Basics of Agricultural BMPs in Northern Florida and Southwestern Georgia

Best management practices (BMPs) are cost-efficient processes that improve daily life, from healthcare to food service. Agricultural BMPs aim to reduce water use and improve water quality and soil on farms and ranches as well as to encourage better forestry practices and lawn care. This fact sheet introduces non-farmers to agricultural BMPs.

Examination of spectral content, peak frequency relationships, and annoyance for unmanned aerial vehicle operations

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can be used for many purposes, servicing delivery, recreational, utility inspection, and film industries, among others. For some applications, use of UAVs can expose communities to a type of noise not currently experienced, with current noise sources typically related to transportation operations (e.g., aircraft, rail, road noise sources) and home activities (e.g., air conditioning units, lawn care). As such, it is important to understand the type of noise communities will experience with UAV operations. For this paper, a UAV flyover event and hover event are examined in terms of spectral content and the relationship of peak frequencies. In addition, the peak frequencies and relationships are discussed in terms of those typically associated with annoyance.

Study on airflow and vibraton in a cutting/collection/discharge lawn care system

Airflows in the cutting/collection/discharge system of a professional lawn care system were studied numerically and experimentally in this thesis. Various three-dimensional and two-dimensional computational fluid dynamics models were developed in order to investigate the complex airflow created by a pair of counter-rotating blades. The three-dimensional models were used to study the actual flows; the two-dimensional models were developed to investigate the optimal shapes of the rotating blades using the mass flow rate per unit power consumption as the objective function. Experiments were carried out mainly to validate the computer models developed in this study for airflow velocity and power usage for an actual cutting system. Vibrations of a cutting blade were studied using the finite element method and experiments. It was found that the blades will experience resonance under normal operating conditions.

Study on airflow and vibraton in a cutting/collection/discharge lawn care system

Airflows in the cutting/collection/discharge system of a professional lawn care system were studied numerically and experimentally in this thesis. Various three-dimensional and two-dimensional computational fluid dynamics models were developed in order to investigate the complex airflow created by a pair of counter-rotating blades. The three-dimensional models were used to study the actual flows; the two-dimensional models were developed to investigate the optimal shapes of the rotating blades using the mass flow rate per unit power consumption as the objective function. Experiments were carried out mainly to validate the computer models developed in this study for airflow velocity and power usage for an actual cutting system. Airflows in the cutting/collection/discharge system of a professional lawn care system were studied numerically and experimentally in this thesis. Various three-dimensional and two-dimensional computational fluid dynamics models were developed in order to investigate the complex airflow created by a pair of counter-rotating blades. The three-dimensional models were used to study the actual flows; the two-dimensional models were developed to investigate the optimal shapes of the rotating blades using the mass flow rate per unit power consumption as the objective function. Experiments were carried out mainly to validate the computer models developed in this study for airflow velocity and power usage for an actual cutting system.Vibrations of a cutting blade were studied using the finite element method and experiments. It was found that the blades will experience resonance under normal operating conditions.

Study on airflow and vibraton in a cutting/collection/discharge lawn care system

Airflows in the cutting/collection/discharge system of a professional lawn care system were studied numerically and experimentally in this thesis. Various three-dimensional and two-dimensional computational fluid dynamics models were developed in order to investigate the complex airflow created by a pair of counter-rotating blades. The three-dimensional models were used to study the actual flows; the two-dimensional models were developed to investigate the optimal shapes of the rotating blades using the mass flow rate per unit power consumption as the objective function. Experiments were carried out mainly to validate the computer models developed in this study for airflow velocity and power usage for an actual cutting system. Airflows in the cutting/collection/discharge system of a professional lawn care system were studied numerically and experimentally in this thesis. Various three-dimensional and two-dimensional computational fluid dynamics models were developed in order to investigate the complex airflow created by a pair of counter-rotating blades. The three-dimensional models were used to study the actual flows; the two-dimensional models were developed to investigate the optimal shapes of the rotating blades using the mass flow rate per unit power consumption as the objective function. Experiments were carried out mainly to validate the computer models developed in this study for airflow velocity and power usage for an actual cutting system.Vibrations of a cutting blade were studied using the finite element method and experiments. It was found that the blades will experience resonance under normal operating conditions.

Study on airflow and vibraton in a cutting/collection/discharge lawn care system

Airflows in the cutting/collection/discharge system of a professional lawn care system were studied numerically and experimentally in this thesis. Various three-dimensional and two-dimensional computational fluid dynamics models were developed in order to investigate the complex airflow created by a pair of counter-rotating blades. The three-dimensional models were used to study the actual flows; the two-dimensional models were developed to investigate the optimal shapes of the rotating blades using the mass flow rate per unit power consumption as the objective function. Experiments were carried out mainly to validate the computer models developed in this study for airflow velocity and power usage for an actual cutting system. Vibrations of a cutting blade were studied using the finite element method and experiments. It was found that the blades will experience resonance under normal operating conditions.

