Networking and Learning Across the Chesapeake Bay
By: Michael Jacobson
In early June, fourteen early career researchers (ECRs) arrived at Dickinson College Farm in Carlisle, in bucolic central Pennsylvania for a 2-week Collaborative Learning School (CLS) . The aim of the CLS was for these scholars to expand their knowledge and to share and learn from each other and facilitators on the broad theme of water energy food Nexus in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The CLS is part of a SustainFood project funded by the National Science Foundation program for Accelerating Research through International Network-to-Network Collaborations (AccelNet). AccelNet’s objective is creating a network of networks to advance science and encourage collaboration across researchers and countries. SustainFood focuses on US, Africa, and EU collaboration across water energy food systems. The ECRs represented fourteen countries from five continents.
During the first week spent at Dickinson Farm, four teams examined broad topical issues facing the Chesapeake Bay watershed, namely soil health, waste management, biogas, and livestock/water quality. Topics covered by the soil health group specifically included the importance of microbes and earthworms, farm collectives for sharing equipment, drones for more precise data collection, diversification using cover crops and hedgerows with native species (agroforestry) and engaging in citizen science. Dickinson Farm had recently installed a biodigester, so the biogas group looked at tradeoffs for use of waste to energy from both livestock manure and food waste generated by the Dickinson college community. Affordability, citizen and farmer education and policy incentives for biogas electricity were central topics in that group. The waste management group looked at the controversial food residual waste being land applied to agricultural fields as a soil amendment. Major concerns include odor faced by neighboring residence. and nutrient management. Legislation, technologies, and ways to compromise between farmers’ rights and community interest (e.g., nuisance laws) were discussed. The livestock and water quality group focused on several solutions such as buffer zones between livestock and water bodies, water quality monitoring in livestock areas: implement regular and wetlands creation for effluent treatment. Education and training for sustainable best management practices wa common solution proposed across all groups.
The second week of the CLS kicked off with a meeting at the Pennsylvania state capital in Harrisburg with policy makers. The groups each present posters and policy recommendations to a group of various agencies. The interactions with policy makers focused on understanding the larger challenges for Chesapeake Bay and opportunities for testing solutions developed by the ECRs. The remainder of the week was spent at the Chesapeake Bay itself in Maryland with the aim of linking the upstream farm issues exposed to during the first week, especially nutrient runoff, affecting downstream affecting the Bay’s water quality. In 2023, agriculture accounted for roughly 45% of total nitrogen pollution, 27% of the total phosphorus pollution, and 8% of the total sediment pollution to the Chesapeake Bay (CBF). The second week included visits to an oyster farm, and a wastewater treatment plant. The ECRs also interacted with ECRs from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore University where they all shared project activities. Finally, the CLS culminated with a network-to-network workshop at the Smithsonian Institute in Annapolis bringing together other related networks working the water energy food nexus space. As one ECR noted about the experience: “The most valuable aspect of the CLS was the element of collaboration between ECRs and facilitators from diverse academic and professional backgrounds. Working together in such a diverse group can sometimes be challenging but also quite rewarding and for me it was a remarkable experience. I have made good professional friendships during the CLS with the ECRs and the facilitators and I am eager to have an opportunity to work with these professionals on some of the ideas we discussed during the CLS”.
