¿y roberto . Todavia no se sabe nada. Siguen trabajando. Pero. ¿estan seguros de que tiene suficiente aire . Hombre iroberto iroberto iroberto tambien en Este Episodio vamos a aprender vocabulario relacionado con la ciudad. En los barrios se pueden encontrar varios negocios como mercados. Supermercados. Farmacias. Tiendas pequenas. Y grandes almacenes. Y vamos a comparar las grandes ciudades con los pueblos. Los pueblos son diferentes de las grandes ciudades. Aunque cada pueblo tiene un centro no hay edificios muy altos. Generalmente, el centro consiste en una plaza y muchas veces en la plaza esta El Ayuntamiento. Iroberto hombre iroberto iroberto ¿hay algun mensaje para mi . Ah, si. Le llamo la senorita rodriguez. Captioning of this program is made possible by the Annenberg Cpb project and the geraldine r. Dodge foundation. En el episodio previo cuando Raquel Y Angela llegaron al sitio de la excavacion ya sacaban a dos personas. Pero ninguna de las dos era el hermano de angela. Hombre ies villa ies villa ies andres villa y esta bien justo en ese momento, hubo otro derrumbe en la excavacion. Roberto castillo quedo atrapado de nuevo y no se sabia nada de el. Angela estaba desesperada. Al dia siguiente, en la Ciudad De Mexico la Familia Castillo desayunaba y hablaba de varios asuntos. Si, carlitos tiene un poco de fiebre. Carlos se lleva muy bien con los ninos. Ayer estuvo jugando con ellos todo el dia cuando tu no estabas. Si, llegue un poco tarde. Mientras la familia desayunaba, carlos hablaba con su hijo quien estaba enfermo la noche anterior. Todavia tienes un poco de fiebre. Muy preocupado porque no tenia noticias de Raquel Arturo bajo a la recepcion del hotel y pregunto por ella. No, la reservacion no ha sido cancelada pero ella aun no se ha registrado en el hotel. Gracias. Solo, y sin amigos en esta gran ciudad arturo salio a la calle. Este es un plano de la Ciudad De Mexico o como la llaman los mexicanos, mexico, o el d. F. Como todas las ciudades grandes la Ciudad De Mexico consiste en tres partes principales el centro numerosos barrios y zonas y las afueras. En el centro, hay grandes edificios altos. En ellos se encuentran oficinas. Hoteles grandes. Y otros negocios. En los barrios se pueden encontrar varios negocios como mercados. Supermercados. Farmacias. Tiendas pequenas. Y grandes almacenes. Los pueblos son diferentes de las grandes ciudades. Aunque cada pueblo tiene un centro no hay edificios muy altos. Generalmente, el centro consiste en una plaza y muchas veces, en la plaza esta El Ayuntamiento que es la sede del gobierno municipal. Tambien hay una iglesia. Como en la gran ciudad en los pueblos tambien hay negocios tipicos farmacias, tiendas y mercados. Pero a diferencia de las grandes ciudades en los pueblos pequenos generalmente no hay supermercados y grandes almacenes. Y cerca de uno de estos pueblos pequenos en la meseta mexicana Raquel Y Angela esperan saber algo de roberto quien todavia esta atrapado en una excavacion arqueologica. Iay iraquel dormi mucho. Si, y te hizo bien. Asi estaras mas descansada. ¿y roberto . Todavia no se sabe nada. Siguen trabajando. Pero. ¿estan seguros de que tiene suficiente aire . Ven, vamos a ver. Asi estaras mas tranquila. Si. Vamos. Ihola miren. Estan poniendo unos tubos. Asi el aire fresco podra llegar hasta roberto. Por favor, cafe para las senoritas y para mi. Gracias. Gracias. Deberiamos ir al pueblo a telefonear. Tienes razon. Ojala pueda comunicarme con la familia y tambien con arturo. Por favor, senor. Mande ud. , senor. Es la primera vez que vengo a esta ciudad y no conozco nada. Quiero ir a varios lugares. Mire. Quiero ir a una farmacia a una tienda para hombres a un almacen, a un mercado a un supermercado. Muy bien, senor. Podra encontrar todo eso aqui en esta colonia. Estamos aqui. En esta calle hay una tienda de ropa para hombres muy buena. Mmhm. Y en esta calle hay un almacen donde se vende de todo. Hay un mercado pequeno aqui tambien hay un supermercado a ver. Si, aqui. Si sale y va a la izquierda en la esquina hay una farmacia. Muchas gracias. A sus ordenes. Gracias. Buenas. ¿podria usar su telefono . Si, senorita. Puede ud. Usarlo. Gracias. Entonces, raquel trata de llamar a pedro. senal de comunicando pero la linea esta ocupada. Ihola hola, guillermo. Si, soy yo. No, desde