Purdue digital agriculture website offers insights and resources

Story by Chad Campbell

July 17, 2019

Purdue University’s College of Agriculture has launched its new digital agriculture website.

Driven by Purdue’s many digital agriculture innovations and contributions and serving a wide range of audiences, the website is a hub of resources and information dedicated to the expanding field.

“We’re leveraging digital agriculture and innovative technology with our commitment to improve agricultural efficiency, productivity, and sustainability,” said Bernie Engel, associate dean of research and graduate education. “Only by harnessing data’s power — and training others to do the same — can we create a sustainable agricultural future.”

As research, outreach, and education continue at Purdue, new stories will be added to the site, like that of Jian Jin, assistant professor of agricultural and biological engineering. Jin helps design and oversee automatic high-throughput phenotyping systems.

“We had a crazy idea,” said Jin. “Why don’t we shuffle all the plants 24/7? Can we remove that microclimate issue and collect continuous phenotyping data at the same time?”

Jin’s innovations enable his lab to collect data more quickly and accurately than ever before.

“There’s a real sense of urgency around digital agriculture. It’s great to be a part of that kind of effort and be on the cutting edge of the challenge. It’s new and exciting, which means we have to write the script,” said Nathan DeLay, assistant professor of agricultural analytics and production.

The website also highlights Purdue’s digital agriculture partnerships, demonstrating how collaborative efforts with the Open Ag Data Alliance, Wabash Heartland Innovation Network, and others help the organizations work toward common goals.

The website is now live at https://ag.purdue.edu/digitalag.

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