NCERA_old101: Controlled Environment Technology and Use
(Multistate Research Coordinating Committee and Information Exchange Group)
Status: Inactive/Terminating
NCERA_old101: Controlled Environment Technology and Use
Duration: 10/01/2011 to 09/30/2016
Administrative Advisor(s):
NIFA Reps:
Non-Technical Summary
Statement of Issues and Justification
Statement of Issue and Justification:
1. Nature / Significance of Issue: Agricultural issues related to production, the environment, and dietary health are, and will continue to be, important components of the nation's well-being. Research activities in production agriculture, environmental science, plant physiology, genetics and ecology have begun to address these issues and require various forms of controlled environments to obtain objective results. Thus, providing sound scientific data upon which to base agricultural policy issues requires the ability to study various aspects of plant growth and development in controlled environments. The use of completely and/or partially controlled environments in commercial production of horticultural, ornamental, and biomaterial crops is also steadily increasing and represents a significant portion of the U.S. economy. Controlled environment technology has improved as our understanding of plant growth has increased. However, the complexity of such systems has increased as demands for precision and accuracy by researchers and growers have heightened. Controlled environment facilities are expensive to operate and maintain, and require careful management to ensure desired conditions are sustained. Sustained dialogue among scientists, engineers, and industrial users of controlled environment technology is needed in order to ensure appropriate use and continued development of this vital technology.
2. Regional Considerations: Although not unique to the North Central Region, the NCERA-101 Committee has taken the lead in developing information on controlled environment technology and disseminating this information to universities, commercial manufacturers and growers, and other government agencies. This region also stands to benefit from the development of this technology due to the relatively short growing season, low winter temperatures, and low light levels. A number of pioneering commercial ventures that have attempted to grow vegetable crops in completely controlled environments were located in this region but none have been able to operate profitably for long durations. Notable exceptions to this are Archer Daniels Midland and a number of specialty crop growers who supply niche markets directly. In addition, greenhouse ornamental and nursery crop production is a multi- million dollar industry that is very dependent on the technology developed by this committee. In function, this committee is national, and even international, in scope. States from throughout the US are represented on this committee, and the national meetings attract many participants from Canada as well. In addition, NCERA-101 has taken the lead in organizing international meetings and has collaborated with groups in the UK and Australia on international meetings.
3. Composition of the Committee: The committee is composed of official Agricultural Experiment Station representatives from 9 states in the North Central Region (IA, IL, IN, KS, MI, MN, ND, OH, and WI) and from 19 states (AK, AL, AZ, AR, CA, CO, CT, FL, GA, MD, MT, NJ, NY, NC, PA, SC, TN, TX, and UT) outside the region. The USDA is represented by a member from the Sustainable Agricultural Systems Laboratory in Beltsville, MD, a representative of NIFA in Washington D.C., and a member from the New England Plant, Water, and Soil Systems Laboratory in ME. Several representatives from each of three NASA facilities, Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX, and Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, FL are associated with the committee. The commercial sector is represented by private research consultants and private companies supporting NASA, (Lockheed-Martin Engineering & Sciences in TX and Dynamac Corp. in FL), and several members of major Growth Chamber manufacturing firms, Conviron, Environmental Growth Chambers, Percival Scientific, and BioChambers. Of these representatives, about one third are trained as Agricultural Engineers with the rest being Horticulturists or Plant Physiologists. Therefore, there is an excellent mix of "basic" and "applied" researchers, and the committee has as a major objective, the integration of controlled environment research into classroom teaching, graduate research, and extension educational programs. This healthy interaction of different perspectives and interests assures results that benefit the agricultural community and society in general.
4. Involvement in National Programs. The use of controlled environments for research, education and production is increasing and the variety and complexity of applications is expanding. Thus, an appropriate emphasis requires a continuous updating of guidelines for the proper use of controlled environments (1, 2), including proper reporting of parameters such as light quantity and quality, temperature, humidity, and atmospheric gas composition. These guidelines are published periodically by members of the committee in national scientific, engineering, and trade journals. The committee also maintains a collection of analytical instruments that are used to calibrate instruments in member laboratories, which can then be used to check instrumentation for other colleagues and researchers at the different stations. This instrumentation rotates among laboratories on approximately a monthly basis and is recalibrated at the Utah State University between each use.
Objectives
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Technology Advancement: Advance the technology of controlled environments and greenhouses for agricultural research and production.
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Technology Transfer: Disseminate novel technologies to users including controlled environment manufacturers, managers, and commercial users; teach historical and recent controlled environment technologies to students.
