Welcome to the Soil to Society Spring Quarterly Newsletter! Spring has arrived! As field trials begin sprouting and the weather heats up, the school year is wrapping up and we add to our list of Soil to Society alumnus! A big congratulations to Kaitlynn Davis, Robin Morgan, Laura Valli, Rachel Breslauer, and Tayler Reinman for completing there respective degrees! We're grateful for your time working on this grant and excited to see what you accomplish moving forward. |
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It is spring, which means it's a busy planting season for the Soils and Cropping Systems Team! All crops in both Pullman and Mount Vernon are in the ground for our rotational and fertilization trials involving WSU Breadlab's winter wheat, and Sustainable Seed Systems Lab's Meg's Song barley, Tinker buckwheat variety, and advanced quinoa breeding lines. Learn more about the Tinker buckwheat variety in the Plant Breeding Team updates section. For our wheat-buckwheat-veggie trial at Viva Farms, we are excited to see the Year 2 effects of including these grains in diversified vegetable systems. We are also repeating all of our micronutrient fertilization trials in winter peas (Pullman), quinoa (Mount Vernon), and winter wheat (both locations) to develop fertilization recommendations to increase grain micronutrient content across environmental conditions and genotypes. In our large soil management trials, PhD student Beck Klein and undergraduate research assistant Izzy Nobili (from Johns Hopkins University, advised by co-PI Kathy Szlavecz) traveled to Pullman and Mount Vernon to soil sample for soil microarthropods and deploy a decomposition experiment. |
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The purpose of this experiment is to assess the relative importance of microorganisms, meso- and macrofauna in residue decomposition, an important soil function. Between the two locations, Beck and Izzy deployed 1000 mesh bags with various residue types, mesh sizes, and locations within the plot (surface/buried). It will be exciting to see how soil management treatments have affected biological residue decomposition and nutrient cycling in these grain rotation systems. |
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PhD student Beck Klein about to bury a series of mesh bags in winter wheat plots in Mount Vernon, WA. Photo Credit: Deirdre Griffin-LaHue |
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In June, PhD students Annah Young (advised by Dr. Deirdre Griffin LaHue) and Gagandeep Kaur (advised by Dr. Clark Neely) will both be traveling to Vancouver to present current findings from the projects at the Canadian Society of Soil Science Conference. |
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The Plant Breeding Team is releasing a new variety of common buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) named ‘Tinker’ through Dr. Kevin Murphy's Sustainable Seed Systems Lab. Tinker is named after Tinker Cavallero, a co-founder of the Port Townsend Grain Cooperative in the 1990’s and long-time buckwheat grower. We will have a dedication at the 2024 Buckwheat Fest at Finnriver Farm in Chimacum, Washington on August 26. For more information on this festival, please contact Kevin Murphy at kmurphy2@wsu.edu. |
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[Left] Buckwheat growing at Finnriver Farm and Cidery in Chimicum, WA. [Right] 100% buckwheat crepes made by Little Spruce Creperie. Photo Credit: Ali Schultheis |
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Dr. Girish Ganjyal on the Food Science and Products Team is working on utilizing barley from the last harvest for applications in plant-based beverages with complete protein and no-added sugar. Experiments are currently being conducted on the ideal conditions for barley germination, followed by extrusion and milling to obtain a soluble powder that can be used as an instant beverage drink mix. The work is being led by his Post-Doctoral research associate, Dr. Brasathe Jeganathan, along with the undergraduate student Natalie Camerino. Dr. Juming Tang’s team processed whole grain meals of the barley, quinoa and buckwheat provided by the plant breeders for the nutritional clinical trials organized by Dr. Martine Perrigue and her associate researcher, Lisa Grentz, in Spokane. This trial examines the role convenience plays in whole grain consumption, requiring ready-to-eat servings of whole grains. Food engineers used microwave pasteurization to process whole grains into pre-portioned and cooked servings that can be reheated in microwave ovens and are ready-to-eat. Data collection for this study was completed on May 22! Researchers are cleaning data and looking forward to analysis and manuscript preparation. In collaboration with Drs. Kate Schneider and Andrew Thorne-Lyman from Johns Hopkins University, they are developing a follow-up study to gather qualitative data and insights into how to best encourage intake of whole grains in both their ready-to-eat and uncooked forms. The national survey and choice experiment on whole grains and pulses has been programmed for mobile phone administration, translated into Spanish, pretested in a sample of participants, and refined based on the pretest. It will be administered for two weeks starting in early June, with data analysis commencing in late June. Drs. Juming Tang, Martine Perrigue, Kate Schneider and Andrew Thorne-Lyman are preparing an IRB submission for a qualitative study exploring the experiences of the 42 participants in the trial on the impact of convenience on intake of intact whole grains. Qualitative data will complement the quantitative data collected in the trial, with a primary aim being to understand participant experiences related to consumption and preparation of the products during the month-long intervention as well as the influence of participating in the trial on longer term purchasing and consumption behaviors related to whole grains. These qualitative studies will continue to bridge the work of the Food Science and Products Team and the Population Nutrition and Social Science Team, who are jointly working to produce whole grain-based food products that appeal to eaters, making them approachable alternatives to nutrient-poor refined grain foods. |
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Drs. Namrata Sanjeevi and Pablo Monsivais have also been working toward this goal through their work on the Population Nutrition and Social Science Team by conducting population studies to explore impacts on dietary quality by increasing target crops in US diets. Their updates are broken down below by crop. |