mexico. ¿como va todo . ¿que clase de problemas . Operadora gran hotel de la Ciudad De Mexico, buenos dias. Buenos dias. Mire, le llamo de larga distancia. Me llamo Raquel Rodriguez. ¿rodriguez . Ud. Habia hecho una reserva para ayer . Si, senorita. Yo hizo una reservacion pero. Le paso con la recepcion. ¿como . Ino, espere. recepcion, buenos dias. Buenos dias, me llamo Raquel Rodriguez. Iah senorita rodriguez, la esperabamos ayer. Si, es que ha habido un accidente. ¿un accidente . ¿se encuentra ud. Bien . Si, yo estoy bien, pero. ¿desea cancelar la reservacion . No, no, no, no. No deseo cancelar mi reservacion. Solo quiero saber si ha llegado el senor arturo iglesias. Si, senorita. ¿la comunico con su habitacion . Si, por favor, muchas gracias. telefono suena sigue sonando no contesta. No esta en su habitacion. Sie sonand suspira no hay caso. Tendre que llamar otra vez. telefono suena ¿si . Iah, si muchas gracias. Tu llamada a puerto rico. Ihola si, senorita. Con el senor jaime soto, por favor. Gracias. Mientras Raquel Y Angela se comunican con puerto rico arturo va de compras. Va a una farmacia. A una tienda. A un almacen. Y tambien a un supermercado. Mientras esta de compras, se para frente a un cine. Dan una pelicula que le interesa. Arturo tal vez invitare a raquel y a mis sobrinos a ver una pelicula. Hola, pati. ¿pasa algo malo . No, no. No es nada. Estas preocupada. Solo problemas con el trabajo. ¿en la universidad . No, en el teatro. Deje a mi asistente a cargo de todo. El es muy competente pero hay problemas con el productor. ¿que puedes hacer . No se. Tal vez tenga que regresar a nueva york. se aclara la voz telefono suena industrias castillo saavedra. Hola. ¿ofelia . Si, aqui carlos. Ay, ¿que tal, senor castillo . ¿como esta . Lo echamos mucho de menos por aqui. Como ya sabemos ofelia es la secretaria de carlos castillo. Pero no es mexicana como carlos. Ofelia es cubana. En miami, se siente mucho la presencia de la cultura cubana. Se ve en las calles en las tiendas y claro, en las personas. Mi nombre es edi gonzalez. Bienvenidos a miami. ¿quiere un poco de cafe cubano . La mayoria de los cubanoamericanos se han establecido en Los Estados Unidos por razones politicas. En mil novecientos cincuenta y nueve fidel castro asumio el poder en cuba. Muchas personas se oponian al Nuevo Gobierno de castro y se fueron de la isla. Aunque los cubanos han trabajado para integrarse a la vida norteamericana tambien han conservado su propia cultura. Y esta parte de miami, se llama la pequena habana. En mil novecientos ochenta llego una nueva ola de cubanos de la isla otros refugiados politicos. Ofelia era una de estos refugiados. A algunos de los cubanoamericanos les gustaria regresar a su pais natal. Si, ¿como no . Yo tengo muchas ganas de ir a cuba. Otros, sobre todo los mas jovenes, no conocen la isla. Son norteamericanos, de ascendencia cubana y forman parte del rico mosaico cultural de este pais. ¿y como estan los demas . Todos bien por aqui, todos bien. Ah, mire por cierto, hoy fuimos a comer a un restaurantito que esta por aqui cerca y nuevo. ¿ah, si . Cubano . Cuando venga tiene que ir para alla. Fuimos con una amiga a almorzar. Oye, ¿como van las cosas en la oficina . ¿como . suspira ihola ¿lograron comunicarse . Yo hable con mi familia en puerto rico. Raquel esta intentando llamar a mexico otra vez. ¿hay algo nuevo . No. Mira, yo creo que tendremos que esperar hasta la tarde. Ay. ¿tanto tiempo . Van lento, angela, pero seguro. Pobre roberto. Estara desesperado. Tendra que tener paciencia. Ya no falta tanto. Por fin pude dejarle un mensaje a tu tio arturo, pero en casa de pedro la linea esta siempre ocupada. ¿podemos ir a la excavacion . Mira, no vale la pena. ¿por que no se quedan aqui en el pueblo . Necesitan descanr. Tiene razon. ¿hay un hotel . No. Pero se Pueden Quedar con la Hermana Maria teresa. Ella es muy buena y les puede dar donde banarse y descansar. Mujer vamonos. Jose maria, no te quedes atras. Haces la tarea, victor. Adios. Ninos iadios mujer vamonos, pepe, no te quedes atras. Hasta manana. Hasta manana. Adios. Buenas tardes. Muy buenas tardes. ¿es ud. La Hermana Maria teresa . Si, la misma. ¿uds. No son de aqui, verdad . No. Me llamo Raquel Rodriguez y esta es mi amiga, angela castillo. Pues, mucho gusto. El padre rodrigo nos dijo que