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Lav Khot and CAHNRS highlighted during NIFA’s National Washington Day – May 10,2023

Stewart Bohnet

USDA | NIFA May 11, 2023

photo of Lav Khot To celebrate National Washington Day on May 10, USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) is highlighting the innovative NIFA-funded research conducted by Lav Khot, CAHNRS and Washington State University (WSU).

NIFA’s support allows CAHNRS to bring new ideas to light that improve our food supply, protect our environment and natural resources, and keep Washington agriculture competitive. More than 73% of CAHNRS extramural funding is from federal sources, the most important of which is USDA-NIFA. This support enables an incredible range of practical discovery and education.

Lav Khot, as WSU’s AgWeatherNet director, is in charge of the network’s nearly 400 solar-powered weather stations located across Washington state. This helps Northwest agricultural producers to navigate complex and uncertain climate and economic environments.

NIFA underwrites work by WSU economists serving farmers and ranchers through the Western Extension Risk Management Education Center, which helps producers manage the evolving risks, such as drought, market, wildfire, regulatory and labor challenges, that they face across the diverse western region.

For more information on NIFA’s State of Success, National Washington Day, please visit the USDA / NIFA website.

WSU’s Lav Khot, colleagues receive multi-state award for ag drone research

Stewart Bohnet

 

Lav Khot, associate professor in the Department of Biological Systems Engineering, was honored by the for ongoing efforts to enhance the role of drones in agriculture.

Khot and colleagues at more than 20 research institutions received the 2022 National Excellence in Multistate Research Award from the Experiment Station Section (ESS) unit of the commission’s Board on Agriculture Assembly for their research and extension work in unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) applications for U.S. agriculture and natural resources…

To read the rest of this article, go to CAHNRS News.

Mark Schrader places in the ASABE Oral/Poster Competition at ASABE 2022

Stewart Bohnet

Mark Schrader presents

Jake Schrader ( PhD Student of Lav Khot, Agricultural Automation Engineering) is shown presenting in the ASABE Oral/Poster Competition during the ASABE Annual International Meeting in Houston, Texas, 2022.

Jake placed in the ASABE Oral/Poster Competition within the Machinery Systems technical community for his work entitled,“Thermal analysis of heated spray and implications for agricultural spray technologies”.

He will receive a $250 prize check for his presentation.

Sindhuja Sankaran honored by CAHNRS with Excellence in Early Career Award

Stewart Bohnet

June 21, 2022  | CAHNRS News

Photo of Sindhuja SankaranExcellence in Early Career: Sindhuja Sankaran

Sindhuja Sankaran is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Systems Engineering at Washington State University. Her research program focus is on sensor technologies for crop phenotyping and supports plant breeding, crop plant research, and precision agriculture applications. She has secured more than $2.3 million ($8.8 million in collaborative research) to support her program, mostly from competitive federal grants.

Her research and teaching program supports researchers from other CAHNRS departments and USDA-ARS labs. She has published more than 100 peer-reviewed journal articles including proceeding papers and book chapters and is a member of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, the National Association of Plant Breeders, the North American Plant Phenotyping Network, the International Society of Precision Agriculture, the International Society of Horticultural Science, and the American Society of Agronomy.

… continue reading CAHNRS News

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Drones and bird pests

Stewart Bohnet

June 1, 2022  |  WSU Insider

Photo of drone over crop fieldAutomated drones could scare birds off agricultural fields

A Washington State University research team has developed a system for scaring birds, which they detail in a study published in the journal Computer and Electronics in Agriculture. The system is designed to have automated drones available 24 hours a day to scare pest birds, like European starlings or crows, that cost growers millions of dollars a year in lost fruit.

“Growers don’t really have a good tool they can rely on for deterring pest birds at an affordable price,” said Manoj Karkee, associate professor in WSU’s Department of Biological Systems Engineering and the study’s corresponding author. “With further refinement and industry partnerships, this system could work.”

For now, the birds are scared off just by the motion and whirring noises made by drones. But Karkee said that sounds, like distress calls or predatory bird noises, could be added. Builders could even design special drones for the job.

… continue reading the article, WSU Insider, 2022.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WSU Flower Thinning Robot

Stewart Bohnet

Photo of robot thinning plantsApril 26, 2022  |  Wake Up Northwest on NBC Right Now.com

Manoj Karkee reports that WSU’s Agricultural Automation group of the Biological Systems Engineering Department has just begun testing their newest robot. The robot is aimed to produce a more stable and efficient pollination and thinning process. The Robotic Pollinator is built with a camera that can detect flower blossoms and determine which need to be pollinated or thinned. Students are currently trying to find the right stage to pollinate the fruit flowers. This comes from trial and error.

