Master of Science (MS), Bowling Green State University, 2024, Geology

Soil is at the center of two linked global environmental problems: climate change due to anthropogenic carbon emissions and soil degradation caused by anthropogenic landscape alteration, with 37% of global land and 52% of land in the United States used for agriculture. A robust understanding of soil dynamics can aid in making sustainable management decisions to maximize soil potential for both fertility and carbon sequestration needs. Soil organic matter (SOM) is often used as a proxy for soil health, with humic substances (HS) comprising most of SOM and driving reactivity and recalcitrance in the soil, depending on composition. HS have historically been challenging to analyze due to low solubility and widely varying molecular size, leading to the use of operational definitions and unclear models. Recent advances in spectroscopic techniques, however, have led to the development of sequential fractionation techniques, like the humeomics methodology, that progressively break bonds within the HS structure, allowing for greater characterization and understanding of composition. In this study, SOM from an organically managed farm soil was qualitatively and quantitatively characterized using the humeomics sequential methodology, extracting six primary fractions and two residual fractions. All fractions were characterized for nutrient (TOC, TN, and TP) content, FTIR was used to assess functional groups present, and EEM-PARAFAC analyzed fluorophore groups to calculate descriptive indices and model components. Analysis indicates the SOM within the farm soil is weakly humified, labile, and biologically available, with most OC and N present in the weakly-bound fractions of the SOM structure. Future research could focus on characterizing and comparing soils from conventionally managed agricultural soils, different BMP regimes (including amendment with dredged material), as these are factors known to contribute to variations in SOM quality and nutrient cycling.

Committee: Angélica Vázquez-Ortega PhD (Committee Chair); Christopher Lepre PhD (Committee Member); Joseph Furgal PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Agriculture; Geochemistry; Soil Sciences

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2011, Journalism (Communication)

This thesis examines the coverage over time of organic farming in Farm Journal, Successful Farming, and Progressive Farmer, three magazines devoted to professional farming. The purpose is to better understand how industry-specific publications, such as farming magazines, adapt to industry issues that begin with controversy but eventually are adopted into culture as acceptable practices. The study first uses quantitative content analysis to determine what, if any, changes have occurred over time in how much the issue of “organic farming” has been covered in the mainstream agricultural press. Then, a qualitative textual analysis of selected articles from the sample was conducted to further consider the ways mainstream agriculture magazines may influence attitudes and understanding of changes within the industry. This thesis concluded that over time the three magazines under study portrayed organic farming differently and also differed in the amount of coverage they devoted to the topic.

Committee: Bill Reader M.A. (Committee Chair); Joseph Bernt PhD (Committee Co-Chair); Cary Frith M.S. (Committee Co-Chair) Subjects: Agriculture; Agronomy; Communication; Journalism

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2021, History

As the human population surges today toward 8 billion, the struggle to ensure necessary food, water, and public health has never been more intense. My dissertation unveils the interlinked origins of British and American environmentalism from 1900 to 1975, which developed as a debate between advocates of “natural” versus “artificial” solutions to the question of nutrition and health. My project explores the “green” or organic movement that resisted intensive, chemical-based farming practices, fluoridation and chlorination of public water, pasteurization of milk products, artificial baby formula, and other processed or manufactured foods. My work answers the question of why women make up approximately 75% of the participants in the environmental movement today. It traces the origins of “green” behavior and “green identities” to these early debates over the utility of scientifically “modern” food and health mandates versus natural and traditional practices. I argue that gender and family structures were fundamental to these early debates as proponents of both “natural” and “artificial” sides focused on children's health as their primary litmus test to legitimize success in food and health practices. In doing so, both the organic movement and the technocratic movement levied an enormous level of anxiety on mothers as the primary household consumers and caregivers to make the right decisions for their children's health and future. My dissertation is the first to analyze these gender and family dimensions and to demonstrate the transnational connection and mutual influences between the US and UK. It also reminds us that the environmental movement began decades before Rachel Carson's Silent Spring and was not initially divided politically between left and right (as it came to be after the 1970s) but rather developed from the argument over whether “natural” or “artificial” approaches would produce the healthiest food and water for families.