ud. Nos permitiria descansar aqui. El hermano de angela es uno de los atrapados en la excavacion. Ah, si. El padre me hablo de eso ayer. Ique horrible todo eso pero dios nos protege a todas, mi hijita. No te preocupes. Pronto sacaran a tu hermano. Gracias, hermana. Asi espero. Y por supuesto Pueden Quedarse aqui. Ipasen, pasen angela, ¿por que no sacamos las maletas del carro . Asi nos podemos cambiar de ropa. Bueno, yo las espero adentro. No necesitan tocar. Pueden pasar con sus cosas. Voy a buscar un lugar para uds. Mientras tanto. Gracias, hermana. Maria teresa no hay de que. No hay de que. Buenas tardes. Buenas tardes, senor. ¿desea la llave de su habitacion . Si, por favor, La Trescientos siete. ¿hay algun mensaje para mi . Ah, si. Le llamo la senorita rodriguez. ¿como te sientes . ¿mejor . Si, mucho mejor. Hermana, quiero agradecerle. Nada de gracias. Esta es una casa de dios y todos son bienvenidos. Mira. Te voy a traer una taza de cafe, ¿te parece . Tu amiga vendra pronto, ¿no . Creo que si. Bueno. Traigo otra para ella tambien. Sientate, si quieres. Gracias. Ique curioso suspira bueno. En unos minutos vamos a volver al lugar de la excavacion. ¿recuerdan como comenzo el dia . Esta manana, angela y yo estabamos en la excavacion. ¿y que hacia angela . ¿esperaba noticias o dormia . Angela dormia. Dormia porque anoche el doctor le dio un calmante. Pronto angela se desperto. Me pregunto si yo sabia algo nuevo sobre roberto. Pero no habia noticias. Entonces angela penso en algo muy importante. ¿recuerdan . Angela penso en que si roberto tenia suficiente aire. Mas tarde, intente comunicarme con pedro. ¿y que . Lo consegui o no . No lo consegui porque como siempre la linea estaba ocupada. Buenas. ¿podria usar su telefono . Si, senorita. Puede ud. Usarlo. Gracias. En el momento en que raquel llamo a pedro la linea si estaba ocupada. Pati hablaba con alguien en nueva york. Y era una conversacion importante. Si, entiendo perfectamente. Pero por lo menos angela pudo comunicarse con su tio en puerto rico. Y yo hable con alguien del hotel. ¿para que hable al hotel . ¿para cancelar mi reservacion . Recepcion, buenos dias. Buenos dias. Me llamo Raquel Rodriguez. Iah senorita rodriguez, la esperabamos ayer. Si, es que ha habido un accidente. ¿un accidente . ¿se encuentra ud. Bien . Si, yo estoy bien, pero. ¿desea cancelar la reservacion . No. No queria cancelar mi reservacion. Queria hablar con arturo, pero no pude. El no estaba en su habitacion. Por fin le deje un mensaje. Ojala lo reciba. Raquel no lo sabe, pero arturo si recibio su mensaje. Y ahora esta muy preocupado. Despues de mis lios con el telefono angela y yo vinimos aqui. Y gracias a la Hermana Maria teresa pudimos descansar y banarnos. Y asi ha pasado otro dia en mexico. Aqui esta el cafe. Gracias. Hola, angela. Te ves muy bien. Parece que ese banito te refresco mucho, ¿eh . ¿gustas un poquito de cafe . Ay, no, muchas gracias. Estoy muy preocupada por mi hermano y quiero regresar al lugar de la excavacion cuanto antes. ¿estas lista . Si, un momentito. Ahora vamos. Espero que ya hayan sacado a roberto. Yo tambien. Ojala hayan podido avanzar en el tunel. Gracias por el cafe, hermana. De nada. Las veo luego, ¿no . Si. Hasta luego. Hasta luego, hermana, y muchas gracias. Ivayan con dios pobre muchacha, con su hermano atrapado. Dios, te pido que lo saquen pronto. Hombre iroberto iroberto iroberto captioned by the Caption Center Wgbh Educational Foundation annenberg media for more information on the College Television course for information about this and other annenberg media programs call 1800learner and visit us at www. Learner. Org. Funding for this program is provided by annenberg media. Narrator agriculture provides us with the food we need to survive. To keep pace with an evergrowing population, scientists created new seed varieties that provided outstanding yields but also required increased inputs more fertilizer and more pesticides but at what cost to the environment . Peter kenmore of the United Nations food and Agriculture Organization has been working with farmers for 30 years to decrease the use of pesticides in Rice Production. Dr. Kenmore we have been able basically to substitute brains for chemicals. And in that sense, the growth rate stays up but less chemicals are used. Narrator in