George Hoselton is a first year Graduate Research Student at Illinois State University, where he recently earned his Bachelor of Science Degree in Agribusiness. He is currently working with Dr. Maria Boerngen with Data-Intensive Farm Management on his master’s thesis project, regarding a better understanding of how farmers perceive nutrient loss.
Author Archives: cmcguir3@illinois.edu
New Faces at DIFM
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Brendan Kuhns grew up in a small farm town approximately 15 miles north of Champaign, received his undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois and is now pursuing his master’s degree in the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering. During his college career he has worked on his home farm, for Case New Holland, and John Deere in various product engineering roles related to harvesters. Kuhns was the Instructor of Record for a course in Off-Road Equipment and the Teaching Assistant of other similar courses, and will be a graduate research assistant in the 2018-2019 school year.
Presentations of DIFM Research
George Hoselton gave a presentation at the WERA-72 Annual Meeting at Kansas State University in June 2018, entitled “Voluntary Compliance: Encouraging Best Management.”
Assistant Professor Taro Mieno Visits the University of Illinois
Taro Mieno spent a week at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, during which he made substantial progress in research working with German, Brittani, and Aolin. Specifically, they have been working on the value of soil sampling, profit-maximizing length of experimental plots, and the economically optimal management zone delineation. He also came up with a future plan on what research topics with PI David Bullock.
Corn Growers’ Field Lab Gets New Funding
The DIFM project has been awarded $70K over two years to perform additional research on the Illinois Corn Growers’ Field Lab. The primary goal of this body of research is to evaluate a range of remote sensing technologies to enhance research conducted at the Illinois N Field lab. This research would facilitate the development of expertise in image analysis and integration with other field information to better understand crop growth dynamics under different N treatments. The remote sensing information will be used to not only increase understanding of treatment responses with high spatial and temporal resolution but also to increase the confidence in estimations generated by yield monitors. It will also create preliminary information to be used in the preparation of grant proposals to conduct new studies in the same field.
New Funding Source
Luciano Shiratsuchi and Lisa Fultz approved an internal budget of $70,000 from the Louisiana State University (LSU) to build a Digital Agriculture Laboratory to support DIFM in cloud data processing and storage. The initial plan is to invest in equipment (electrical conductivity machines, on-the-go sensors, drones and workstations) to promote multi-disciplinary work, provide teaching materials, and to start up a Precision Agriculture Program at LSU.
Annual Advisory Board Report
The High Plains Journal Interviews the Data-Intensive Farm Management Project!
Farmer Recruitment 2017 in Champaign, IL
In February 2017, we met with sixteen farmers, from Illinois to Ohio, to discuss their possible involvement in the DIFM project’s 2017 growing season. All of these farmers agreed to participate, and their harvest data is coming in soon!
New Project Coordinator
Caitlin McGuire joined the DIFM team as Project Coordinator in February 2017 following Krystal Montesdeoca’s departure. She received a BA from the University of California, Berkeley in English, and an MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Please contact her at cmcguir3@illinois.edu.