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Lentils/dried peas: Using National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2003–2004 through 2017–2018 data, Drs. Sanjeevi and Monsivais found an increasing time trend in prevalence of consumption of lentils/dried peas. Despite the increasing prevalence, lentils/dried peas consumption was less than 7% in the NHANES 2017–2018 cycle among adults and children. Demographic differences were observed, such that a greater proportion of non-Hispanic Asians were classified as consumers. These results have been published in their nutrients paper titled "Consumption Trends and Eating Context of Lentils and Dried Peas in the United States: A Nationally Representative Study." Barley, buckwheat and quinoa: In NHANES 2017-2018, the prevalence of consumption of barley, buckwheat and quinoa was less than 1%. Demographic differences were observed, such that consumers of barley and quinoa had a significantly higher socioeconomic status compared to non-consumers. Consumers of barley and quinoa also had a significantly higher diet quality than non-consumers. Using the Purchase to Plate National Average Prices 2017-2018 data, Drs. Sanjeevi and Monsivais found that the cost per kcal of barley, buckwheat and quinoa was greater than that of white rice. Among the target crops of interest, the cost per 100 kcal of buckwheat and quinoa was greater than that of barley. Wheat: Using NHANES 2017-2018, Drs. Sanjeevi and Monsivais identified the most commonly consumed foods in the ‘whole wheat’ and ‘refined wheat’ categories. They are in the process of using this information to inform our substitution models, where they will replace ‘refined wheat’ foods for its equivalent ‘whole wheat’ foods and estimate the corresponding changes in cost and diet quality. |
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Dr. Franck Carbonero and his lab leading the Human Health and Nutrition Team has completed a study using in vitro fermentation to test the body's response to different quinoa food products. They have set aside samples to be used for metabolite analyses and cell culture experiments, in the next phase of this project. Preliminary results were presented at the Probiotics, Prebiotics and New Foods congress (Rome) and the Northwest meeting of the American Society for Microbiology (Portland); as well as part of a plenary lecture at the industry oriented Plant-Based Foods & Proteins Course (Minneapolis). In vitro fermentation from bread with varying fiber content from the Breadlab has also been completed. |
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The Education Team is hard at work implementing the second year of the summer research opportunity for high school students interesting in working in the scientific field in a lab and/or field setting. The opportunity involves conducting a research project with one of our grant researchers, completing an online, 1 credit course, and presenting at a poster symposium in Fall 2024. They have recruited five total interns to work on projects in various research labs in both Pullman and Mt. Vernon, Washington. To learn more about the summer research opportunity and view past intern projects, visit our website. They have also made significant progress on developing the learning curriculum that will be implemented in high schools across Washington state. This curriculum will be ready to integrate into schools by the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year. |
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Photos of Dr. Anna Warner [left] and intern, Daun Park [right] presenting at last year's summer research opportunity poster symposium. Photo Credit: Kevin Murphy |
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OEIE, grant external evaluators, happily had the opportunity to hear from several Soil to Society graduate students over the spring. The students who participated in interviews shared that one of the primary reasons they were motivated to join the project was because of its interdisciplinary and collaborative nature. One important benefit of the project that students identified was fostering collaboration across diverse sectors to promote the delivery of nutritious food to consumers. They look forward to the further opportunities to promote collaboration and integration that will occur at the upcoming annual meeting. At this meeting, OEIE evaluators will meet with graduate students for a facilitated discussion to learn about their experiences on the project and request feedback on project progress, impacts, and ways in which project leadership can improve the graduate student research experience. |
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Two pictures depicting the flowcharts created by S2S graduate students during external evaluation activities. Photo Credit: KSU OEIE |
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OEIE will also meet with the project team as a whole to conduct a Ripple Effects Mapping (REM) activity (see above). Ripple Effects Mapping is a participatory impact evaluation tool designed to reveal project outcomes and impacts that might be overlooked through strict quantitative evaluation methods. REM uses Appreciate Inquiry questions in the setting of a facilitated discussion or group interview to generate a mind map of connected outcomes, ideas, and possibilities relating to the project, its accomplishments, and its goals. The handwritten map can then be imported to qualitative analysis programs such as Atlas.ti for further analysis. Not only can REM be used to highlight successes and draw connections between program components that other team members may not be aware of, but during the reflection process embedded in the activity team members may also generate new possibilities and new directions for the project. To learn more about REM, please visit WSU’s very own CAHNRS’ Project and Program Evaluation page: https://ppe.cw.wsu.edu/ripple-effects-mapping/ |
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Soil to Society in the News |
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Thank You to Our Partners! |
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Research reported in this newsletter was supported by the USDA NIFA’s Sustainable Agricultural Systems (SAS program) under award number – Grant ID: 2021-68012-35955. |
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