June 2024 | Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment | Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation

‘My Agrivoltaic Farm’ Game: Learning, Fun, and Sustainability — All in One

Imagine a lesson on agriculture and sustainability packaged in vibrant colors, pixelated fields, and charming animations. Creators of the new educational agrivoltaics app, My Agrivoltaic Farm, available for download on iOS and Android, have accomplished just that.

The Sustainably Colocating Agricultural and Photovoltaic Electricity Systems (SCAPES) Project sports an interdisciplinary team of experts in agriculture and engineering who explore the use of cropland as a source of both solar energy and food production. The “agrivoltaics” project, led by iSEE Director Madhu Khanna, ACES DIstinguished Professor of Agricultural and Consumer Economics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, aims to increase the amount of sustainable energy and crops produced in these fields.

To complement this real-world research, the SCAPES Education Team set out to create an app that teaches players of all ages about the interconnectedness of agriculture and sustainability.

When players step into the charming, pixelated landscape of My Agrivoltaic Farm, they are greeted with a field of opportunities. Starting in their small grid-like Arizona farm, players gradually expand their plot into a full-fledged agrivoltaic farm, complete with solar panels, tractors, sprinklers, other technologies, and a variety of crops. With a shop available for every necessary piece of equipment and crop they would need — and a list of quests that unlock valuable rewards — the world of My Agrivoltaic Farm will keep players coming back for more.

Games like FarmVille, Harvest Moon, and Stardew Valley are known for their relaxing gameplay and aesthetics, drawing a wide audience into gamified farming. For many players, these games are entertaining because they are strategy-focused, using realistic simulations of weather patterns and agriculture to encourage the player to explore — and to fail. SCAPES educational researchers and game developers at Balance Studios collaborated to uphold this pivotal theme in My Agrivoltaic Farm.

“We want people to experiment and learn about the range of impacts adding solar panels to farmland can have. And sometimes that means making sub-optimal decisions,” said H. Chad Lane, the SCAPES educational research lead and Associate Professor of Computer Science and Educational Psychology at the U of I. “Some kids go full tilt with just one crop because they think it’s fun. Some are like, ‘What if I stopped doing crops and only did solar panels?’ They realize that it works, but someone who’s doing both is progressing way faster in the game than you are, and they are learning which crops love the additional shade and how the solar panels benefit from the cooling effects of the crops underneath.”

An additional goal for the app’s creators is to reinvent the perception of farmers and agriculture for audiences.

“I don’t know what your mental image of a farmer is, but in reality, it’s not what we were taught as kids growing up,” said Scott Tuinstra, Associate Creative Director from Balance Studios who collaborated on developing the app. “Farmers are using drones, they’re using AI, they’re using robotics. They’re taking a lot of measurements to see how crops are responding to different things.”

The SCAPES Education Team prioritized a healthy balance between the science of the gameplay and its effectiveness in teaching audiences about agrivoltaics.

“I’ve seen scientists committed to precision and accuracy, so they make it as realistic as possible, but that doesn’t always make sense educationally,” Lane said. “For example, soil quality is a huge deal in agriculture. But we don’t model that in the game because we needed to put our limited resources into the most educationally important features, such as teaching the relationship between solar panels and crops.”

However, the developers pushed for certain details to be included, especially if they pertained to important themes in agrivoltaics.

“The weather patterns in the game, for example, are all geographically realistic,” Lane said. “They cover a wide range, and they affect the underlying simulation that drives the game. If it’s cloudy, the solar panels don’t do as well. If it rains, you don’t have to water your crops as often. You might water and then it rains, and then you’ve overwatered. So all of these things affect the results and make the game more engaging at the same time.”

Although the game does not simulate soil composition, it does simulate soil moisture. Players can watch the soil turn different hues as they water crops. Once their plot gets large enough, they can even purchase a sprinkler system to increase efficiency.

“I love watching the sprinkler work. You have to work hard to unlock that feature, and it is extremely satisfying to watch,” Lane said. “I smile every time I see it go off.”

A list of unique features makes My Agrivoltaic Farm stand out in a sea of educational games. For example, the art style of the app, akin to its simulation gameplay predecessors, such as FarmVille and Clash of Clans, is a favorite for the developers.