the yaqui valley of mexico, researchers are finding that excess fertilizer runoff from wheat crops is affecting marine life in the gulf of california. So they are turning to technology to decrease fertilizer inputs without decreasing yields. Dr. Ortizmonasterio Technology Like this can result in a winwin situation, where the farmer benefits and at the same time the environment benefits. Narrator by showing farmers how to reduce pesticide and fertilizer use, both Research Teams hope to minimize Environmental Impacts while Still Producing enough food for our growing population. A staple throughout the globe, rice is an eential crop, providing 60 of the calories for half of the worlds population. Dr. Peter kenmore of the food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in rome, italy, has been conducting research about Rice Production in countries in Southeast Asia for 30 years. Dr. Kenmore rice, now and probably for the last 4,000 or 5,000 years, feeds more individuals of the species homo sapiens than any other food. Evolutionarily, why is it a good bet . Because it grows in places that are flooded. You can grow it in places where other crops wont grow. Flooding tends to kill most of the weeds that would grow up and compete with the rice, so you have got an added advantage. So you can put it into what would otherwise be a marginal envirment. Rice has been a good bet, and youve got loads of places where folks have been able to count on a harvest. Narrator rice successfully fed humans for thousands of years. But in the middle of the 20th century, population growth exploded, outpacing food production. To head off potential food shortages, governments encouraged and even mandated farmers to change their practice, requiring fertilizers to stimulate growth along with pesticides to control the insects that eat rice plants. But the results were surprising. Dr. Kenmore pesticides sometimes created a contradictory result, which was you sprayed insecticides in the rice field and you got 500 to 1,000 times more insects that were eating rice than you had without the insecticide. So thats a mystery. And from that time on, all through south and Southeast Asia, every year Different Countries would report problems like this. The First Response was spray more. And that created often more of a problem. Narrator why would using pesticides create more pests . Dr. Kenmore the beginning of the solution of the mystery is to see there are not just two ecological trophic levels. It isnt just the rice and the things that eat rice. Theres the rice, the things that eat rice, and the things that eat the things that eat rice. So you have three levels. And when you spray, you kill both top levels except for t eggs ofhe pests that are inse the. When they hatch, theres nothing to eat them, and they go on happily reproducing, and you get a population explosion. It means that the pest population is freed from its natural controls, and thats what happened in rice. Narrator these findings led kenmore to promote natural alternatives to pesticides for various crops, an approach known as integrated Pest Management, or ipm. Ipm relies on detailed knowledge of pests and how they interact within the ecosystem to help determine the best way to control these insects with the least damage to the environment. Dr. Kenmore integrated Pest Management accepts there will always be some pests in every field. If theres a low number of pests, they provide food for the natural enemies. If theres too many pests, one should intervene. Sometimes one can intervene with a biological introduction, which can be, for example, a pathogen, like a virus or bacteria that eats insects. Sometimes, in rare cases, one can intervene by introducing an insect from a different place who will then naturally go in, eat pests, reproduce, and stay in the field eating the pests from then on. And in the last step pesticides, only when the naturally occurring pest control isnt keeping the pests to the desired levels. Integrated pest managent us all of these approaches. It tries to avoid disrupting the natural ecosystem of that crop field. Narrator the next challenge for kenmore and his team was to persuade rice farmers, who had been using pesticides for years, to adopt this approach. Settle now, you might say, as people do, if