Modeling and Analysis
TIAER’s modeling group pioneered the development of integrated economic and environmental computer models for field, watershed, and large regional scale analysis. The group’s economists, agronomists, and agricultural engineers perform a variety of analyses to assist in the design of cost-effective practices for the management of water resources.
The Comprehensive Economic and Environmental Optimization Tool (CEEOT) is TIAER’s flagship computer modeling system. CEEOT provides a platform for fully integrated evaluation of single policy and practice scenarios or multiple combinations of such scenarios. CEEOT currently integrates field and watershed-scale economic models.
TIAER uses its modeling capabilities in a variety of settings. Representative applications in three specific settings are listed below.
Environmental:
- Development of a macro modeling system for policy assessment of large regions.
- Development of Nutrient Trading Tool Technical Support for the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
- Application of in-stream water quality models (e.g., QUAL-TX, QUAL2E, QUAL2K, and load duration curves) to evaluate the effects of pollutants.
Economics:
- Evaluation of farm-based anaerobic digestion.
- Evaluation of the feasibility of centralized dairy parks.
- Evaluation of alternative tillage systems.
Applied Research:
- Evaluation of the effectiveness of brush control methods.
- Evaluation of nutrient sources, in-stream nutrient transport dynamics, and in-stream sediment properties.
- Evaluation of water quality trends including seasonal and flow corrections.
- Evaluation of land management practice performance at field plot and watershed scales.
- Evaluation of algal growth potential under nutrient limitation.
- Development of trophic status relationships for periphyton and macrophyte distribution and abundance.
- Watershed delineation and spatial data analysis.