“I like the art style,” said Heidi Klessig, Vice President of Client Relations at Balance Studios. “I think that the look and feel of the crops are fun and engaging, and there’s enough detail to be interesting. I think that the visual look and feel of it resonates with the age that we’re trying to hit,”

The SCAPES team is conducting educational research on the app, testing kids’ knowledge of agrivoltaics concepts in conjunction with the time they spend playing the game.

“We’re conducting research with this game on how to design effective educational technologies,” Lane said. “We want to know about the experience that it creates for someone, what ideas it evokes for them, what questions they have. That’s exciting to me. There are not many high-quality educational games like this out there.”

My Agrivoltaic Farm is available for download on iOS and Android! You can learn more about the features of the app on the SCAPES website.

— Article by iSEE Communications Intern Anjali Yedavalli

$14.8M Grant Supports Singapore Partnership on Precision Fermentation

Urbana, Ill. — Feeding an ever-growing human population is one of the major grand challenges we face — especially with the impact agriculture can have on climate change. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers and partners in Singapore are taking a novel approach to this challenge: creating food building blocks at the microbial level.

The team, led by Food Science & Human Nutrition Professor Yong-Su Jin, has received a five-year, $14.8 million-dollar grant to develop the “Centre for Precision Fermentation and Sustainability” (PreFerS). Singapore’s National Research Foundation (NRF) made the award to the Illinois Advanced Research Center at Singapore Ltd. (Illinois ARCS), a U. of I. affiliated center.

PreFerS will focus on enhancing the reliable, cost-effective production of safe, nutritious, and appetizing foods. More specifically, the research will advance technologies for microbial cell engineering — creating metabolic pathways in microorganisms — to convert readily available compounds like sugars into targeted, nutritional molecules including alternative proteins, healthy lipids, and vitamins.

Through this work, PreFerS seeks to improve food supply chain resilience, reduce environmental impacts of food and nutrient production, and directly address hidden hunger — the growing epidemic of micronutrient deficiency.

“By converting sugars and inedible parts of crops into healthier foods, we can take what is already provided in plants and use it to create a more balanced, nutritious, and good-tasting diet,” Jin said. “We believe this work can play a major role in human health and address inequities in food supplies the world over — without contributing to global climate change.”

The PreFerS leadership team from Illinois also includes Ting Lu, professor of bioengineering; Michael Miller, professor of food science and human nutrition; and Vijay Singh, professor of agricultural and biological engineering. U. of I. co-investigators include Christopher Rao and Huimin Zhao, professors of chemical and biomolecular engineering; Jeremy Guest and Na Wei, associate professors of civil and environmental engineering; and former Illinois Research Scientist Yalin Li, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Rutgers University.

The PreFerS team is supported by the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE) and assisted by Guest, iSEE’s associate director for research; and Madhu Khanna, iSEE’s director and Alvin H. Baum Family Chair. Guest and Khanna guided the 18-month proposal development and related activities with the NRF. “I am grateful for the time and work iSEE has devoted to help us secure the funding for PreFerS, and I look forward to the Institute’s continued support,” Jin said, adding that Tamer Basar, former executive director of Illinois ARCS, and Jayson Koh, managing director of Illinois ARCS, were also instrumental in securing the NRF award.

“We have seen food companies successfully produce novel food ingredients with precision fermentation, and our scientific understanding and technological capabilities are growing rapidly. The first thrust of PreFerS will improve the precision fermentation toolset, maximizing efficient production of target food products and minimizing unnecessary byproducts,” Guest said. “The second thrust centers on bioprocess engineering and will focus on scaling up fermentation in a way that is both cost-effective and environmentally responsible.”

PreFerS will be anchored at NRF’s Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE) on the National University of Singapore campus. The Illinois ARCS offices are also at CREATE.

“Food security and sustainability are a major concern in Singapore and globally,” Khanna said. “We believe the work done by this new research team on a fermentation-based food supply will help Singapore reach its goal to produce 30% of its nation’s nutritional needs locally by 2030.

“And the results of this interdisciplinary effort will have far-reaching implications for safe, healthy, and sustainable foods across the world, while also mitigating the effects conventional agriculture can have on the climate.”

The PreFerS team also features several Singapore-based researchers, including affiliates from the National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Institute of Technology, and Agency for Science, Technology and Research. Joining Jin as co-program lead is Wen Shan Yew (biochemistry, National University of Singapore), who earned his master’s degree and doctorate from the U. of I.