Dr. Karkee is trying to develop a robotic solution that would have a camera that works like human eyes to take pictures and works with a “brain”, a kind of artificial intelligence model running on a computer, that detects flowers, locates them and sends the signal to the controller of the robot. This signals the robot where to start thinning the flowers. Karkee thinks the method could also replace honeybees when the robot learns to pollinate flowers.

To view the rest of this news, click on the following link: NBC Right Now, KNDO23 / KNDU25   

 

 

 

 

 

Three Minute Thesis – Uddhav Bhattarai wins the CAHNRS PhD Competition

Stewart Bohnet

Photo of Uddhav Bhattarai

Uddhav Bhattarai has won the PhD CAHNRS 3 Minute Competition. He will compete at the WSU wide competition.

Congratulations Uddhav and Good Luck during the next phase!!

CAHNRS 2022 – 3 Minute thesis Results

 

 

PhD

  1. Uddhav Bhattarai – BSE – $1000 (Presentation Title: Robot Laborers for Apple Crop Management) – won tie-breaker and will advance to the University-level competition.
  2. Ramesh Sahni – BSE – $1000 (Presentation Title: Fixed spray system: Every drop to the drop)
  3. Sudha Upadhaya, Plant Path – $500 (Presentation Title: Can a picture save thousands of plants?)

Masters

  1. Em Rendleman, Entomology – $1,000 (Presentation Title:Experimental Varroa Mite Treatment in the European Honey Bee Apis Mellifera)
  2. Srijana Shrestha, Horticulture – $500 (Presentation Title: Professional Development Training for Soil-Biodegradable Plastic Mulch (BDM))
  3. Noah Willsea, Horticulture – $250 (Presentation Title: Retractable netting reduces sunburn risk while maintaining red color in apples)
  4. Jasmine Richman, Animal Sciences – $250 (Presentation Title: Investigating the activin receptor signaling pathway as a key regulator ofmuscle grown following whole genome duplication events)

 

Uddhav Bhattarai is a finalist for best oral presentation at ASABE 2021

Stewart Bohnet

Photo of Uddhav BhattaraiJuly, 2021 | Pullman, WA

Uddhav Bhattarai placed in the ITSC community competition for the presentation titled “Simplifying Apple Flower/Fruit Counting: A Weakly Supervised Approach”.

Congratulations to all of the finalists of the ASABE Student Oral/Poster Presentation Competition, held during the 2021 Annual International Meeting.

Each finalist received a $250 prize check. For more information on the competition, please visit ASABE’s website: https://asabe.org/Poster.

 

 

 

Legacy of leadership and mentorship for retiring professor – Claudio Stockle

Stewart Bohnet

CAHNRS NEWS | December, 2021

Photo of Claudio Stockle“Claudio is one of those visionaries who was able to see the important role of computing in agriculture early on,” said Ananth Kalyanaraman, professor of computer science at the Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture and director of the new AgAID Institute. “His efforts will have a long-lasting impact on WSU’s research leadership in digital agriculture on the global stage.”

“In the future, agriculture is going to be a different beast, and we have to start preparing now,” said Stöckle, who intends to continue work with the grant as he enters a new chapter of his life.

“He is somebody who has built strong foundations in our program, grown our faculty numbers, and his influence goes beyond the borders of WSU,” said Manuel Garcia-Perez, professor and current chair of BSE.

Stöckle has served as a visiting professor at institutions in Italy, France, and Spain. Though he hails from Santiago, Chile, he and his wife call Pullman home.

“We haven’t found anywhere we like living better than right here in Pullman,” he said.

Read the Article : Legacy of leadership and mentorship for retiring professor, CAHNRS NEWS.

 

WSU to lead national AI research institute for agriculture

Stewart Bohnet

July 29, 2021 | WSU Insider

Photo of workers with droneWSU to lead national AI research institute for agriculture

With a new $20 million federal grant, Washington State University will lead a multi-institutional research institute to develop artificial intelligence (AI) solutions to tackle some of agriculture’s biggest challenges related to labor, water, weather and climate change.

The new institute is one of 11 launched by the National Science Foundation and among two funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture-National Institute of Food and Agriculture in 2021. It’s called the AgAID Institute, which is short for USDA-NIFA Institute for Agricultural AI for Transforming Workforce and Decision Support.

WSU Insider

Members of Biological Systems Engineering who are involved in this work include:
Claudio Stockle
Qin Zhang
Lav Khot
Manoj Karkee
R. Troy Peters
Kirti Rajagopalan
Sindhuja Sankaran