Scope: The successful applicant for this internship will be assisting with two projects of critical importance in production agriculture and natural resource sustainability in the SLV. Should our trials produce successful results, the potential economic impact to our community could be significant.
The student will only be required to prepare and present a poster for one project. Student will gain firsthand experience in: designing and conducting field research trials; data collection and analysis; conducting literature search; planning and presenting Extension educational event; developing relationships, working collaboratively, and forming alliances with multiple Stakeholders.
Project 1: Revitalizing Pastures and Controlling Weeds Through Soil Health
The goal of this project is to test and demonstrate the possibility of increasing growth of desirable plants and controlling weeds by amending the micronutrients in the soil instead of by applying traditional fertilizers and herbicides. To show the results to the community with a field day. The objective is to conduct field trials in three production agriculture operations and three home locations. To document before and after results in soil and plant tissue analysis, plant species present by percentage, and photographically.
Project 2: Exploring alternative cash crops that can be grown in the SLV with low and very low water inputs.
The primary goal of this project is to test the ability of several varieties of millet to grow, mature and produce a harvest with low water input..
The objective is to plant small trial plots of millet varieties under a mini-irrigation pivot.
