MN Conference on Precision Agriculture

Professor Raj Khosla of Kansas State University is a globally recognized authority on Precision Agriculture. He has been engaged in precision agriculture since inception and has made significant contributions in the development and spread of Precision Agriculture worldwide. He is the Founder and Past-President of the International Society of Precision Agriculture. Most recently, he served as the member of National Academy of Science Committee that led the consensus study on Science Breakthrough 2030.

Prof. Khosla’s research specializes in harnessing spatial and temporal heterogeneity in managed agro-ecosystems and translating those into better management decision for producers. His group has extensively used remote sensing and other geo-spatial tools to enhance production, resource use efficiency, profitability, and sustainability of managed agro-ecosystems. Their on-going precision nitrogen management work has demonstrated significant reductions in nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions on farm fields. Funded through ARPA-E program his laboratory in collaboration with two other institutions are developing the next generation of soil-moisture and soil-nitrate sensors that are in-expensive, passive (battery-less), small, and bio-degradable. He is currently co-leading a multi-institutional $10M USDA-NIFA-SAS funded project entitled “Artificial Intelligence for Sustainable Water, Nutrient, Salinity, and Pest Management in the Western US”. He has co-authored over 100 publications (book chapters, refereed journal articles, extension articles, proceedings, bulletins, reports, popular press articles, digital media, and others). He has been invited globally to over 30 countries.

In 2017, his research was recognized with the “Werner L. Nelson Award for Diagnosis of Yield-Limiting Factors Award” by the American Society of Agronomy. Previously, he has been recognized as the “Precision Ag Educator of the Year 2015” by the US agricultural industry. In 2012, Dr. Khosla was named the Jefferson Science Fellow by the National Academy of Sciences and was appointed as the Senior Science Advisor on Food Security to the U.S. Department of State. In 2011, he was inducted by NASA to the US “Presidential Advisory Board on Positioning, Navigation and Timing” to work on the US space based GPS policy. He served on the NASA board for two 2-yr terms (2011-2015).

Prof. Khosla is the Fellow of American Society of Agronomy; Fellow of Soil Science Society of America; Fellow of Soil and Water Conservation Society and Honorary Life Fellow of International Society of Precision Agriculture.

David Mulla is the Larson Chair and Professor for Soil & Water Resources in the Department of Soil, Water, and Climate at the University of Minnesota, Chair for the Advisory Board at the Precision Agriculture Center, and a member of the Executive Committee for the National Institute for Artificial Intelligence on Climate Land Interactions for Mitigation, Adaptation, Tradeoffs and Economy (AI-CLIMATE).  Dr. Mulla received a Ph.D. degree in Agronomy from Purdue University with emphasis in soil physics.  Dr. Mulla’s research emphasizes precision conservation, water quality, ecosystem services, and AI/ML/geospatial modeling in agriculture.  

Dr. Mulla is widely recognized as a pioneer in precision agriculture.  He has been an associate editor of J. Prec. Ag since 1997; was elected a Fellow in Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) and Agronomy Society of America (ASA) in 1997 and 1999, respectively; was awarded the P.C. Robert Senior Precision Agriculture Research Award in 2012 by the International Society for Precision Agriculture; and was awarded the Soil Science Applied Research Award in 2013 by the SSSA.  Dr. Mulla and his coauthors (including 50+ MS and PhD students) have produced 230+ publications (h-index 61) and have received nearly $47 million in extramural funding for research.

Dr. Yuxin Miao is Director of Precision Agriculture Center at the University of Minnesota. He specializes in precision agriculture and nutrient management, on-farm research, remote sensing and AI. With a focus on precision nitrogen management, his research also involves precision management of phosphorus, potassium, sulfur, seeding, irrigation and biostimulant, crop lodging, management zone delineation strategies, crop growth modeling, and on-farm trial data analysis. Dr. Miao founded the Minnesota On-farm Precision Agriculture Research Network, working closely with crop consultants and producers to conduct on-farm trials to develop and demonstrate new precision agricultural technologies. He is the recipient of the Pierre C. Robert Precision Agriculture Young Scientist Award from International Society of Precision Agriculture (ISPA) in 2012, the Outstanding Chinese Alumni Award of University of Minnesota in 2014, American Society of Agronomy (ASA) Kingenta Agricultural Science Award in 2022, and ASA Tengtou Agriculrural Science Award in 2023. He is the founding leader of the ISPA Precision Nitrogen Management Community. He is serving as Editor-in-Chief of European Journal of Agronomy and Associate Editor for Precision Agriculture and Remote Sensing. 