Committee: Christopher Otter (Advisor); Nicholas Breyfogle (Advisor); Bartow Elmore (Committee Member) Subjects: Agriculture; American History; Dental Care; Ecology; Education History; Environmental Education; Environmental Health; Environmental Science; Environmental Studies; European History; Families and Family Life; Food Science; Gender Studies; Health; History; Marketing; Medicine; Modern History; Public Health; Science History; Soil Sciences

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2014, Antioch New England: Environmental Studies

This mixed methods study builds upon literature and research in environmental justice, public participation, and community development to examine how justice-related issues impact farmers and workers on organic farms in the Northeastern United States. It also examines how involvement in a grassroots organization helps farmers and workers address these issues. At the core of the study is an exploration of environmental justice and its applications at a broad, systemic level; an examination of the current context of laborers in organic agriculture in the Northeast; and finally an investigation of the effects of grassroots organizing within the Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA) as it intersects with notions of justice. It offers promising recommendations for addressing the systemic injustices that are encountered on organic farms. The first phase of this study comprised an online survey sent out to all NOFA member farmers to gather information about who the laborers on organic farms in the NOFA network are and about the unique justice issues they face. The results of the survey indicate that most of the farms within the network are small-scale and rely heavily on family members and volunteers for labor. Farmer participants identified challenges encountered in enacting their justice-related values. The second phase consisted of phenomenological interviews with farmers and workers from three different member farms known within NOFA for a commitment to justice to discover patterns of meaning around justice and the contributions of network membership to its realization. This study expands the scale of justice considerations beyond the local and considers theories of justice beyond utilitarianism that incorporate elements of participation, recognition, and capabilities. It also offers an understanding of the broader systemic context within which small-scale organic farmers make their commitments and decisions, and it illustrates how the justice-related experience (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Tania M. Schusler PhD (Committee Chair); Steve D. Chase PhD (Committee Member); Joseph V. Siry PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Agriculture; Environmental Justice; Environmental Studies

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2012, Agricultural and Extension Education

While the majority of Americans are three generations removed from agricultural production, there has been a renewed interest in local foods in the U.S. Farmers' markets, a commonplace where producers and growers gather on a recurring basis to sell fruits, vegetables, and other produce, have tripled domestically since the mid-1990s. Not only do farmers' markets provide fresh, locally grown produce, but they also provide a medium by which now-distant consumers can reconnect with the agricultural community. One population that has growing interest in these markets is college-aged individuals. This study is unique in that it explores the attitudes and behaviors regarding farmers' markets that one sector of the college-aged population has. The theory of planned behavior was used as framework for this study, which utilized a researcher-administered questionnaire to students at The Ohio State University's Columbus campus. Questions addressed university students' attitudes, behaviors, subjective norm behaviors, respondent background, and how respondents heard about markets. The survey, adopted from a 2004 Norwegian study, was administered to 174 students. Respondents reported positive attitudes toward farmers' markets. The majority of the respondents had been to a farmers' market at least once in their life, and the majority of respondents also plan to purchase from farmers' markets after college. Respondents from rural and non-rural areas reported similar attitudes and behaviors regarding markets; however, rural respondents were more likely to purchase foods straight from a farm or roadside stands. While friends' behaviors regarding farmers' markets and organic produce did not appear to have an impact on respondent behavior, respondents whose family purchased organic produce and attended farmers' markets were more likely to behave similarly. In accordance with several other studies, this population heard about farmers' markets primarily through word-of-mouth. Recommendati (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Emily Rhoades PhD (Advisor); Cano Jamie PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Agriculture; Communication

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2011, Environment and Natural Resources

Weeds are one of the biggest financial, environmental, and social risks in organic farm operations. Experts acknowledge that inherent diversity and site specificity in organic farm systems deter standardization and diffusion of weed management knowledge and long term, preventive strategies. Our data, collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviews with weed scientists, USDA researchers, extension personnel, and 29 farmers in Ohio and Indiana suggests that in the absence of the chemical silver bullet, organic weed management must include a deeper understanding of human decision making systems and agroecosystems. Using the mental models approach, we created conceptual influence diagrams, or mental models, of weeds and weed management from both perspectives. The models provide a qualitative foundation to understand what organic farmers know about weed management, and, more importantly, how they use their knowledge, experience, risk perception, and emotion to process information and make weed management decisions. This research has both theoretical and practical implications for understanding why farmers, both conventional and organic, make decisions that are beneficial in the short term, but environmentally and economically damaging in the long term. Results show that outreach materials will be more successful if they help a farmer optimize their experiential/intuitive judgments alongside more analytical processing for efficient and successful long term weed management strategies. Such decisions will help to reduce the immense emotional, ecological, economic, and physical impacts of weeds.

