一项比较生命周期评估，以量化在新泽西人口稠密地区建造的五个商业化设施（三个用于水培，两个用于鱼菜共生）中采用两种基于水的农业技术进行蔬菜生产的资源使用以及对环境和人类健康的影响。研究团队将在进行生命周期评估时进行现场数据收集和软件建模。分析范围将涵盖设施建设、蔬菜生产和上游供应链的所有影响。该项目预计将提高对水培和鱼菜共生的理解，并提供改进技术的建议和指导，以选择各种耕作技术。这项研究有可能导致在城市地区更多地应用基于水的农业，并为获得新鲜和营养食物有限的城市居民增加另一个食物供应来源。增加应用可以帮助减少饥饿，增加食物多样性，独立性和城市的弹性。此外，该项目还将扩展可持续农业的研究，并为学生提供学习实习。该项目的目标是：1）建立资源使用、蔬菜生产和设施排放的清单; 2）分析各种蔬菜生产对环境和人类健康的影响，并确定导致资源使用和影响的关键因素; 3）比较LCA结果，并找出资源使用和影响如何与设施设计，规模和蔬菜种植类型相关。最后，本研究将讨论如何改进水培设计和操作，以减少资源消耗和影响，并为城市、社区和家庭创建一个通用指南，以根据不同的地点选择水基农业技术，该奖项反映了NSF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进行评估，被认为值得支持的搜索.

1946746 (Mu). This project will conduct a comparative Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to quantify resource use and environmental and human health impacts of vegetable production with two water-based farming techniques in five commercialized facilities (three for hydroponics and two for aquaponics) built in densely populated areas in New Jersey. The research team will undertake both on-site data collection and software modeling in conducting LCA. The scope for analysis will cover all the impacts in facility establishment, vegetable production, and upstream supply chains. The project is expected to improve understanding of hydroponics and aquaponics, and provide recommendations to improve technologies and guidance to select among various farming techniques. The study has the potential to lead to greater application of water-based farming in urban areas and add another source of food supply to city dwellers that have limited access to fresh and nutritious foods. Increased applications could help reduce hunger and increase food diversity, independence, and resiliency of cities. In addition, the project will extend research on sustainable farming and provide a learning practicum for students.The project targets to: 1) Establish an inventory of resources used, vegetables produced, and emissions from the facilities; 2) Analyze environmental and human health impacts of various vegetables produced and identify key factors that cause resource use and impacts; and, 3) Compare the LCA results and figure out how resource use and impacts are related to facility design, scale, and type of vegetable growing. Finally, the study will discuss how to improve hydroponic design and operation to reduce resource consumption and impacts, and create a general guide for cities, communities, and families to select water-based farming techniques according to varied locations, land and resource availability.This 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.