pesticides are so bad for the system, why are the farmers continue using it . Its not obvious to the farmer whats going on in this system. They dont have a means of comparing what would or would not take place with or without pesticides. Narrator to help introduce these alternate approaches to the farmers, the researchers started farmer field schools. Bill settle supervises these schools in Southeast Asia and west africa. Settle i worked in 20 countries with this program. And most farmers think that anything that is crawling in a rice field is potentially damaging the rice. They think that any little damage to the rice plants is going to result in yield loss. So theres a lot of inherent fear with regards to the nature in front of them. So to tell them not to be using pesticides, after we have been telling them to use pesticides for the last 40 years, since the 1960s and 70s, is difficult. What we do in our Training Programs is help the farmers demonstrate for themselves whats going on by doing simple experiments. Narrator experiments are designed for farmers to be able to observe and understand how pests are controlled in a system without pesticides. Settle we start with two plots. One is the conventional plot, where they do what they normally do, they apply the insecticides like they normally would. The other plot is something that is the experimental plot. Call it the ipm plot. And even there we dont tell them what to do, but we sort of suggest, well, lets try not using pesticides and see what happens. And since no one person is invested in the outcome its a group plot of land that we are supporting theres no risk associated with it. Dr. Kenmore and they start by looking at the crop, looking at the size and quality of the plants, and then by looking at the different kinds of insects and fungi that are observed, bringing samples back, and then each working group giving a mini seminar to the whole field school on what they observed in the field. Narrator although similar to kenmores findings, the farmers results often surprise them. In untreated fields, herbivores that ate rice plants were kept under control by natural predators. But in fields where pesticides were used, planteating herbivores grew at tremendous rates, since the populations of their natural predators were greatly reduced by the pesticides. Dr. Kenmore why farmers doing experiments is so important is they get to test what they have been told so that it puts them in the position of being the critical peer reviewer of the assertions coming from the trainer. Narrator farmers are encouraged to move beyond their initial scientific observations by creating even more robust experiments. Ecosystem studies called insect zoos are designed to determine how various bugs will affect the rice fields. Dr. Kenmore then you say, well, ive got a bug here which nobody knows the name of, so we got to test it. Is it going to eat rice, or is it going to eat bugs . So you put it into a cage with rice and bugs, and you see what it eats. [ speaking native language ] settle shes saying that this is a dragonfly and that its useful for eating brown plant hoppers as well as other pests. Narrator another set of experiments helps farmers understand how much insect damage the plants can sustain and still produce economically viable yields. Dr. Kenmore if you take 50 of the leaves off a rice plant when its a month old, will the yield of that clump be any different from the yield at the end of the season of a clump where you didnt cut the leaves off . And if there isnt any difference, which usually there isnt, you can begin to own the concept that rice can absorb damage and you dont need to spray every time you see leaf damage. Narrator farmer field schools have led to major changes in agricultural practice. During the 1990s, millions of indonesian farmers decreased Pesticide Use by tens of millions of dollars. At the same time, total Rice Production did not decrease but continued to increase. Dr. Kenmore with farmer field schools, they were empowered enough to grow the rice while using less pesticides. The school has been able basically to substitute brains for chemicals. And in that sense, the yields stay up, the growth rate stays up, but less chemicals are used. Narrator integrated Pest Management has been adopted