Innovative Research
As big data continues to redefine processes and possibilities in agriculture, Purdue University helps lead the way through innovative, interdisciplinary research. This convergence of technology in agriculture is driving the industry forward across many applications.
Agriculture is an area ripe for technological acceleration; however, the data processing, computation, communication and storage requirements of research programs expands exponentially. To advance the field, Purdue partners with programs, organizations, and initiatives to reach shared objectives. Purdue is collaborating with information technology companies like Hewlett Packard Enterprise to combine Internet of Things (IoT) and high-performance computing to gather, transmit and analyze field and lab data to reduce the time to discovery.
Researchers in forestry, plants, animals, natural resources and human well-being incorporate the newest applications of technology to make faster and more informed decisions than ever before.
Revolutionary imaging systems raise the speed and accuracy of plant data collection through phenotyping, contributing to the fight against global hunger. UAVs pair with high-speed internet to capture and transfer valuable information in real time. Digital agriculture provides new ways to monitor livestock without human intervention, optimizing the contribution and well-being of individual animals. By incorporating the tools of digital agriculture, we can monitor and preserve forests and natural resources. New technologies and their adoption present opportunities to collect and transmit data in increasingly remote areas.
INNOVATIVE RESEARCH
New farm manager hired to lead ACRE
Established in 1949 as Purdue’s campus-based field research station for agronomic crops and soils research, the Agronomy Center for Research and Education (ACRE) is home to innovative researchers, passionate students and now the center’s third farm manager.
Rachel Stevens began overseeing the 1,600-acre farm at the beginning of April. She’s responsible for the planning and placement of crops, adoption of good management practices and the day-to-day support to ensure researchers and students have the right tools to be successful.
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Purdue students preparing today for a future driven by data
Data is everywhere. It’s how your GPS knows how to guide you to your favorite coffee shop, or how cancer researchers can use data to determine the best individual drug therapy options for patients. Ultimately, data science is helping companies connect the dots between today’s decisions and tomorrow’s strategies.
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Purdue launches Next Moves initiatives
Purdue possesses the unique expertise and innovative technologies to develop plants with enhanced nutritional and sustainability attributes. These same tools will enable us to manage forests, mitigate wildfires and diseases. By investing in plant sciences, Purdue will be known for growing graduates, entrepreneurs and the ag-biotech industry to ensure a future where the environment and agriculture work hand-in-hand to both feed the world’s population and strengthen our ecosystems.
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Purdue scientists develop methods to improve molecular identification in plants
Uncovering the complex associations among genes, proteins and the molecules they produce in a living organism can be a monumental task. Some scientists may devote entire careers to one particular protein and spend decades tracking a handful of metabolic pathways.
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Ag Data Services: Turning data sets into data assets
The cows at Homestead Dairy in Plymouth, Indiana, are blissfully unaware that every minute of every day they’re generating mountains of data for Luiz Brito, assistant professor of animal sciences. Sensors are everywhere on the commercial farm where the cows are videotaped day and night. Automated feeders record each calf’s milk intake and eating habits, while milking robots collect comprehensive production, activity and behavior data.
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Behind the Research: Kirby Kalbaugh
Technology has long fascinated Kirby Kalbaugh, but early in his career, his goal was to manage a hotel or an amusement park. The Cincinnati native worked full time while studying hospitality management at Purdue. After earning his degree in 1998, he held various hotel management positions in Lafayette — a town he had grown to love.
Kalbaugh says that since joining the horticulture and landscape architecture department at Purdue that same year, he has occupied one chair but changed job titles three times.
ABE professor has a winner in his hands with LeafSpec
“Purdue is a magic place,” said assistant professor of agricultural & biological engineering Jian Jin, creator of LeafSpec. “We have so many diverse faculty members working on all kinds of plant science research projects.” Purdue is probably the only place in the world that has the plant scientists, sensor engineers, data scientists and social scientists collaborating together to introduce a technology like this. It is the only place that this seed of an idea could have grown.”
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Remote sensing gives new look at forest diversity
Generating comprehensive and accurate tree inventories is key to understanding forest population dynamics but also a laborious process. Purdue University scientist John Couture participated on a team that used aerial hyperspectral remote sensing platform to quickly identify trees in a diverse forest plantation, and to understand the role of tree diversity on forest productivity.
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Bovine Respiratory Disease meets Purdue digital agriculture
Bovine Respiratory Disease, or BRD, is one of the worst diseases a cattle population can contract. In a chance meeting between farmer and engineer, a detection solution was devised. Learn more about Purdue Ag & Biological engineering professor, Mohit Verma, and the rapid testing sensors he is developing to help detect this disease in conjunction with Aaron Ault of Ault Farms. This sensor also shows promise for detecting COVID-19.
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Big data, machine learning shed light on Asian reforestation successes
Since carbon sequestration is such an important factor for mitigating climate change, it’s critical to understand the efficacy of reforestation efforts and develop solid estimates of forest carbon storage capacity. However, measuring forest properties can be difficult, especially in places that aren’t easily reachable.
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