Committee: Robyn Wilson PhD (Advisor); Doug Doohan PhD (Committee Member); Koontz Tom PhD (Committee Member); Hitzhusen Greg PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Agriculture; Environmental Management; Psychology; Social Research; Sustainability

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2004, Chemistry

Forest and agricultural ecosystems comprise a large portion of the United States. Soil organic matter (SOM) is viewed as the organic source of C and N for plants and microorganisms as well as an important C and N sink in these soils. To obtain a better understanding of C and N cycling in forest and agricultural ecosystems, one needs to understand humification, transformations, the chemistry of the various inputs and the chemical structural changes that these materials are subjected to on their path towards soil formation. For the forest study, a vertical transect of samples was collected from the forest canopy to the subsoil in the Harvard Forest before and after ten years of chronic N fertilization to determine compositional changes caused by ten years of fertilization and assess the effects of N loading. Currently, little is known about carbon structural types, quantity or quality preserved as a result of agricultural management practices. Soil samples and various OM inputs (before and after degradation) were collected from agricultural soils under conventional and organic management practices. Samples from both ecosystems were characterized using elemental analysis, solid-state 13C and 15N NMR, and pyrolysis GC/MS. 13C NMR spectra from all samples contain signals associated with paraffinic, carbohydrate, aromatic and carboxyl structures. NMR spectra of soil inputs are dominated by carbohydrate carbons, while these intensities are severely diminished in the soil. An important observation is that the dominant persistent structures are paraffinic-type carbons in forest and agricultural ecosystems and, to a lesser extent, lignin structures in the agricultural system. However, comparison of the paraffinic signatures of the major OM inputs to the soils suggests that these are not the primary source of persistent paraffinic structures. In the forest system, N fertilization caused an increase in lipid-extractable paraffinic structures in oak leaves, an increase in N cont (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Patrick Hatcher (Advisor) Subjects:

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2011, Environmental Studies (Arts and Sciences)

Productivity and soil fertility are two of the most important factors in farming. Many organic farmers fertilize their crops with composted plant or animal waste. Some organic farmers who do not have access to large amounts of compost utilize processed fertilizers that are acceptable under certified organic standards. I hypothesized that soils fertilized with composted organic matter would be more fertile and productive than soils fertilized with processed organic fertilizer. To test the hypotheses, I measured nutrient content and availability at three organic farms, each of which uses a different type of fertilizer (animal manure, composted mushroom growing medium, and processed fertilizer). I also grew beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) in soil from each of the farms to measure bean weight as an estimate of productivity. The soil amended with animal manure was the only treatment that resulted in increases in nutrients, nutrient holding capacity, and bean weight. Soils amended with processed fertilizer showed little difference from controls.

Committee: Jared DeForest (Advisor); Arthur Trese (Committee Member); Michele Morrone (Committee Member) Subjects: Agriculture; Environmental Science; Environmental Studies; Soil Sciences

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2007, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects:

Master of Fine Arts, Miami University, 2022, English

This thesis is a selection of chapters from We Are Earth, a book-length work of creative nonfiction focused on regenerative agriculture—farming with nature and not against it. The narrative follows my travels to meet regenerative farmers across the United States and around the world. These farmers employ practices and philosophies acknowledging that humans are a part of an intertwined and complicated system that we cannot tame or manipulate. They see regenerative farming as a solution, which builds soil, promotes ecological diversity, provides people with meaningful lives and livelihoods, and sequesters carbon—maybe even enough to combat climate change. Agriculture is both political and environmental. It's a local and global act. To capture these dualities, the book is a mix of journalism, travel narrative, and memoir. By weaving the local with the global, I intend to show the reader how their daily lives, eating habits, and relationship with nature connect to issues of environmental and social justice.