Dr. Vasudha Sharma is an Assistant Extension Professor and Irrigation Specialist at the University of Minnesota, affiliated with the Department of Soil, Water, and Climate. She earned her Ph.D. in Biological Systems Engineering from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Dr. Sharma's research focuses on irrigation water management, exploring the interactions between water and nitrogen fertilizers, crop evapotranspiration, soil-water dynamics, variable-rate irrigation, and cover-crop water management. Her work aims to develop research and extension education programs addressing water shortages and quality issues. She collaborates with crop irrigators and water managers to assess needs, conducts applied research to identify optimal irrigation practices that enhance crop water productivity while reducing environmental impacts, and disseminates scientific knowledge through statewide demonstration research.

Dr. Marcia Endres is a Professor, Extension Dairy Specialist, and the Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Animal Science at the University of Minnesota. Her research team has studied how various housing and management systems can influence health, welfare and performance of dairy cattle. In the last ~15 years, Dr. Endres and her team have also conducted research and outreach on precision dairy technologies, including robotic milking systems, automated milk feeders and individual cow behavior sensors. They have published numerous peer-reviewed research articles, abstracts, proceedings, and popular press articles, in addition to 7 book chapters. Dr. Endres was the editor for the 2021 international book “Understanding the Behaviour and Improving the Welfare of Dairy Cattle”. She has taught the dairy herd management course and has coached the University of Minnesota Dairy Challenge teams for many years. Dr. Endres serves as director on the PAACO (Professional Animal Auditor Certification Organization) Board (the national organization that certifies animal welfare audits and auditors) and served as President of the Dairy Cattle Welfare Council. In addition, Dr. Endres has chaired U.S. and International Precision Dairy Conferences and serves as chair of the International Precision Dairy Farming Association Board of Directors. 

Dean Fairchild is a soil scientist and agronomist leading agronomy services for CENEX, Soil Teq, Cargill and Mosaic. During Dean's career was part of teams in development of CENTROL crop consulting services, formation of Soil Teq various products and world wide agronomist for Cargill and Mosaic with agronomy staff in 12 countries. Recently retired. Presently doing consulting and managing family farms 

Dr. Ce Yang is the associate director of the Precision Agriculture Center. She is also a MnDRIVE Robotics faculty, specializing in drone remote sensing and hyperspectral imaging technologies for precision agriculture and environmental monitoring. With over a decade of experience, Dr. Yang has pioneered advanced drone hyperspectral imaging methods to detect abiotic and biotic stressors in crops. Her Agricultural Robotics Lab developed pipelines from data collection to analytics, collaborating with agronomists and ecologists to translate findings into practical solutions for agriculture, conservation, and resource management.

Dr. Bryan Runck is a Senior Research Scientist in the GEMS Informatics Center. His research focuses on real-time geospatial decision-support systems, sensor networks, and data integration for agricultural and environmental applications.

Dr. Dimitris Zermas got his PhD in Computer Science from the University of Minnesota. He leads the Computer Vision and Machine Learning team at Sentera, a technology company delivering real-time insights with high-resolution imagery for agriscience and crop production.

Mary Buschette

Director of Alumni and Constituent Relations

College of Food, Agricultural, & Natural Resource Sciences, University of Minnesota

Fabian Fernandez

Professor & Extension Nutrient Management Specialist

Department of Soil, Water, & Climate, University of Minnesota

Maciej Kazula

Research Director, Minnesota Corn Growers Association

Aicam Laacouri

 Minnesota Department of Agriculture

Yuxin Miao

University of Minnesota

David Mulla

University of Minnesota

Nora Poole

Communications Specialist

Department of Soil, Water, & Climate, University of Minnesota

Paul McDivitt

Communications Specialist,
UMN Extension Department of Agricultural & Natural Resource Systems

Carl Rosen

University of Minnesota

Vasudha Sharma

University of Minnesota

Kirk Stueve

Stueve Ag Enterprises

Matt Wiebers

CropCentric

Brent Williams

Department Head 

Department of Soil, Water, & Climate, University of Minnesota

Ce Yang

University of Minnesota