throughout the world, including the united states. In arkansas, a group of farmers is looking for alternatives to pesticides for an emerging pest that threatens Rice Production, the sugarcane borer. Dr. Bernhardt what we do not know is how much the sugarcane borer is similar to the rice stalk borer in its habits, how its populations are affected by the cropping patterns. It has quite a number of wild hosts, a lot more than our rice stalk borer. And all of that is going to play a big role in whether this becomes a major pest for arkansas or whether its going to be a minor pest, like our rice stalk borer. Narrator last season, rice farmer clay poole was the first ever to experience the negative effects of the sugarcane borer. Poole we had some problem areas in a particular field and didnt really know what we were looking at. We discovered that we had a pest that is called the sugarcane borer. It did significant yield damage. We had spots in the fields where we lost right at probably 100 bushels to the acre. That 3 a bushel, that adds up. When it all boils down, thats my profit. Narrator in between growing seasons, the farmers hope to control the pests by getting rid of the stubble, or remaining stalk from the previous years harvest. Poole standing stubble was where they liked to overwinter. Now, thats enough stem and stalk left there for a borer to actually bo in. Research has shown that the destruction of the stubble after harvest is one of the best ways to control the threshold and the buildup of the sugarcane borer. Possibly well knock them down enough where we wont have a buildup to where they become devastating to the rice industry. We are trying to get it to where insecticide would be the last resort that we have to use to control this pest. Narrator the farmers will need to wait until the next harvest to determine if their solution was successful. Poole were looking out for the land. The land makes us money. And if you damage the land or if you abuse the land, your land is not going to make you money. Narrator in the yaqui valley of mexico, wheat farmers are also caught in the struggle between making a living and protecting the environment. The yaqui valley is an irrigated plain on the northwest coast of mainland mexico that grows enough wheat each year to feed as many as 20 million people. Thanks to advanced seed varieties, supported by irrigation and generous fertilizer application, the yaqui valley has earned the title the breadbasket of mexico. Yet even with this bountiful harvest, farmers incomes are barely keeping pace with their expenses. And the excess nitrogen from their fertilizer washes out of their fields and threatens marine ecosystems, the underground water supply, and even the atmosphere. Can farmers maintain their standard of living and still protect the environment . This question is being explored by a fruitful collaboration between researchers at Stanford University and agronomists in mexico. Pamela matson, a professor and biogeochemist from Stanford University, is one of the directors of this study. Matson i study the chemical interactions between plants and microorganisms and soil and water and atmosphere systems, and i focus in particular on nitrogen. A lot of my research is focused on what happens with nitrogen fertilizers in agricultural systems and how they affect the environment. Narrator an essential element for all living things, nitrogen is the main nutrient in many fertilizers. Matson all organisms need a lot of nitrogen. Plants and people and all different kinds of animals and microorganisms use nitrogen in our cells, and we need a lot of it. And of course, we are literally bathed in it. The atmosphere is 78 dinitrogen, so there should be plenty, right . But the problem is that most organisms dont have access to that dinitrogen in the atmosphere. They cant use it. They cant get at it. Narrator while certain bacteria can convert this nitrogen into forms that other organisms can use, for many crops, more nitrogen is still required. And nitrogen fertilizer allows plants to receive the muchneeded nutrient that they lack. The use of fertilizer dramatically increased during the green revolution, where, from the 1940s through the 1960s, new seed varieties were introduced in many developing nations, helping avoid