Questions and Topics We Can Help You To Answer:
Paper Instructions:
Competition Overview:
1.    Design a miniature farming system by choosing among management options for potted lettuce production (1 plant per gallon pot is your “farm”).
2.    Since this is an online course, actual plant care is not required for this project and will instead be done by the teaching team. You will essentially act as the farm manager – making decisions about production – and our teaching team will act as the farm hands implementing your choices.
3.    Each management choice must be justified with science-based evidence and written in the form of a testable hypothesis.
4.    Your objective: Design a lettuce production system that provides the optimum balance of productivity, input-use efficiency, and profitability. 
5.    Based on lettuce data collected, student “farms” will be ranked (1=best) according to performance for each of three categories: 1) productivity (greatest marketable yield), 2) input-use efficiency (combined measure of greatest fertilizer and water input efficiency), and 3) profitability (greatest net income per gram of lettuce produced). The student with the lowest combined score will be crowned the Sustainable Lettuce Champion. 
Management Options:
1.    Nitrogen Fertilizer Source (1 point)
a.    Mineral fertilizer ($0.005/g of N)
b.    Organic fertilizer ($0.015/g of N)
c.    Integrated mix of mineral + organic fertilizer ($0.010/g of N)

Hypothesis: (1 point)

Science-based justification (including ≥1 source): (3 points)


2.    Nitrogen Fertilizer Rate (1 point)
a.    Zero
b.    0.5 g N per pot
c.    1 g N per pot
d.    2 g N per pot

Hypothesis: (1 point)

Science-based justification (including ≥1 source): (3 points)
3.    Biological Inoculants (1 point)
a.    None
b.    Mycorrhizal fungi (MF) ($0.05 per pot) (https://www.amazon.com/Endo-Mycorrhizae-species-lb-package/dp/B008B04HD2) 
c.    MF + Trichoderma fungi + Bacillus bacteria ($0.10 per pot) (https://www.amazon.com/Real-Growers-Recharge-8oz/dp/B00J1CAEIG) 

Hypothesis: (1 point)

Science-based justification (including ≥1 source): (3 points)

4.    Irrigation (1 point)
a.    Water to field capacity (water until draining from bottom of 1 gallon pot; approximately 175 mL H2O) every day ($0.004 per gallon of water) 
b.    Water to field capacity (approximately 175 mL H2O) every second day ($0.004 per gallon of water) 
c.    Water to field capacity (approximately 175 mL H2O) every third day ($0.004 per gallon of water) 

Hypothesis: (1 point)

Science-based justification (including ≥1 source): (3 points)



Sustainable Lettuce Competition – Part 2
Plants, Landscapes, & the Environment, HORT 100, Spring 2020
Dr. Sam Wortman, University of Nebraska – Lincoln; 25 points

Costs and revenues: Costs used to calculate net income are provided in Part 1, and revenues included:
•    Conventional ($3.00/lb) - No management choice restrictions 
•    Organic ($4.50/lb) - All management choices must conform to USDA National Organic Program Guidelines https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?rgn=div5&node=7:3.1.1.9.32 
Data calculations provided include individual averages for: 1) yield (g/pot), 2) irrigation efficiency (g lettuce/oz), 3) N fertilizer efficiency (g lettuce/g N), 4) gross revenue ($/pot), and 5) net income ($/pot). Your task is to use these averages to explore effects of each management choice across the entire class data set. To do this, you will need to calculate averages and standard errors for all class data within individual management choices. This will be demonstrated during lecture. 
Analysis and Interpretation: Based on analysis of all class data:
1.    Create graphs demonstrating the effect of nitrogen source and rate on:
a.    Lettuce yield (2.5 points)
b.    Nitrogen input efficiency (2.5 points)
c.    Net income (2.5 points)

2.    Create graphs demonstrating the effect of biological inoculants on:
a.    Lettuce yield (2.5 points)
b.    Net income (2.5 points)

3.    Create graphs demonstrating the effect of irrigation rate on:
a.    Lettuce yield (2.5 points)
b.    Irrigation input efficiency (2.5 points)
c.    Net income (2.5 points)

4.    Based on data and graphs above, what recommendations would you make to a lettuce grower interested in sustainable lettuce production with regard to:
a.    Nitrogen source? (1 point)
b.    Nitrogen rate? (1 point)
c.    Biological inoculants? (1 point)
d.    Irrigation rate? (1 point)

5.    Who was the Sustainable Lettuce Champion? Use data provided to rank each “farm” for yield, overall input efficiency (average of irrigation and N input efficiency), and net income. Average those rankings as an integrated measure of sustainability and determine the winner. (1 point)