Collaborative review paper published in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Research

A systematic review conducted in collaboration with colleagues in the Department of Computer Science and Department of Biological & Agricultural Engineering at KState, and the Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln as part of the NSF EPSCoR BioWRAP project was recently published!

The paper, “Synthesis of current evidence on factors influencing the suitability of synthetic biodegradable mulches for agricultural applications: A systematic review” describes a systematic review of experimental agricultural studies of synthesized biodegradable mulch products. Information extracted from 151 primary studies suggests that biodegradable mulches nearly always provides agronomic benefits over not mulching but rarely provides agronomic benefits over conventional plastic films. However, we also find that reported benefits vary across climate conditions, mulch type, and crop and agronomic factors tested, highlighting the context-specificity of biodegradable mulch benefits which is not yet well understood.