{"id":21,"date":"2024-11-12T23:12:28","date_gmt":"2024-11-12T23:12:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/capstonejourney\/?p=21"},"modified":"2024-11-12T23:14:06","modified_gmt":"2024-11-12T23:14:06","slug":"the-great-capstone-unveiling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/capstonejourney\/2024\/11\/12\/the-great-capstone-unveiling\/","title":{"rendered":"The Great Capstone Unveiling"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Source: Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industry<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A few weeks have passed since my last blog post. In that time, quite a bit has happened on my capstone journey! Most importantly, I had the good fortune of landing a project centered on two things that I hold near and dear to my heart: the environment<\/strong> and food<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the next 8-9 months, I’ll be working with a local company called AgBiz Logic<\/a> which was founded at my university . This company has built and continues to build an enterprise level suite of decision making tools for agriculturalists. The tools range in function from financial budgeting to environmental accounting. While both tasks can generate headaches in a flash, the latter is infamously gnarly and increasingly important. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As discussed in this New York Times article<\/a>, true cost accounting is certainly on the radar for the well studied economist. However, while most farmers care deeply about the health of their crops and land, it’s probably a stretch to assume that all farmers have the time and willingness to dive deep into the hidden costs of their industry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is exactly the kind of thing that software can help with. Using AgBiz Logic’s platform, farm workers can specify their plan and any alternatives that they have access to. Those plans can then be compared by many values, such as predicted profit or carbon production. These tools allow farmers to fine tune both their economic and environmental impacts, making it easy to find a way to balance the two.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Source: DeepAI Image Generator<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

At the moment, there is no way for AgBiz Logic to account for the environmental impacts of the chemicals their clients are using. That’s where my team and I come in!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We’ve been tasked with the design and development of a section of the AgBiz Environment<\/a> module. On a high level, we plan to incorporate a metric developed at Cornell University called the Environmental Impact Quotient (EIQ)<\/a>. This will give users the ability to compare the impact of individual chemicals and entire agricultural plans in aggregate. The metric itself takes into account the negative effects of a given chemical on the environment. You might be wondering how scientists can possibly come up with a single number to evaluate that. Well, the formula in all its glory is shown below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“…where DT = acute dermal toxicity in mammals, C = chronic toxicity in mammals, SY=systematicity, F = fish toxicity, L = leaching potential, R = surface loss potential, D = bird toxicity, S = soil residue half-life, Z = bee toxicity, B = beneficial arthropod toxicity, and P= plant surface residue half-life.\u201d  Source: The EIQ User Guide<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Hopefully that cleared things up nicely for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If it didn’t, just know that the EIQ is a well studied metric for evaluating the expected damage a specific chemical can do to the following three parties:<\/p>\n\n\n\n