Lindsay Barbieri: Complexity in Agroecosystems: Soil, Climate Change, and Information Technology

As climate change increasingly affects agricultural landscapes, supporting both mitigation and adaptation is critical. The design and implementation of agricultural management strategies that increase social-environmental resilience while reducing negative effects is central to this need -- and there remain many knowledge gaps and decision-making challenges. Grounded by three years of an ongoing four-year study to assess dominant agricultural field management practices in Vermont, we present soil greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions data with a focus on two emerging environmental and technological considerations. First, we examine the potential for reducing agricultural soil greenhouse gas emissions along with possible benefits and trade-offs. Second, we consider the opportunities and possible adverse effects in the use of information technologies for monitoring agroecosystems.