SAUSI: Sustainable Agriculture in Urban Systems of Indy

Sustainable and local urban agriculture is often touted as being able to restore ecosystem function, including soil health, water quality, and biodiversity. This may be especially important in cases where urban agriculture has replaced abandoned or heavily managed land uses such as conventional agriculture and manicured lawns. Yet, little is known about the extent to which urban agriculture does, in fact, provide these ecosystem benefits and how long it takes for these benefits to be realized.

This project is quantifying carbon and nutrient cycling and microbial community structure and function at four urban farms in Indianapolis to explore how ecosystem function changes through time and how urban agriculture soil health compares to both prior land use and natural ecosystem types. Eventually, we hope to tie farm productivity and profitability to ecosystem services.

Get Involved

Butler Students. We offer for-credit internships during the fall and spring semesters for third and fourth year biology, chemistry, and environmental studies majors.