Improving Yields, Saving Farmers Money, The Focus Of LSU AgCenter Digital Agriculture Conference
Luke Laborde, LSU AgCenter interim vice president for agriculture and dean of the LSU College of Agriculture, speaks with guest speaker Juan Landivar-Bowles, director of the Texas A&M Digital Agriculture and Artificial Intelligence Program at the LSU AgCenter Digital Agriculture Conference on Tuesday, Jan. 25 at the State Evacuation Shelter in Alexandria.
Photo by V. Todd Miller/LSU AgCenter
V. TODD MILLER
ALEXANDRIA, LOUISIANA
“Maximizing Profits Using Digital Tools” was the theme as the LSU AgCenter held its third digital agriculture conference in Alexandria on Tuesday, Jan. 25.
The well-attended conference, held in-person at the LSU AgCenter State Evacuation Shelter, and virtually, for the first time since the advent of COVID-19, brought together some of the AgCenter’s sharpest technological minds to discuss a variety of topics including:
• Integration of crop models and remote sensing by Tri Setiyono, assistant professor, LSU AgCenter.
• On-farm precision experimentation to support variety selection by Franciele Morelli, postdoctoral researcher, LSU AgCenter.
• Integrated information system for on-farm precision agriculture experimentation data using machine learning approaches by Phillip Lanza, graduate assistant, LSU AgCenter.
• Practical map interpretation for farmers by Dennis Burns, extension agent, LSU AgCenter.
• Drone technologies by Randy Price, associate professor, LSU AgCenter.
Afternoon topics and question and answer sessions included:
• Implementation of on-farm precision experimentation and filtering yield maps to get data from Deere OPS (an online farm management system) by Luciano S. Shiratsuchi, associate professor, LSU AgCenter.
• Practical applications of drone software by Price.
The conference began with opening remarks from Luke Laborde, AgCenter interim vice president for agriculture and dean of the LSU College of Agriculture, and an overview from Michael Salassi, associate vice president and program leader for agriculture and natural resources.
Salassi thanked the attendees and presenters and laid out the significance of modern technological advancements in the agriculture community and how to effectively apply them.
“There are a lot of tools and techniques out there and the task is for individual producers and the research community to identify what tools will benefit them the most,” Salassi said.
Guest speaker Juan Landivar-Bowles, director of the Texas A&M Digital Agriculture and Artificial Intelligence program, spoke about his program and the importance of synergy among various fields of study to assist farmers and breeders.
“The key for developing our team is the interaction between data scientists, engineers and biologists,” he said. “I consider it like a wheel where we all communicate.”
The conference this year offered a mix of research updates and practical applications.
Tara Smith, Central Region director, was pleased with the attendance and gave her thoughts on integrating the science of high-tech with outreach and extension.
“Our ultimate goal is to educate producers and all sectors of the agricultural community on the technologies available and how they may be used to improve efficiencies on-farm,” she said. “Moving forward, it is our intent to feature topics that are applicable and aligned with the needs of our agricultural clientele and also to bring back our industry partners and vendors with an equipment and technology expo.” ∆
V. TODD MILLER: University of Louisiana