Committee: Daisy Hernandez (Committee Chair); Michele Navakas (Committee Member); TaraShea Nesbit (Committee Member) Subjects: Agriculture; Environmental Studies; Horticulture; Journalism; Literature; Native Studies; Natural Resource Management; Sociology

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2018, Horticulture and Crop Science

In Ohio, many organic farmers use the term `balancing' to express the rationale of using a wide variety of soil amendments to improve soil quality and plant health. Soil balancing or the base cation saturation ratio (BCSR) approach is a method first proposed more than 100 years ago that aims to achieve the `ideal soil'. William Albrecht in the 1970's concluded that if saturation of the major exchangeable cations is 65-85% for Ca, 6-12% for Mg, and 2-5% for K, plant nutrition will be balanced. Research conducted by Zwickle et al. (2011) indicated that many organic farmers believe balanced soils produce higher quality crops and have diminished weed infestations compared to unbalanced soils. For many farmers, soil balancing includes using amendments thought to enhance soil biology and increase the soil's capacity to store and release minerals needed by plants. Combined mineral and these organic/bio-active soil products can be very costly, as much as US $1000-1250/ha in the first year. While farmers believe they are benefiting from these expenditures, there is no objective evidence to confirm their belief. I conducted on-farm studies at six locations in Northeast Ohio, with the overall goal of determining the effect of gypsum, with or without “biological stimulants”, on the soil microbial community, crop quality, weed populations, and soil chemical characteristics. Soil seed bank and soil health/biological properties were measured, including soil respiration, active carbon, protein content, microbial biomass, and complete mineral analysis. Crop foliage for nutrient analysis, and crop quality was determined after harvest. Differences in final soil nutrient levels, base saturation, crop and weed community effects were influenced more by the farm than by the treatments applied. After two years, soil sulfur levels were significantly higher in plots amended with gypsum. Failure to detect treatment response by other mineral amendments suggests the relatively narrow difference (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Douglas Doohan (Advisor); Warren DIck (Committee Member); Kleinhenz Matthew (Committee Member); Steve Culman (Committee Member) Subjects: Agriculture; Horticulture; Soil Sciences

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2017, Entomology

One way farmers manipulate pest pressure in organic farming is through soil fertility management. Effects of soil fertility practices include both, the immediate and short-term changes in plant nutrient availability, as well as more long-term effects on soil community structure and function. Despite evidence suggesting that the application of compost has both, long-term and short-term effects on pest suppression, few attempts had been made to assess the impact of both factors on tomato susceptibility to Spodoptera exigua, beet armyworm (BAW), performance. This study has two specific objectives: 1) investigate the short-term effect of compost fertilization and the long-term effect of soil organic management history on insect performance, plant growth, and plant primary chemistry, and 2) determine how other factors, such as plant variety and phenological stage, might modify expression of this organic soil-mediated insect susceptibility. In chapter 2, I investigated the effects of different levels of compost fertilization and different organic field histories on Spodoptera exigua (BAW) performance, tomato growth, and plant free amino acid levels. I measured both immediate effects of compost application and historical effects of field management on plant growth. I observed that S. exigua larval weight did not vary between soils, and had a weak linear relationship with compost rate. The effects of compost on insect survivorship appeared dependent on soil history. I measured a linear response of plant growth and foliar free amino acids to compost rate. In addition, I measured that some amino acids had positive relationship with insect performance (i.e. glutamine and proline), while others showed a negative relationship (i.e. aspartic acid and the non-protein amino acid GABA). In chapter 3, I considered how two other factors might modify expression of soil-mediated changes in tomato susceptibility to BAW: plant variety and phenology. Here, tomatoes were grown in the (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: P. Larry Phelan (Advisor); Casey Hoy (Committee Member); Warren Dick (Committee Member) Subjects: Entomology

BA, Oberlin College, 2016, Sociology

In his 2007 book Shopping Our Way to Safety, sociologist Andrew Szasz coined the term inverted quarantine to describe a phenomenon in the way that Americans react to the changing natural environment. Inverted quarantine, or the impulse to remove one's self from perceived environmental dangers, often manifests in consumption behavior such as consuming only organic food, drinking filtered or bottled water, moving from a city to a suburb, or even being enclosed in a gated community. Although inverted quarantine may result in some form of protection, in the long run it is unsustainable in the face of the changing natural environment. Through investigations in literature and in-depth interviews with Ohio farmers, Oberlin College students, and parents in Fairfield County, Connecticut, this study examines the different way that environmental dangers are perceived and addressed across three different demographics.

