Consultant Report - 8 pages (3900 words)

· Executive Summary

· Introduction and Background

· Description of Problem

· Traditional industrial agriculture from environmental, social, economic, and technical perspective

· Cite data from USDA on water and land usage

· Description of Client

· United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)

· Needs and profile of client

· Thesis

· The current agriculture system lacks the adaptability and capacity to sustain a growing world population, especially in semi-arid regions of the United States. Thus, to ensure food security for future generations, a study shall be conducted to determine the current state of agriculture in the Southwest US, and a critical analysis of agricultural technologies shall be considered to develop a management plan to ensure future food security in this semi-arid region.

· Investigation/Analysis

· Analysis of current agricultural system

· Discussion of historical context for agriculture in Southwest US

· Investigation into the historical development of agriculture in the US, leading up to the current political and cultural climate surrounding agriculture

· Boundary Definition

· Definition of system to be analyzed, and relevant external factors to system

· Material Flows

· Definition and investigation into the materials required of the agricultural system, and flux of materials in system

· Sustainability Metrics Analysis

· Analysis of current needs of food system in terms of produce, and the consumptive resource usage of agriculture in comparison with the available resource allocated

· Analysis of regional food needs

· Quantification of produce needs for region

· Analysis of agricultural methods and efficiencies – a breakdown of several different existing agricultural technologies, analyzing their consumptive water and land usage per unit of produce output

· Traditional agriculture

· Hydroponic agriculture

· Aquaponic agriculture

· Management Strategy

· Guiding ESEM principles for management strategy

· Definition of goals for strategy

· Meet sustainability metrics for Southwestern US region

· Requirements to meet metric goals

· Projection for future metric goals

· Plan for future implementation of strategies to divert future food scarcity

· Implementation of management strategy

· Strategy for shift in agricultural system

· Policy recommendations

· Education and implementation recommendations

· Recommendations to Client USDA

· Conclusion 

· Bibliography

· Love, D. C., Fry, J. P., Li, X., Hill, E. S., Genello, L., Semmens, K., & Thompson, R. E. (2015, January 1). Commercial aquaponics production and profitability: Findings from an international survey. Aquaculture, 435, 67-74.

· Treftz, C., & Omaye, S. T. (2016). Hydroponics: potential for augmenting sustainable food production in non-arable regions. Nutition and Food Science, 46(5), 672-684.

· USDA ERS. (2010, May 5). Table 3-Total farm output by State. Retrieved from United States Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service: https:// www.ers.usda.gov /data-products/agricultural-productivity-in-the-us/