POCATELLO, Idaho—Idaho State University and J.R. Simplot Co. are collaborating on research using advanced sensors mounted on drones to diagnose the specific causes of crop problems.
The Idaho Global Entrepreneurial Mission awarded Donna Delparte, an assistant professor of geosciences at ISU, a $179,000 grant toward the project.
IGEM, an initiative introduced by Gov. Butch Otter in 2012, seeks to commercialize technology developed through partnerships between the state’s private industry and public universities.
Delparte and her students—with Simplot providing soil analysis, crop expertise and serving as a liaison with participating growers—will soon commence imaging of more than a half dozen potato and sugarbeet fields from American Falls to Idaho Falls. The project has already received Federal Aviation Administration authorization.
“There is potential for Simplot, working with the university, to take the methods and procedures we’re learning and to be able to commercialize them,” Delparte said. “That would have a direct benefit to the state.”
Simplot technology director Allan Fetters said the project puts ISU and his company at “the forefront of this transformative movement in history to conduct research using unmanned aerial vehicle sensors to improve agricultural field productivity and grow profitability.”
The partners will seek to better understand optimal drone platform and sensor configurations to best assess crop stresses, including diseases, irrigation stress, soil deficiencies and weed and pest pressure. They also hope to work with Empire Unmanned, an Idaho company that has secured the first FAA exemption to fly drones for agriculture commercially.
Delparte started the project last year with $150,000 in USDA funding, which carries over into this season.
Based on last season’s work, Delparte found different crop diseases thrive in dips and hills within fields, and hills supported thinner biomass. Her imaging equipment in 2014 utilized five spectral bands and effectively identified crop stress, but not specific threats.
With the IGEM funding, she’s purchased a top-line camera and intends to test sick plants from the project’s fields to determine the “spectral signature” of specific diseases such as potato virus Y and rhizoctonia. A light detection and ranging camera will also be mounted to record three-dimensional field images.
Idaho State University’s College of Technology has built Delparte a large multi-copter drone capable of lifting the heavy equipment, and has integrated the sensors into the design. ISU may also create a new drone technology major.
“Everything we’re teaching is in one of these drones, so it just matches perfect with our program,” said Garen Call, an instructor with ISU’s robotics and communications program.
Delparte said last year’s images showed small pockets of diseased plants in the early season developed into large patches of disease by late season. This season, she’ll enable her growers to access data quickly on hand-held devices to respond to problems.
IGEM, operated under the Idaho Department of Commerce, awards nearly $1 million per year in grants.
“These projects represent an opportunity to position Idaho, its universities and industry as leaders in the precision agriculture space,” said Idaho Commerce Director Jeffrey Sayer.
Source: www.capitalpress.com