Committee: Christie Parris (Advisor) Subjects: Environmental Justice; Environmental Studies; Gender Studies; Social Psychology; Social Research; Sociology

Master of Science (MS), Bowling Green State University, 2015, Geology

The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of remote sensing in distinguishing organic and conventional corn. The hypothesis of the research is that the difference between organic and conventional corn can be detected based on the dissimilarities in their vigor and maturity, which are commonly altered by different agricultural management and nutrient application to soil. Hyperspectral in situ measurements as well as multispectral reflectance along with narrow and wide band vegetation indices were assessed. Two available cloud-free Landsat 7 and Landsat 8 data sets were used in the analysis, one for the mid- growing season and another for the pre-harvest (maturity) season. Overall, the organic corn demonstrates higher values of chlorophyll- and nitrogen- related narrow band indices at the mid-season and at maturity stage, based on the in situ measurements. The results indicate a significant difference between two types of corn, particularly at 410, 545, 710, and 760 nm. A 750/550 ratio and MSR705 index, calculated from reflectances at 445, 705, and 740 nm, are the most effective indices for the corn separation. The wide band indices, calculated from the satellite data in the blue, red, NIR, and MIR regions, are effective in corn type determination. Landsat 8 color composite images with indices 1/4, 6/2, and 5/7 (Coastal Aerosol/red, SWIR1/blue, NIR/SWIR2) as well as 1/4, 6/2, 5/4 (Coastal Aerosol/red, SWIR1/blue, NIR/red) indices are able to separate the organic and conventional parcels in the mid-season and pre-harvest time in the study. Landsat 8 has more potential than Landsat 7 to discriminate corn type (organic vs. conventional) in both the mid-season and pre-harvest time. More research should be conducted in order to understand the factors that cause the differences between the two types of corn. Chlorophyll measurements, soil chemistry data, soil textural analysis, and soil moisture records were not available for this study.

Committee: Anita Simic Ph.D. (Advisor); Peter Gorsevski Ph.D. (Committee Member); Enrique Gomezdelcampo Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Remote Sensing

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2007, Plant Pathology

Nematodes occupy a central position in the soil food web occurring at multiple trophic levels and, therefore, have the potential to provide insights into condition of the soil food webs. I hypothesized that differences in management strategies may have differential effects on nematode community structure and soil properties. This hypothesis was tested in three different replicated experiments. In the first study a conventional farming system receiving synthetic inputs was compared with an organically managed system and in the second study four different farming strategies with and without compost application transitioning to organic management were compared for nematode communities and soil characteristics including soil bulk density, organic matter, microbial biomass and mineral-N. The third study was aimed at assessing the indicative value of various nematode measures in five habitats. Nematode food webs were analyzed for trophic group abundance and by calculating MI, and enrichment (EI), structure (SI) and channel indices (CI) based on weighted abundance of c-p (colonizer-persister) guilds. Bacterivore nematodes were more abundant in the organic than the conventional whereas the conventional system had higher population of the root lesion nematode, Pratylenchus crenatus compared with organic system. Organic hay plots had the lowest populations of P. crenatus compared to corn, soybeans and oats. Enrichment opportunists c-p 1 and general opportunists c-p 2 bacterivores were higher in composted than the non-composted strategies. Population of Pratylenchus sp. was significantly lower but that of c-p 2 plant parasites Tylenchus and Filenchus were higher in the composted compared with non-composted amended soils. Principal components analysis indicated that MI, SI and EI contributed the most to differences between the habitats. Forests and shrublands had highly structured food webs as expected but their high enrichment may be unique due to the muck soils. Croplands sho (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Parwinder Grewal (Advisor) Subjects: Agriculture, Plant Pathology

Master of Environmental Science, Miami University, 2003, Environmental Sciences

I describe the experience of a seven month internship at Aullwood Audubon Center and Farm. Aullwood is located in Southwest Ohio outside the city of Dayton. It was established in 1957 when Marie S. Aull gave the land to the National Audubon Society to open a nature center for people to enjoy the beauty of the land. The 120 acre farm was added in 1962 and is a working organic farm. My internship focused on teaching natural history and organic/sustainable agriculture programs to school groups. I was also involved in teaching education programs for adults, teaching Summer Earth Adventures classes, leading the Girl Scout overnight program, planning the Educational Farm Symposium, presenting a volunteer workshop, developing two education activities, caring for farm animals, visiting other nature centers, and assisting with special events. The internship was a professionally enriching experience and has strengthened my abilities for a career in environmental education.

Committee: Charles Stevens (Advisor) Subjects: