Volvo & Young Scientist

We live in an agricultural area, in West Limerick, Ireland, where global competition has led to intensified farming patterns. We believe this has brought about soil and environmental degradation, and an increased chemical forcing of crops irrespective of their nutritional and health value. The SHANNON Estuary, on Ireland’s longest river, is close by, and is home to a multi-national Beauxite production facility, and many other multi-national bio-chemical factories. This area is also home to a variety of agriculturally intensive environments. There is an on-going debate as to the appropriateness of such a union of polar extremes in such close proximity.

We aim to innovatively tackle two areas fundamental to science, these being humanistic and biological sciences .
The practical project aims to develop critical thought processes, and enhance our understanding of biodiversity by exposing the same controlled soil samples to different variables in 5 unique nano-growing environments . One soil sample is left untouched, the others exposed to fertilizer, beauxite, organic compost and PVC waste. We believe these samples to be indicative of the whole global biosphere, and therefore represent growing patterns which exist worldwide. We will grow various crops, such as lettuces, broad beans, clover, mustard seed, and downwardly growing plants in these samples. We will observe and experiment with the growth patterns in the various Nano-environments with respect to the conditions to which they have been exposed. Forensic analysis and scientific sampling of the aforementioned items, at appropriate stages of development, should yield substantial results with regard to the Nutritional, vitamin, protein and carbohydrate concentrations/values of each crop in each condition. Scientific experimentation will be further enhanced by adding Rizobium Bacteria and Mycrhizal fungi to the soils. Any altercation in these values/concentrations shall be established from the analysis carried out in the laboratories in the Institutes of Technology.

This critical, thought provoking experimentation will then allow students to make the biological and humanistic comparison of the samples and assess the quality of crops. This then leads back to the integral question of “Are You What You Eat?” Considerations for countries worldwide in which the ground may be infected by lead, copper and other heavy metals as found in PVC, and beauxite samples can also be drawn from the present study. A comparison can then be made with new alternative forms of growing crops which would be the organic waste or natural soil rotation.