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Quality Control and Standards: Develop quality assurance procedures for environmental control and monitoring in research and production facilities to improve reproducibility of biological results.
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Guidelines: Continue to develop and update guidelines for measuring and reporting environmental parameters for studies in controlled environments.
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Communication: Publish research, exchange information, prepare educational materials, organize national and international symposia and conferences, and provide consultation and expertise for both scientists and commercial users of controlled environment facilities both domestically and abroad to research and industry stakeholders. The NCERA-101 committee recently developed a new website (www.controlledenvironments.org) to facilitate outreach activities.
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Instrument Calibration: Maintain a calibrated set of environmental measurement instruments that are available for use by researchers and commercial members.
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Environmental: To promote the sustainable development and energy efficient operation of controlled environment facilities.
Procedures and Activities
Objectives of the committee can be accomplished through communication at annual meetings and coordination among committee members based on activities and critical needs assigned to volunteering members during these meetings. Annual committee meetings will be held every year at rotating member sites. The 2011 meeting is scheduled to be held at Iowa State University, Ames, IA. The 2012 meeting is tentatively scheduled to be an international meeting held in conjunction with analogous international groups (UK Controlled Environment Users Group) at Cambridge, England. An international meeting has been held in conjunction with our international colleagues every 3-4 years, rotating among North America and international colleagues sites. Presentations and technical discussions held at each meeting on technical advancement of controlled environment technology focus on problems, new developments, and novel applications by scientists and industry partners. Strong industrial collaboration during these meetings, and continued discussions fostered by interactions at these meetings between scientists and industry, ensure that technology transfer, including advances in design, instrumentation and control, and monitoring, occurs with industry, academic and government partners.
Quality control of controlled environment practitioners is a focus at every meeting and continued exchange of ideas during the committee meetings will serve to ensure controlled environment technology is used appropriately. The NCERA101 committee has worked on, and will continue to work on, development of reporting guidelines and standards for work conducted in controlled environments. Efforts will be made to ensure recent publications by members of the committee, including conference proceedings, are widely available including access over the world wide web.
Expected Outcomes and Impacts
- Improved operation and development of growth chamber and greenhouse facilities and implementation of new technologies through information exchange and technology transfer.
- Facilitate open exchange on international developments and accelerate their evaluation and adaptation for US applications.
- Meetings of joint international consortium with partner groups in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand will be held in conjunction with the annual meetings to encourage collaboration and information exchange. Conference proceedings will be published and accessible through the world wide web.
- Standards for measuring and reporting growth chamber research activities will continue to be developed, refined, and promoted by industry, government, and academic partners (e.g. 1, 2).
- Partnerships among manufacturers, researchers, and growth chamber operators will continue to be fostered in order to fuel the development of new technologies and better management practices.
Projected Participation
View Appendix E: ParticipationEducational Plan
See prior section - Expected Outcomes and Impacts
Organization/Governance
Participating institutions are identified and approved by the committee several (two to three) years in advance of the scheduled meetings. At each of the annual committee meetings, a new committee is elected for the next year.
Dr. Jonathan M. Frantz is the current chair, Dr. Marc van Iersel has been elected as the incoming chair for FY 2011, and Dr. Peter Ling was elected to serve as chair beginning in FY 2012.
Literature Cited
1) ANSI/ASAE EP 411.4 Mar 2002. Guidelines for measuring and reporting environmental parameters for plant experiments in growth chambers. ASAE, 2950 Niles Road, St. Joseph, MI 49085-9659, USA. 7pp.
2) ANSI/ASAE EP 406.4 Jan 03. Heating, Ventilating and Cooling Greenhouses. ASAE, 2950 Niles Road, St. Joseph, MI 49085-9659, USA. 9pp.
3) Berry, W.L., D.P. Ormrod, P.A. Hammer, J.C. McFarlane, D.T. Krizek, R.W. Langhans, and T.W. Tibbitts. 1979. Uniformity studies with lettuce: results of growth and tissue analysis. Phytotronics Newsletter 19:62-66.
4) Berry, W.L., D.T. Krizek, D.P. Ormrod, J.C. McFarlane, R.W. Langhans, and T.W. Tibbitts. 1981. Elemental content of lettuce grown under base-line growth conditions in five controlled-environment facilities. J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 106(5):661-666.
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8) International Committee for Controlled Environment Guidelines. March 2004. Brochure: Minimum Guidelines for Measuring and Reporting Environmental Parameters for Experiments on Plants in Growth Chambers and Rooms.
9) International Committee for Controlled Environment Guidelines. December 2004. Poster: Do You Accurately Measure and Report the Growing Conditions of Your Controlled Environment Experiments?
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