Executive Summary:
RHST Industries has a patented nature-based biomimicry solution called WATER PEARLS, a simple drop-in and walk away solution, to improve water efficiency in agriculture by suppressing water vapour emissions, suppressing weed growth, improving water footprint, ground insulation, plant health and yield.
SDG (Sustainable Development Goals):
Reason Why/Motivation/Background:
December 2021, Prof S. Manabe receives Nobel Prize for his contributions to climate change modeling the Earth’s Energy Balance. The resulting observations are that water vapour content in the atmosphere contributes to global warming more than double that of CO2. Agriculture is the largest user of freshwater and up to 50% of the water in the field evaporates impacting water footprint as well as global warming. Improving water efficiency in agriculture by suppressing evaporation is a means to impact water scarcity, food security and climate change.
Project Discription:
Use of WATER PEARL filled mesh mats, laid over the ground above the root zone of plants to suppress water loss from evaporation, inhibit weed growth, maintain healthy soil, stabilize nutrient concentration in pore water, increase surface albedo, decrease abiotic stress from bud break onwards, provide additional insulation to ground, and reduce irrigation requirements. The mats are laid down on the berm, between the vines.
Benefits/Achievements:
WATER PEARLS can generate a unique strong asset value appreciation of farmland whereby resilience to climate change and improved water footprint is incorporated into the operational productivity gains. It complies with the “ex-ante” assessment of the Do No Significant Harm (DNSH) principles of the EU Taxonomy proposal.
Lessons Learned:
Irrigation water can be reduced by 50% in arid areas. No maintenance required, no weeds penetrate through the mats, eliminating the need for herbicides.
Next Steps:
In particular, in California, it would be highly beneficial to establish a PPP with vineyards to propose to the Water Infrastructure Funding Act to fund projects for installation of WATER PEARLS mats, in order to reduce water footprint, enabling the state to meet its target of water conservation.
Potential for Replication:
Readily available
Sources of Information of Information/Support:
The Role of Innovative Gradek Beads in Water Evaporation and Retention and in Supporting Plant Growth
1N. Ameiri, 2S. Masoud, 3N.I. Alkhalaileh,
4A. Ismail, 5T. Gradek and 3S. Herzallah
American-Eurasian J. Agric. & Environ. Sci., 15 (5): 863-867, 2015
ISSN 1818-6769 © IDOSI Publications, 2015 DOI: 10.5829/idosi.aejaes.2015.15.5.12651
https://www.cabdirect.org/cabdirect/abstract/20153225791
Additional Comments:
The WATER PEARLS are inert, 100% organic, require no maintenance and carry a 50+ year lifespan with 2% yearly biodegradation. The WATER PEARLS reduce abiotic stress and water footprint by 30% – 50% while providing resiliency to climate change. Compliant with VM00042 methodology for IALM, enabling to acquire VCUs for SOC and biomass.
