In March, PhD candidate Erica Edwards was awarded one of 16 Western Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) grants for 2024, under the advisory of Drs. Mallika Nocco and Ruth Dahlquist-Willard. The Western SARE Graduate Student Research & Education Program invites students to partner with producers and growers for innovative research, promoting collaborative outreach on key topics in sustainable agriculture.
Her project, “Thermal Radiometry to Validate Satellite-based Ensemble Estimates of Evapotranspiration on Sustainable Small Farms” aims to assess the accuracy of thermal based crop water use estimates, specifically for small and diverse systems, while examining their usefulness in the context of sustainable groundwater management in California.
The project received a funding award of $30,000 for technical equipment, collaborative education and field related travel.