Weekly Question-and-Answer Extension Radio Show Helps Listeners Adopt Environmentally Sound Horticulture Practices

Cooperative Extension has a long history of using radio broadcasts in educational programming. The Minneapolis, MN-based CBS affiliate WCCO Radio 830AM contacted the University of Minnesota Extension (UMNExt) in 2013 to reinstate an 8:00 AM Saturday live gardening show titled “Smart Garden”. After several years of doing the radio show, we wanted to determine the effectiveness of getting information to listeners, what people were doing differently because of what they heard on the show, and how much they used the Extension’s resources after listening to the program. After analyzing 410 responses to an online survey, we found 78% of respondents reported they frequently or always learned something new when listening, and 56% reported adopting environmentally important practices, such as pollinator gardens, less chemical use, better lawn care, water conservation, and removing invasive plants. We concluded that this educational programming was making a positive impact on consumer horticulture practices.

Homeowner preferences drive lawn care practices and species diversity patterns in new lawn floras

Households intensively manage lawns to create uniformly green, low diversity plant communities. Because lawns occupy a large proportion of urban green space, they are a crucial case for understanding how people manipulate urban vegetation. In this study, I focused on 58 homeowners who purchased a newly constructed home and yard in the Seattle Metropolitan Statistical Area, USA, to see how preferences, lawn care regimes and new lawn floras develop within a multi-scalar urban environment. A typical homeowner watered 3 times in spring, watered 24 times in summer, applied fertilizer twice, mowed 21 times and edged 15 times. Most new lawn turfgrasses were Lolium perenne, Poa pratensis and/or Festuca spp. Mean species richness was 6.5 ± 5.3 species. The most frequent species were non-native and cosmopolitan (turfgrasses, Hypochaeris radicata, Taraxacum officinale and Trifolium repens). Five variables increased the probability of homeowners managing their lawns as turfgrass monocultures: living in a neighborhood with larger yards, summer watering frequency, fertilizer frequency, valuing space for children and valuing wildlife habitat. Valuing an easy to manage yard decreased the turfgrass monoculture probability. In polyculture yards, having a larger lawn was positively correlated with non-turfgrass species richness, but elevation was negatively correlated. Homeowners who valued space for children appeared to have more intensive lawn care regimes than those who valued wildlife habitat or easy to manage yards. Although lawn floras result from complex interactions of the environment and households, urban characteristics appeared to be weaker drivers of diversity than homeowner preferences and lawn care.

Factors That Influence Length of Membership in a Customer-Driven Organization: A Village

Membership is a critical feature of the survival of customer-driven organizations. As a membership-driven organization based on neighbors helping neighbors, many Villages express difficulty in having enough members and lack confidence in sustainability. This is the first study examining the association between length of membership and motivation for becoming a Village member. ShareCare, the first Village, was founded in 1994. We used an open-ended questionnaire to gather information from a representative sample of current Sharecare members (N=100). Three researchers were involved in coding responses with discrepancies resolved via collaborative discussion. Length of membership was categorized as: less than 10-years, and more than a 10-year membership. Motivations to join membership in ShareCare were categorized as: instrumental, social, and altruistic. We conducted three separate logistic regressions with covariates controlled to examine associations between length of membership and various motivations to become a ShareCare member. While the most frequent reason for joining was instrumental where the member would receive service (e.g., care coordination, and home visit), the least motivation for joining was altruism, where the member could help other members (e.g., running errand, and lawn care). More than a 10-year membership was not associated with social or instrumental motivation to join ([OR] 0.50, p = 0.27, [OR] 0.94, p = 0.95) whereas more than a 10-year membership was associated with altruistic motivation to join ([OR] 5.31, p = 0.02). Our findings provide guidance regarding motivating members to join and maintain membership in a consumer-driven organization.

Urea Inputs Drive Picoplankton Blooms in Sarasota Bay, Florida, U.S.A.

Recent increases in global urea usage, including its incorporation in slow-release fertilizers commonly used in lawn care in Florida, have the potential to alter the form and amount of nitrogen inputs to coastal waters. This shift may, in turn, impact phytoplankton community diversity and nutrient cycling processes. An autonomous water quality monitoring and sampling platform containing meteorological and water quality instrumentation, including urea and phycocyanin sensors, was deployed between June and November of 2009 in Sarasota Bay, Florida. This shallow, lagoonal bay is characterized by extensive and growing urban and suburban development and limited tidal exchange and freshwater inputs. During the monitoring period, three high-biomass (up to 40 µg chlorophyll-a·L−1) phytoplankton blooms dominated by picocyanobacteria or picoeukaryotes were observed. Each bloom was preceded by elevated (up to 20 μM) urea concentrations. The geolocation of these three parameters suggests that “finger canals” lining the shore of Sarasota Bay were the source of urea pulses and there is a direct link between localized urea inputs and downstream picoplankton blooms. Furthermore, high frequency sampling is required to detect the response of plankton communities to pulsed events.