widespread famine. Dr. Naylor the green revolution is just adapting crop varieties to have much higher yields on a limited land base. And the key factor was new seeds for plant types, and these plant types were dependent on fertilizer inputs to get those higher yields. Narrator the green revolution began in the yaqui valley of cimmyt, which is the spanish acronym for the International Maize and wheat improvement center. Dr. Ivan ortizmonasterio is a Senior Scientist in the wheat program. In cimmyts experimental plots, he examines the effects of a wide range of growing conditions, such as nitrogen levels. Dr. Ortizmonasterio what you can see here we have grown without applying any nitrogen fertilizer. Its a wheat crop with very severe nitrogen deficiency. The older leaves, which are at the bottom, start turning yellow first, and then you also have a palegreen color rather than an intense green. Also, the wheat plant produced tillers, or side stems, and here we dont see any tillering. We only have one stem. And, of course, you also see the stunting of the plant. These plants should be at least twice the height. Narrator in the next plot, 75 kilograms of nitrogen per hectare were applied. But the wheat is still showing signs of nitrogen deficiency. Dr. Ortizmonasterio i think the yield here it will probably be about 2 tons. And the breakeven point for the cost of production its about 4 1 2 to 5 tons. So it would be complete economic failure. Narrator in the final plot, 250 kilograms of nitrogen per hectare were applied, the average amount used by a farmer in the yaqui valley. This is usually enough to guarantee a yield of 7 tons per hectare. To ensure against crop failure, wheat farmers in the yaqui valley apply these very large amounts of nitrogen fertilizer, more than necessary in a typical year. Some of this is in the form of ammonia gas, which is bubbled into the Irrigation Water and reaches the fields during irrigation events. But a large amount about 75 is applied in dry form one month before they actually plant the seeds. Matson they were worried that if they didnt get it on early, they might not be able to get it on later when it starts raining or if it starts raining. So they were trying to avoid risk. Of course, what they didnt realize is that they were probably losing a lot of nitrogen before they ever even got the seeds into the ground. Narrator and this excess nitrogen can be damaging to the environment. Matson one of the problems with all that extra nitrogen going onto land and fertilizer is that it doesnt all get used by plants. It doesnt all get taken up. In fact, maybe on average 50 of it doesnt stay in Agriculture Systems but rather gets transported out of the fields where they were applied, and the trogen goes off to the atmosphere in a number of different forms, including nitrous oxide, which is a greenhouse gas, nitric oxide, which is an air pollutant. And some of the nitrogen in agriculture fields just leeches out through the soils into groundwater systems, or it runs off the surface into surfacewater systems, like streams and rivers and lakes. And there it causes a number of different problems. The big issue for us is how to manage nitrogen, that nitrogen fertilizer, better so that we can still increase plant growth, we can still get high yields, but we prevent the loss of that nitrogen into the atmosphere or into the water system. Rrat in the yaqui vley, the researcheam conducted several experiments to determine where the excess nitrogen was going. To find out if it was leeching into the water, the researchers followed the irrigation system to where it drains into the gulf of california. If this water contains excess nitrogen, it may cause large blooms of singlecelled plants called phytoplankton. These blooms can cause harm to the ecosystem, because once the phytoplankton die, the decomposing process leads to very low levels of oxygen in the water. Matson and that kills fish, kills shellfish, drives fish away, and causes lots of harm to the coastal marine environments and also causes a lot of economic losses to the fisherpeople who use those resources. Narrator researchers used satellite images in combination with water samples to determine if the irrigation runoff from the yaqui valley was affecting the coastal waters in the gulf