Advancing Sustainable Agriculture

We are translating our sustainable design approach to tackle challenges across today's agriculture system. Research in the Gilbertson Group involves systems-level analyses and new technology development. In particular, we are interested in leveraging systems-level analysis to guide our design of new solutions to improve the inefficient use of agrochemicals.
Our perspective featured on the cover of ES: Nano discusses the critical gaps in applying life cycle assessment to proactively evaluating nano-enabled technologies for use in agriculture. ​
Pourzahedi, L.; Pandorf, M.; Ravikumar, D., Zimmerman, J. B.; Seager, T. P.; Theis, T. L.; Westerhoff, P.; Gilbertson, L. M.*, Lowry, G. V. “Life cycle considerations of nano-enabled agrochemicals:  Are today’s tools up to the task?” Environmental Science: Nano, 2018, 5, 1057-1069.
Our paper featured on the cover of ACS SCE proposes a new metric - atom conversion efficiency - for quantifying nutrient efficiency from acquisition to fork, highlighting the severe inefficiencies for nitrogen and phosphorus.
Urso, J. and Gilbertson, L. M. Sustainability Metrics in Agriculture: Revealing Fertilizer System Inefficiencies through the Application of Atom Economy Article ASAP, DOI: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.7b03600 

Other relevant publications

Hofmann, T.*; Lowry, G. V.*; Ghoshal, S; Tufenkji, N.; Brambilla, D.; Dutcher, J. R.; Gilbertson, L. M.; Giraldo, J. P.; Kinsella, J. M.; Landry, M. P.; Lovell, W.; Naccache, R.; Paret, M. L.; Pedersen, J. A.; Unrine, J. M.; White, J. C.; Wilkinson, K. J. “Technology readiness and overcoming barriers to sustainably implement nanotechnology-enabled plant agriculture.” Nature Food, 2020, 1, 416-425.

Pandorf, M.; Pourzahedi, L.; Gilbertson, L. M.; Lowry, G. V.; Herckes, P.; Westerhoff, P. “Graphite Nanoparticle Addition to Fertilizers Reduces Nitrate Leaching in Growth of Lettuce (Lactuca sativa).” Environmental Science: Nano, DOI: 10.1039/C9EN00890J

Lowry, G. V.; Avellan, A.; Gilbertson, L. M. “Opportunities and Challenges for Nanotechnology in the Agri-Tech Revolution.” Nature Nanotechnology. 2019, 14, 517-522.

Smith, A. and Gilbertson, L. M. “Rational Ligand Design to Improve Agrochemical Delivery Efficiency and Advance Agriculture Sustainability.” ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering, 2018, 6 (11), 13599-13610.

Yin, J.; Wang, Y.; Gilbertson, L. M. "Opportunities to Advance Sustainable Design of Nano-Enabled Agriculture Identified Through a Literature Review." Environmental Science: Nano, 2018, DOI: 10.1039/C7EN00766C.

 Funding support for this research comes from: