Public agencies and private enterprises increasingly desire to achieve ecosystem service outcomes in agricultural systems, but are limited by perceived conflicts between economic and ecosystem service goals and a lack of tools enabling effective operational management. Here we use Iowa-an agriculturally homogeneous state representative of the Maize Belt-to demonstrate an economic rationale for cropland diversification at the subfield scale. We used a novel computational framework that integrates disparate but publicly available data to map ∼3.3 million unique potential management polygons (9.3 Mha) and reveal subfield opportunities to increase overall field profitability. We analyzed subfield profitability for maize/soybean fields during 2010-2013-four of the most profitable years in recent history-and projected results for 2015. While cropland operating at a loss of US$ 250 ha −1 or more was negligible between 2010 and 2013 at 18 000-190 000 ha (<2% of row-crop land), the extent of highly unprofitable land increased to 2.5 Mha, or 27% of row-crop land, in the 2015 projection. Aggregation of these areas to the township level revealed 'hotspots' for potential management change in Western, Central, and Northeast Iowa. In these least profitable areas, incorporating conservation management that breaks even (e.g., planting low-input perennials), into low-yielding portions of fields could increase overall cropland profitability by 80%. This approach is applicable to the broader region and differs substantially from the status quo of 'top-down' land management for conservation by harnessing private interest to align profitability with the production of ecosystem services.
Teaching sustainability concepts to multidisciplinary classes of engineering students is challenging due to their diverse background and discipline-specific skill set and the interdisciplinary nature of the sustainability issues at stake. The present study was conducted to understand the challenges and identify opportunities for improving teaching and learning of sustainability in higher education institutions. The case study used for data collection was the Sustainable Engineering and International Development course taught at Iowa State University since 2005. We assessed the students' course content knowledge before and after the course and their perceptions about the overall course, content, and instruction methods. A mixed methods approach consisting of qualitative (focus groups) and quantitative (survey and pre-and postassessment) techniques was used for the study. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, explanatory analysis, and multinomial logistic regression. Thematic analysis was used to evaluate the qualitative data. The difficulty level of the pre-and post-assessment was low. Application-based questions could be included in the assessment to test beyond the levels of mere comprehension and memorization. Student perceptions about module usefulness exhibited year-to-year variation, which was attributed to the diversity of students enrolled in the course each year. Barriers to learning in a multidisciplinary engineering course included student difficulties working in multidisciplinary teams, course organization, and limited student engagement in
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