of california. Dr. Beman we found these intense blooms that seemed to coincide with fertilization and the irrigation in the yaqui valley. As we generated more data and were able to compare them with what we knew was going on in the agriculture system, we really did find this tight correspondence. Narrator motivated by these results, the researchers worked to find ways to maintain maximum yields but reduce the Environmental Impact of the fertilizer runoff. Matson in our best practice, farmers would have applied less nitrogen, but they would have applied more of it at planting, none of it a month before planting. It seemed like a great idea. It worked in most farmers fields. It worked in the experiment station. And we talked with farmers about it. But they didnt adopt it. [ speaking spanish ] [ speaking spanish ] narrator when the Research Team talked with farm owners like sergio, they found that a onesizefitsall solution was not appropriate in the yaqui valley due to the wide variability of climate and soils. But there was another obstacle to gaining the farmers support. Matson the other thing that we discovered in our research is that one of the reasons they werent trying the new practice is that the Credit Unions, their Credit Unions, were telling them not to. The Credit Unions can recommend what kind of Production Practices should occur so that the chances in success at being paid back are the highest. And so although we have been recommending reductions in fertilizer use, the Credit Unions are often recommending increased fertilizer use. Narrator the Research Team began searching for an approach that could be adapted for each farmer. Ortizmonasterio collaborated with dr. Bill raun at Oklahoma State university, who had been developing a handheld radiometer called a greenseeker. This device can assess nutrient needs in real time and help farmers optimize future nitrogen applications. The instrument calculates total average biomass and the amount of chlorophyll in the leaves, data linked to the Overall Health of the plants. Armed with these realtime measurements, ortizmonasterio helped develop a Management Strategy for nitrogen enrichment. On each plot, the first step is to establish a nitrogenrich strip, a few hectares that have enough extra nitrogen applied to guarantee maximum crop yields. The nitrogenrich strip has to represent a level of nitrogen that doesnt have any nitrogen deficiency. Thats going to be our reference. Once we have the nitrogen strip well established, around 45 days after planting, we come along with the sensor, and we take the readings in the nrich strip, and then we take the readings in the rest of the plot. Narrator the readings are called in to a researcher, who calculates how much additional nitrogen fertilizer the farmer must apply so this particular field can obtain the same yield as the nrich control strip. Much to the surprise of some of the farmers, the calculations often show that the plot requires little or no additional nitrogen in this second application to achieve maximum yields. These techniques will not only reduce the Environmental Impact of excess fertilizer but will also save the farmers money, a fact that was very appealing to the Credit Unions. Matson ultimately, when they saw that the handheldradiometer approach works and that could save their farmers a lot of fertilizer and thus save them a lot of money, they decided to invest in them for their members. So the Credit Unions themselves bought the handheld radiometers for all of their members to use. And they bought it because it was a moneysaving device. Narrator while not all wheat farmers in the yaqui valley have adopted this practice, the researchers are making progress in this pivotal year. Dr. Ortizmonasterio last year we had only seven fields. This year we jumped to 174. So in my opinion, this year is crucial. If we are successful, i think this is going to explode and be widely adopted. And i think this is a wonderful example how a Technology Like this can result in a winwin situation, where the farmer benefits and at the same time the environment benefits. Funding for this program is provided by annenberg media. For information about this and other annenberg media programs, call. And visit us at. Annenberg di captioning sponsored by Annenberg Cpb