Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** large areas of the U.S. Midwest…

Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** large areas of the U.S. Midwest have been converted from wetlands and native prairie to systems dedicated primarily to corn and soybean production. The productivity of this land was achieved by installing agricultural tile drainage and applying synthetic fertilizer. However, elevated nitrate concentrations in agricultural tile drainage can cause harmful algal blooms (habs) which are detrimental to downstream environments. The growth and subsequent decomposition of the algal blooms deplete dissolved oxygen, creating hypoxic regions such as the gulf of mexico dead zone. Approximately 90% of the nitrates discharged in iowa originate from agricultural land. Reducing nitrates from agricultural lands may have a great impact on environmental quality downstream.woodchip bioreactors are an increasingly popular technology for cost-effective removal of nitrates from impacted tile drainage water. While woodchip bioreactors exhibit promise for environmental protection, environmental and engineered variables such as temperature, rainfall, soil saturation, crop growth stage, hydraulic retention time, and many more factors impact bioreactor performance and add complexity to their operation. We will study these variables and develop a machine learning algorithm that takes these environmental variables into account. This algorithm will be used to train an artificial intelligence capable of making recommendations to fine-tune bioreactor operation. The optimized operation will maximize nitrate removal from agricultural tile drainage and enhance environmental quality without inhibiting agronomic potential and productivity.