Infrastructure, Faculty and Support Allow Purdue to Lead in Digital Ag Space

Many see digital agriculture and data science as the future of the industry. At Purdue University, the future is unfolding now, in different patterns and paces across campus, and not just within the College of Agriculture.

We built this website – Digital Ag Resources – to be a place to find information about what the university is doing in the area of data science and digital agriculture, as well as the people doing the work across campus. Information about other related university and industry efforts and events are also within the site.

Considering the long record of innovation and top 10 ranked colleges of agriculture and engineering as well as a top 20 ranked college of computer science Purdue College of Agriculture is a global leader in the digital ag space.

In 2019, the college established its own agricultural data services department after recognizing a need to help faculty take advantage of new technologies in data science.

With the announcement of the new campus facility dedicated to data science, the university continues its investment in this important arena. However, Purdue is already home to several one-of-a kind centers and initiatives focused on data science, including:

Open Ag Technology and Systems Center (OATS)
Laboratory for Applications of Remote Sensing (LARS)
Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security (CERIAS)
Krenicki Center for Business Analytics and Machine Learning
Integrative Data Science Initiative (IDSI)
Center for Brain-Inspired Computing (C-BRIC)

The Institute for Plant Sciences within the College of Agriculture has been bringing together multidisciplinary research and education, specifically around plant-based agriculture since 2013. One of the institute’s goals is to establish an Internet of Things (IoT) test bed for agriculture. The institute is home to state-of-the-art research facilities, including the Controlled Environment Phenotyping Facility and the Indiana Corn and Soybean Innovation Center.

The college also has research farms and centers across the state to put research into action, including Agronomy Center Research and Education (ACRE), Animal Sciences Research and Education Center (ASREC), Wright Forestry Center and the eight Purdue Agricultural Centers across the state.

We also realize that we must give our students – both undergraduate and graduate – every opportunity to get real, hands-on experience in data science and digital agriculture. The College of Agriculture recently announced a new online spatial data science graduate certificate. The university also offers a variety of undergraduate and graduate courses, as well as professional courses and programs in the data science and digital agriculture spaces. In cooperation with the Integrative Data Science Initiative, the college has created a data science for agriculture course for undergraduates.

In this ever-evolving space of digital agriculture, Purdue College of Agriculture is well-positioned to continue to innovate and lead as we continue take data and turn it into action.

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