Soil Conservation Applications in an Agricultural Community in Rural Guatemala — Presentation Detail — Celebration of Scholars

Instructions

Student presentations must have a faculty sponsor.

Abstracts must include a title and a description of the research, scholarship, or creative work. The description should be 150-225 words in length and constructed in a format or style appropriate for the presenter’s discipline.

The following points should be addressed within the selected format or style for the abstract:

A clear statement of the problem or question you pursued, or the scholarly goal or creative theme achieved in your work.
A brief comment about the significance or uniqueness of the work.
A clear description of the methods used to achieve the purpose or goals for the work.
A statement of the conclusions, results, outcomes, or recommendations, or if the work is still in progress, the results you expect to report at the event.

Presenter photographs should be head and shoulder shots comparable to passport photos.

Additional Information

More information is available at carthage.edu/celebration-scholars/. The following are members of the Research, Scholarship, and Creativity Committee who are eager to listen to ideas and answer questions:

Jun Wang
Kim Instenes
John Kirk
Nora Nickels
Andrew Pustina
James Ripley

Soil Conservation Applications in an Agricultural Community in Rural Guatemala

Name: Carly Barker
Major: Environmental Science
Hometown: Marshfield, Wisconsin
Faculty Sponsor: Tracy Gartner
Other Sponsors:
Type of research: Independent research

Abstract

In recent years there have been increasing concerns surrounding the inherent unsustainable nature of many agricultural practices. Agricultural sustainability is particularly important to study in areas of Latin America as there are many agriculturally driven environmental issues such as deforestation, soil degradation and erosion, and chemical pollution. The objective of this study was to conduct soil testing and record observations regarding different agricultural practices in the rural community of Nuevo Horizonte, Guatemala to assess levels of sustainability in the community and attempt to develop practices that maximize agricultural output while minimizing environmental damage. The agriculturally based community has about 450 members and each family has about a one acre plot of land referred to as a “milpa”, where samples were taken in the summer of 2013 in order to determine the levels of nitrogen, phosphorous, calcium, and potassium in the soil. Community members were interviewed in order to assess their knowledge and attitudes regarding different agricultural practices. Responses from the interviews were compared with results from the soil analyses in order to identify any correlation between the attempt to employ more organic agricultural practices, the level of nutrients in the soil, and the overall agricultural yield for different farmers.

Poster file