We will have four rooms of expert panels discussing the different aspects of precision agriculture:
Remote Sensing and Data Management
Kevin Silverstein
University of Minnesota - GEMS
Dr. Kevin Silverstein is Scientific Lead for the Research Informatics Solutions (RIS) group at the Minnesota Supercomputing Institute (MSI). He has spent decades performing large-scale bioinformatics analyses involving cutting-edge high-throughput data from bacteria, fungi, plants, mammals and complex communities. He has performed detailed investigations of plant-microbe systems in continued research since 2001. Additionally, in 2010-2012, he led an effort to identify mutations in clinical patients with Fairview Hospital which has been expanded in partnership with MSI and continues to be used today. The knowledge gained from handling protected patient data has been brought over to his work in the agricultural sector, underpinning the GEMS platform to protect farmer and corporate data. He currently serves as Operations Manager for GEMS.
Jose A. Hernandez
Farmer's Edge Research & Development Team
Dr. Jose A. Hernandez is a Research Agronomist and Agronomy Research and Development Manager for Farmers Edge, based in Minnesota, USA. Dr. Hernandez research interests lie in the fields of precision crop management, soil fertility and nutrient management, and data science applied for decision-agriculture.
In his role, Dr. Hernandez supports Farmers Edge's global research and product development team to create products that help farmers make good decisions, maximize economic benefits, and reduce environmental impacts to the land, using innovative precision crop management strategies.
Prior to joining Farmers Edge, Dr. Hernandez was an Assistant and Associate Extension Professor with University of Minnesota Extension. He has over 20 years of experience in soil science, nutrient management, and precision crop management.
Yuxin Miao
University of Minnesota
Dr. Miao is Associate Director of Precision Agriculture Center, Department of Soil, Water and Climate at University of Minnesota. He is the recipient of the Pierre C. Robert Precision Agriculture Young Scientist Award from International Society of Precision Agriculture (ISPA) in 2012. He earned a Ph.D. in Soil Science with a concentration in Precision Agriculture from University of Minnesota in 2005. He then did postdoc research at the Precision Agriculture Center of University of Minnesota for two years. From 2007 to 2017 he was an Associate Professor of Precision Agriculture and Nutrient Management at China Agricultural University in Beijing. Research in his group aims to develop integrated precision agricultural management systems for food security and sustainable development. A combination of field measurements, active canopy sensors, UAV and satellite remote sensing, crop growth modeling and other new technologies will be used to develop innovative solutions to improve agricultural resource management and protect the environment. He has published numerous journal articles, conference papers and book chapters, with H-index of 32. He has worked on different crops (wheat, corn, rice and potato) and different scales of farming systems. He is the Founding Leader of Precision Nitrogen Management Community in ISPA and serving as associate editor for Precision Agriculture, Remote Sensing, Agronomy for Sustainable Development and Agronomy Journal.
Modeling for Nutrient and Crop Management
Cecilia Tojo Soler
Farmer's Edge Research & Development Team
Dr. Cecilia Tojo Soler is a Senior Cropping Systems Modeller in the Agronomy R & D unit of Farmers Edge, where she creates data-driven and field centric technologies to help farmers make informed crop management decisions for sustainable crop production. She develops models for phenology predictions, water and nutrient management, and yield forecast for different crops.
During her career she has created innovative algorithms to determine the onset of drought and heat stresses as well as used crop simulation models for the evaluation of planting dates, soil organic carbon dynamics in different cropping systems, yield forecasting, soil moisture dynamics, irrigation scheduling, and climate variability impact on crop yield.
She began her career in academia as a researcher in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, The University of Georgia, and the AgWeatherNet Program, Washington State University. Prior to joining Farmers Edge, she was part of the R & D team of AgroFresh Solutions/Dow AgroSciences, where she developed novel crops’ stress management technologies.
She received her Ph.D. and MSc. in Agronomy (Major in Irrigation and Minor in Crop Modeling) from the College of Agricultural Sciences “Luiz de Queiroz" - University of Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Brad Carlson
University of Minnesota Extension
Brad Carlson is an Extension Educator with University of Minnesota Extension. His work focuses on nutrient management, precision agriculture and water quality. He grew up on a small farm north of Janesville in Waseca County. He has a bachelor’s degree in Soil Science from the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point, and a master’s degree in Soil Science with a minor in agronomy from the University of Minnesota. He has worked for the University of Minnesota Extension since October of 1994. Although he is based out of the Mankato Regional Office, his responsibilities are state-wide.
Solomon Folle
Farmers Edge Senior Cropping Systems Modeler
Dr. Solomon Folley has over 20 years of experience in cropping systems management and water quality modeling. Currently he work as a senior cropping system modeler at Farmers Edge, a global precision agriculture company. Dr. Folle's major duty in the company is to Develop agricultural management decision tools using process based mechanistic models. Corn Manager, a comprehensive field scale corn management tool, is one of the management decision tools he has recently developed. This tool provides variable rate nitrogen recommendation, prediction of corn growth stages and grain yield. His primary research work focuses on developing similar tools for various crops including soybean, wheat, cotton and canola. Before joining Farmers Edge, Dr. Folle worked as a research associate at University of Minnesota where he conducted several research work on surface and ground water agricultural contaminant transport and source area identification. He has contributed in the development of sediment and agro-chemicals (fertilizers, herbicides, insecticides and fungicides) alternative best management practices for the Upper Mississippi River Basin ingeneral and Minnesota River Basin in particular. Dr. Folle obtained his Ph.D. from University of Minnesta majoring in Soil Science and Hydrology in 2009.
Economics and Adoption of Precision Ag Technology
Terry Hurley
University of Minnesota
Nicolas Uilk
South Dakota State University
Nicholas Uilk has been an instructor with the Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering department since 2009 and is heavily involved in developing and maintaining curriculum to meet the demands of today’s precision agriculture professional. Courses he leads include: Introduction to Precision Agriculture, Farm Machinery Systems Management, Computer Applications in Agriculture, Ag Industrial & Outdoor Power, and Introduction to Ag Systems Technology. Nic also advises undergraduate students in both the Precision Ag and AST programs as well as coordinates the internship program for Precision Ag and AST majors.
Machinery and Automation of Field Practices
Ce Yang
University of Minnesota
Peter Marchetto
University of Minnesota