PFI-RP: Crop Seed Shaped Pellets for Planting Multi-Species Conservation Habitats with Standard Planting Equipment

这一创新-研究伙伴关系(PFI-RP)项目为农民开发了一种负担得起的方法，以种植非农作物植物，培育高效粮食生产所需的基本昆虫(如蝴蝶、蜜蜂和瓢虫)。建立了标准种植设备，用于种植小范围的作物种子(例如玉米、大豆、紫花苜蓿等)但不是基本昆虫所需的更广泛的植物物种。该解决方案开发的颗粒含有支持基本昆虫所需的各种植物，并且是作物种子的大小和形状，因此它们可以与农民已经使用的标准种植设备一起种植。这项技术将使农民受益于这些栖息地促进的额外生态服务，如授粉和害虫抑制。消费者将从加强生态服务所允许的较低食品价格中受益。该项目将开发一种高效、灵活的机制，将定制的非作物多样性插入种植系统。这项技术最初的重点是恢复帝王蝶的栖息地。该项目将开发一种多种子颗粒，将马利筋和锥花等非农作物种植到农业生态系统中，以吸引有益昆虫，因为杂草管理的转变导致这些植物以及依赖它们的有益鸟类和昆虫迅速减少。为了达到增加粮食作物产量所需的栖息地恢复的目标，该团队将(1)选择要纳入的最佳物种集合，(2)确定调节和打破休眠的最佳方法，(3)开发生产多种子颗粒的有效方法，以及(4)在大规模田间试验中测试该技术。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This Partnerships for Innovation - Research Partnerships (PFI-RP) project develops an affordable method for farmers to grow non-crop plants that nurture the essential insects (such as butterflies, bees, and ladybugs) required for efficient food production. Standard planting equipment is established for planting a small range of crop seeds (e.g., corn, soy, alfalfa, etc.) but not the wider set of plant species that essential insects require. The solution develops pellets that contain the diverse plants needed to support the essential insects and are the size and shape of crop seeds so they can be planted with the standard planting equipment farmers already use. This technology will allow farmers benefit from the additional ecological services like pollination and pest suppression these habitats facilitate. Consumers will benefit from the lower food prices that enhanced ecological services will allow.This project will develop an efficient, flexible mechanism for inserting tailored, non-crop diversity into cropping systems. The initial focus of the technology is the restoration of habitat for the monarch butterfly. This project will develop a multi-seed pellet to plant non-crop plants such as milkweeds and coneflowers into agroecosystems to attract beneficial insects as a shift in weed management has precipitated a rapid decline in those plant and the beneficial birds and insects that depend on them. To reach the goal of habitat restoration necessary for increased food crop yields, the team will (1) select the optimal set of species to incorporate, (2) determine optimal methods for conditioning and breaking dormancy, (3) develop efficient methods to produce the multi-seed pellets, and (4) test the technology in large-scale field tests.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.