“The strength of this collaboration lies in our ability to unite global partners in addressing global challenges,” said Germán Bollero, dean of the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at U. of I. “By bringing together diverse expertise and innovative minds from Illinois and Singapore, we are not only pushing the boundaries of scientific discovery but also unlocking untapped potential in precision fermentation. This partnership exemplifies how collaborative efforts can drive transformative solutions for food security and sustainability, ultimately benefiting communities worldwide.”

U. of I. has had a research center in Singapore since 2009. This engagement was reconstituted in 2023 as Illinois ARCS, a university-affiliated Singapore public company to foster cutting-edge research by Illinois faculty and Singapore partners. In addition to PreFerS, Illinois ARCS also hosts the Trustworthy and Secure Cyber-Plexus for Digital Communities program (TSCP-DC) with David Nicol (electrical and computer engineering and Information Trust Institute) as its principal investigator. Illinois Chancellor Robert J. Jones serves as Illinois ARCS chairman and Illinois Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation Susan A. Martinis is Illinois ARCS vice chair.

— News release by Tony Mancuso, iSEE Communications & Public Affairs Director

iSEE Funds Two Start-up Projects

A view of the New York skyline. Credit: Pixabay

An interdisciplinary proposal for a “Future Metropolis Initiative” — to address urban climate threats and make cities more sustainable — has been awarded a two-year, $50,000 planning grant from the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE).

Additionally, iSEE has awarded $30,000 in seed funding for an interdisciplinary proposal to examine the economic and human health effects of exposure to wildfire smoke on a broad scale, to help inform climate policy.

The awards are part of iSEE’s program to seed-fund multidisciplinary research, visioning, and planning activities on ambitious topics related to sustainability, energy, and environment. The goal is to support the development of strong proposals that will attract larger external grants of $1 million or more.

“Researchers from across campus are tackling climate change issues at many different levels, from advancing our understanding of causes and effects to policy evaluations and the development of technologies to support climate mitigation, helping address emerging challenges and new realities,” said Jeremy Guest, iSEE Associate Director for Research. “With iSEE seed funding, our teams will integrate concepts and tools from across disciplines to compete for larger grants.”

The Future Metropolis Initiative, led by Civil and Environmental Engineering Assistant Professor Lei Zhao, is designed to tackle the complexity of climate change and its cascading effects on cities. Occupying just 2% to 3% of the Earth’s land surface, cities house more than 50% of the world’s population and contribute to about 75% of carbon emissions from global energy use. Many climate-driven threats — such as extreme weather, water scarcity, and energy insecurity — are rooted in or exacerbated by the high population densities and infrastructure of urban centers. Absent measures to understand and ameliorate these risks, they are expected to intensify with rapid urban development.

The Future Metropolis Initiative will bring together an interdisciplinary team of experts in climate, the built environment, health, energy, transportation, policy, and human and community behavior — coupled with innovative geographical information systems, artificial intelligence/machine learning, and computational and data science solutions — to build an integrated platform addressing the Grand Challenges facing cities in a holistic, equitable way.

“With this planning grant from iSEE, we can begin to build a transformative and integrated system that is both science-driven and solution-oriented to foresee climate risks in cities, to foster innovative urban solutions, and to advance global sustainable growth,” Zhao said.

The wildfire proposal is led by Agricultural and Consumer Economics Assistant Professor Andrew Hultgren, who has done previous work assessing the impact of climate change on global agricultural yields. Research has demonstrated that wildfires are increasing in size and cost, with far-reaching implications for human health and the economy; further, climate change has been linked to increased exposure to wildfires. To date, however, no study has examined all of those factors combined, at either a regional or global scale, leaving a “critical gap” in our understanding of the social and economic impacts of climate change and policies needed to address them, Hultgren said.

“This project will lay the foundation for a multidisciplinary research agenda that can close this gap and potentially feed directly into U.S. environmental policy,” Hultgren said. “iSEE’s funding is critical to building out our capacity to quantify the social impacts of a changing wildfire regime under future warming — information that can be used by local, regional, and national policymakers in their climate policy decision-making.”

— News release by iSEE Communications Specialist Julie Wurth