Felipe Parada, 38th PhD at Sostenipra
On May 26, 2022, Sostenipra researcher Felipe Parada defended his doctoral thesis entitled “Reducing the Environmental Impact of Food Production in Urban Agriculture by Optimizing the Water Irrigation”. This thesis focuses on the improvement of the environmental performance of food production through different management strategies that improve the ratio of inputs and outputs of our production systems (particularly rooftop greenhouses). During the presentation, topics such as the reduction of rainwater availability and its pressure on urban water resources when combined with a increase in urban populations. Thus, different strategies were proposed to improve and evaluate crop yields under water stress scenarios from an agronomic and environmental perspective. In this way, a water demand model was developed, which is capable of predicting the amount of water required to irrigate by adjusting the temperature. At the same time, work was done with urban waste to be used as substrates under water shortage conditions and it was shown that compost (organic alternative) presents a positive behavior, and is capable of maintaining and even increasing lettuce crop yields. Finally, the researcher highlights that the use of a recirculation system significantly reduces water eutrophication.
“This thesis contributes to the development of a more sustainable and cleaner urban agriculture, and always keeping in mind: do we need to produce more or better?” states Dr. Felipe Parada at the end of his defense.
To know more, you can take a look at the publications included in his thesis.